FBC Lowell Beliefs
We are a Southern Baptist church with a biblical view of salvation – meaning a person is saved by God’s grace through the individual’s faith in Jesus Christ. We hold true to Scripture, being God’s inspired, inerrant, infallible Word. Salvation is itself a gift of God. That gift empowers us to be a holy, transformed people who embody His redemptive power and participate in the redemptive mission of carrying forth the Great Commission to the world. Therefore, we are a sent people…called to be God’s witnesses locally and globally with the Good News, or Gospel, of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8).
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We do not want to turn inward or focus merely on ourselves, but to build God’s kingdom and go out with the Gospel to our local community, surrounding cities, our nation, and the entire world. We strive to teach God’s Word to everyone, loving as our Savior has loved us, offering hope, forgiveness, and eternal life, all the while multiplying disciples. We want to invest in lives, and the investment reaches beyond our walls. Being a multi-generational church, we are made up of old and young alike, and we long to reach people beyond our own generation. The idea is to actively be the church, rather than just attending church.
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Though we come from all ages, races, places, backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, and cultures, we strive to be a united body of believers through the power of the Holy Spirit. That unity comes from our kinship in Christ. We all have our own story…each unique and powerful in its own right. Those stories, or testimonies, are what we long to share with others as we seek to introduce others to faith in our Lord and Savior. God has done miraculous things and we love to sing His praises!
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We believe that salvation is a free gift of grace offered by God. It is obtained by personal faith in His perfect, sinless Son, Jesus Christ, alone. Jesus has completed the work of salvation and there is nothing we may do to earn it, pay it back, or lose it (Ephesians 2:1-10). Once saved, we seek to live lives of obedient faithfulness unto the Lord. The hope is to glorify God and bless others as we remain connected to the Vine, producing spiritual fruit that is pleasing to God.
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As a church, we are a body of saved, baptized believers who are called out and covenanted together to carry forth the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Once saved, we hold to the Scriptural position that a person should follow the Lord in baptism by immersion. Baptism is one of two church ordinances (the other being the Lord’s Supper). Baptism has no redemptive or salvific power in its own right. In other words, a person cannot be saved by baptism alone. Further, not being baptized does not prevent salvation. It is a pictorial ordinance that demonstrates obedience to the Lord and gives a powerful testimony that, with Jesus, we have died to our sins, been buried with Him in baptism, and raised to walk in newness of life.
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We do not believe that the gift of tongues (or any other spiritual gift) is required to evidence salvation. Nor do we believe that a person may work to earn salvation since it is a gift of grace from the Lord Himself. Furthermore, we know that Jesus is returning as He has promised. Knowing this, we understand and anticipate His future coming. The rapture will concern all the redeemed from all times and is part of our blessed hope in the future. We make no claim as to the day or the hour of His return, but until then we are committed to living in obedience to Him and sharing our faith with everyone we possibly can.
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We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. That love must be demonstrated intentionally in order to be effective. We are also called to equip the saints for the work of ministry. In part, this means training a diverse body of members within the body in differing areas of service. We want to provide opportunities for serving the Lord within the church, but also help believers serve God outside the church – including in their workplaces, homes, neighborhoods, and within their own families.
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As we seek the good of the community in which God has placed us, we want to invest in the lives of those all around us – from schools, nursing homes, at city-wide events, in shelters, and many other places. Souls matter to the Lord, and they matter to us. We can help address many issues by being kingdom-minded and by doing God-honoring work everywhere we go. If we see a need that needs to be addressed, we want to help meet it, whether it is local or global. We love being the hands and feet of Jesus to a world in need of love, dignity, hope, and help.
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As a final thought, we believe in church membership and a committed consistency necessary to fulfill our calling. We’re not merely interested or involved, we’re committed to doing this Christian life together, as a united body of God’s children. We seek to be faithful to those we serve and instill faithfulness in those we lead and love. Without a determination to love one another, pray for one another, edify and encourage one another, and serve the Lord together we’ll be severely weakened in our joint effort of fulfilling God’s high calling. Therefore, a committed, rather than a casual, relationship with the Lord and our fellow believers is something we strive to encourage and maintain (Ephesians 4:1-7).