First Baptist Church Mulvane

~ Our Beliefs ~

Our faith is grounded in a series of beliefs regarding our relationship to God, the Bible, and one another.  Below are some of our foundational beliefs. 

1. We believe the Bible to be our sole authority for faith in Christ, and the practice of that faith. We do not give any man, governing body, or church tradition the authority to determine for us our knowledge of God. The Scriptures alone reveal God to us and his full redemptive plan.

2. We affirm the ability of every believer to know God, and interpret scripture for him or herself. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. We need no other man to dispense God's grace to us, or to approach God on our behalf. Every individual has direct access to the throne of God through prayer.

3. We practice believer's baptism. Baptism is an outward symbol of God's inward saving power in our lives. Baptism does not do the saving, but it is a beautiful symbol of our salvation. Baptism is only for those who have willingly confessed Jesus Christ as their Savior, and not for unbelievers, including infants.

4. We practice baptism by immersion. In other words, we dunk people. Scripture is abundantly clear that immersion was the biblical method of baptizing. All other forms of baptism, sprinkling or pouring, are not accepted because they do not complete the picture baptism intends to symbolize - the death and resurrection of life through Jesus Christ.

5. We are a self-governing congregation. FBC Mulvane does not answer to any ecclesiastical authority. We operate and function according to the collective ways in which the Holy Spirit leads us. As a self-governing church we are completely autonomous, and make all decisions regarding our church.

6. We cooperate and fellowship with other Southern Baptist churches. Although we are self-governing, we have voluntarily entered into cooperative relationships with other likeminded churches. The entire body of cooperating churches is known around the world as the Southern Baptist Convention. Together, we pool our resources to send missionaries all over the world with the intention of fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Baptist Faith and Message provides more extensive information on our beliefs as Southern Baptists, it is available at http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.