WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?
Independent
Freedom Baptist Church is an independent congregation, having no denominational ties with any other organization, but having fellowship with all who honor the Word of God and the God of the Word.
As a result, we hold title to our own land, formulate our own budget, select our own ministers, teachers, missionaries, and other leaders, and in all other respects are governed by the will of our members.
All major decisions are voted upon in an annual business meeting of the entire church council, while day-to-day operations are carried out by the pastors and/or deacons of the church. All ministers, teachers, missionaries, and leaders must meet Scriptural qualifications, and all serve at the will of the church council.
King James Version of the Bible
The scripture is what God uses to bring us to salvation through its convicting power. The scripture also helps us cleanse our ways by bringing us to a greater level of personal sanctification. This uniformity improves the edification of participants. The King James Version (KJV) has proven itself over time to accurately convey the words of God to English-speaking people.
As a result of our policy, all public recitation, preaching, teaching, and memorization is done from texts translated solely from the Textus Receptus, i.e. the King James Version or its progeny. No other manuscript is considered authoritative, and the authoritative use of a translation from any other source is prohibited. While the King James Version is the official translation of this church, and we believe it to be the most accurate translation in the English language, our policy is not intended to prohibit the use of other translations for purposes of lesson preparation, illustration, comparison, or commentary.
Evangelism
Every person must face God as their judge. We believe it is our duty to warn people of this truth and also urge them to receive Jesus as their advocate and Savior. He paid the price for our sins. Jesus alone can justify a person with His own righteousness. Only then can we stand before our Divine Judge having escaped eternal condemnation and ready to receive rewards. We seek to equip believers to engage in this critical mission.
Music
We believe that music in public assembly, as well as in private, should be consistent with the character of God. For this reason, we reject music that has primarily a fleshly appeal. We elevate a sacred style that draws the audience into reverence of our Lord.
Musicians are to be ministers and not entertainers. Worship is a byproduct of godly music and should not be manufactured by superficial emotionalism or spontaneous excitement. For this reason, we have purposefully distanced ourselves from the "Praise & Worship" motif with the accompanying Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), Southern Gospel, or Rock & Roll music styles. We follow a traditional & sacred approach with a mixture of the beloved hymns of the past and current compositions that are written after the same framework. We humbly attempt to sing with the spirit and with an understanding of correct doctrine (I Cor. 14:15).
We believe that the music of the church is for the purpose of teaching sound doctrine, admonishing others, and encouraging oneself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. (Eph. 5:19 & Col. 3:16).
Apologetics, Dispensationalism, and Fundamentalism
Webster’s Dictionary defines apologetics as:
1: systematic argumentative discourse in defense (as of a doctrine)
2: a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity
At Freedom Baptist, we believe that an emphasis on apologetics is essential to Christian growth and maturity. Many churches have programs that focus only on popular Old Testament Bible stories and the teachings of Jesus, but leave out (or greatly minimize) the doctrines of the Old Testament and the New Testament letters to the churches and believers.
We believe the church must teach ALL of the Bible, even those books which are difficult, deep, or controversial.
You will find that several of our services are geared toward addressing the “debatable” topics of Christian doctrine, and we often allow those who hold differing views to present their side of the argument. At Freedom Baptist, it’s not about who’s right, but what’s right. If you have differing views, and you can back up your view from the Bible, then we want to hear from you. We want to be sure that we’re right, because the entire goal of apologetics is to find the Truth.
We are also a dispensational church. If you don’t know what dispensations are, then you owe it to yourself to visit our church and let one of us explain it to you. As a result of our dispensational view and our philosophy on apologetics, we are not afraid to be questioned or challenged on any of our doctrinal positions. In fact, on some of the more controversial issues, our church leadership may not even agree, since the Bible does not speak clearly on every issue. But, where the Bible does speak clearly, Christians are to regard it as authoritative and without doubt or questions.
While being dispensational in our understanding of Scripture, we do hold to the fundamentals of the faith, and thus we identify as fundamentalists. The definition of fundamentalism has changed over time, so it’s important here that we identify what we consider to be the Christian fundamentals, or the core beliefs:
- The inerrancy of the Bible in the original manuscripts
- The literal nature of most biblical accounts, especially regarding Christ's miracles, the Creation account, and flood account in Genesis
- The virgin birth, and thus deity, of Christ
- The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross
- The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ
Political Involvement
Freedom Baptist believes that a central role of the church is to train ambassadors of Christ which carry truth to an ungodly world. Christians are to be God’s spokesmen as we stand for truth and the integrity of His message.
One vital area of Christian ambassadorship is to the political realm. Christians are not being obedient to the Bible if we passively allow the ungodly to rule. (Proverbs 29:2, Joel 2:7) Thus, we believe that it is a critical role of the church to train its members to be leaders in every aspect of society. This leadership role includes not only the home, the business world, and cultural events, but also government.
Thus, we encourage our members to engage their political leaders on matters of Christian concerns, to be informed about proposed legislation and to advocate for Biblical principles in the law, and to hold themselves out for public office when there is a need for Christian statesmanship.
Dress
We believe that the outward appearance demonstrates the thoughts, desires, and intentions of the heart. As a result, we think that believers must take a firm stand on the manner of dress and the outward appearance, especially those who serve in church leadership.
Three Biblical principles govern our attitude toward dress and appearance: (1) modesty, (2) distinction between the sexes, and (3) avoidance of worldly associations.
While our dress and attire is not in any way associated with our salvation, it is associated with our effectiveness as a child of the King and as His ambassador.
Therefore, we ask our members to present themselves at church functions by being attired conservatively and modestly (not drawing an inappropriate attention to oneself), with an effort to not blur the sacred design and distinction of gender as assigned by God, and by not appearing to support or endorse any worldly or sensual activities or organizations.