beliefsandpurpose

What we believe

Who are Free Will Baptists?

Free Will Baptist roots can be traced to England as early as 1611.
The first FWB church in America was begun by Paul Palmer in 1727
in Perquimans County, North Carolina. Some years later, in 1780,
under the leadership of Benjamin Randall, Free Will Baptists were
established in the northeast at New Durham, New Hampshire. From
these early beginnings, Free Will Baptists in America have had a
continuing ministry. Today, the National Association of Free Will
Baptists is active in 36 states, 13 foreign countries, and a number of
the islands of the sea. The work of the National Association is
promoted from the National Offices and Randall House Publications
located in Nashville, Tennessee.

What Free Will Baptists believe:

God - We believe that God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Righteous
Ruler of the universe. He has revealed Himself in nature, and in the
Scriptures of the Holy Bible as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: yet as
one God.

Jesus Christ - He is God's unique Son; the only one of a kind. The
Scripture teaches that He is God revealed in flesh. In His Divine
nature He is truly God and in His human nature truly man. He is the
One once crucified for man's sin, the now risen and glorified Savior
and Lord who mediates between God and man and who gives us
access to the Father through His intercession. None can come to the
Father unless they come through Him.

Holy Spirit - All of the attributes of God are ascribed to the Holy
Spirit by the Scriptures. It is He who convicts and convinces men of
their sin. He also convinces man of that which is right, and that a final
day of judgment will come. He, it is, who comes to live in us at
conversion, to open our understanding to the Scripture, and to lead us
into the truth.

The Bible - God used holy men to write the Scriptures. They are, in
both the Old and New Testaments, the very words God intended us to
have. They are, as given by God, without error and are our only rule of
faith and practice. We profit from them by learning the truth about
many things: they also speak to us about wrong doing; they even
correct us and get us back on course as well as instructing us in right
living.

Man - God created man in a state of innocence. Man, being tempted
by Satan, yielded and willfully disobeyed God, becoming a sinner and
incurring God's judgment upon sin. All of Adam's descendants inherit
his fallen nature and thus have a natural inclination to sin. When one
comes to an age of accountability, he is guilty of sinning before God
and in need of salvation.

God's Relationship to His Creatures and Creation - God
exercises a wise and benevolent providence over all beings and
things. He maintains the laws of nature and performs special acts as
the highest welfare of mankind and His created order of things
require.

Salvation - Man receives pardon and forgiveness for his sins when
he admits to God that he is a sinner, when in godly sorrow he turns
from them and trusts in the work of Christ as redemption for his sin.
This acceptance of God's great salvation involves belief in Christ's
death on the cross as man's substitute and the fact of God's raising
Him from the dead as predicted. It is a salvation by grace alone and
not of works.

Who Can be Saved? - It is God's will that all be saved, but since
man has the power of choice, God saves only those who repent of
their sin and believe in the work of Christ on the cross. Those who
refuse in this life to repent and believe have no later chance to be
saved and thus condemn themselves to eternal damnation by their
unbelief.

Perseverance - We believe that there are strong grounds to hope
that the saved will persevere unto the end and be saved because of
the power of divine grace pledged for their support. We believe that
any saved person who has sinned (whether we call him a backslider
or sinner), but has a desire to repent, may do so and be restored to
God's favor and fellowship. Since man, however, continues to have
free choice, it is possible because of temptations and the weakness
of human flesh for him to fall into the practice of sin and to make
shipwreck of his faith and be lost.

Gospel Ordinances - Free Will Baptists believe the Bible teaches
three ordinances for the church to practice: Baptism in water by
immersion, the Lord's Supper, to be perpetuated until His return, and
the Washing of the Saints' feet, an ordinance teaching humility.
Resurrection - Free Will Baptists believe the Scriptures teach the
resurrection of the bodies of all men, each in its own order; they that
have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and they that
have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.

Church Government - Free Will Baptist churches enjoy local church
autonomy (self-governing). The local church is the highest authority in
the denomination. Local churches voluntarily organize themselves into
quarterly meetings, district, state, and national associations for the
purpose of promoting the cause of Christ on the local, state, district,
national, and world-wide level.

Christ's Second Coming - The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ,
who ascended on high and sits at the right hand of God, will come
again to close the Gospel dispensation, glorify His saints, and judge
the world.

Missions - Free Will Baptists believe that Jesus commanded the
church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

For an in-depth study of Free Will Baptist beliefs and practices,
please view the Free Will Baptist Treatise.