OUR FAITH
What We Believe
Historic Christian faith, faithfully confessed and joyfully lived.
ROOTED IN SCRIPTURE
Centered Upon the Triune God
At Pine Hills Free Will Baptist Church, we joyfully confess the historic Christian faith as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Our beliefs are firmly rooted in the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God and are consistent with the historic doctrine of the Free Will Baptist tradition. We believe the Christian faith is centered upon the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and is faithfully proclaimed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our desire is to glorify God by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, faithfully proclaiming His Word, making disciples of Jesus Christ, administering Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and serving our community with the love of Christ. The following summary reflects the biblical convictions that guide our worship, our preaching, and our life together as a church.
EXPLORE OUR BELIEFS
A Summary of Our Biblical Convictions
01
The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the Holy Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. As God’s complete and trustworthy revelation, the Scriptures are sufficient for salvation, doctrine, worship, and Christian living. Every belief, ministry, and practice of Pine Hills Free Will Baptist Church is measured by and joyfully submitted to the authority of God’s Holy Word.
02
The Triune God
We believe in one true and living God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three Persons are one God, coequal in glory, majesty, power, and essence, worthy of all worship, honor, and praise. The Father lovingly purposes our redemption, the Son accomplishes our redemption through His saving work, and the Holy Spirit applies that redemption to God’s people while sanctifying the Church for the glory of Christ.
03
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, proclaimed the Kingdom of God, performed mighty works, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified for our sins, died, was buried, and rose bodily from the dead on the third day.
He ascended into heaven where He reigns at the right hand of the Father as our Lord, Savior, Great High Priest, and Advocate. We joyfully await His personal, visible, and glorious return when He will judge the living and the dead and establish His everlasting Kingdom.
04
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is fully God, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. He convicts the world of sin, draws people to Christ, regenerates believers, indwells God’s people, sanctifies the Church, equips believers for ministry, and empowers us to live holy and faithful lives.
The Holy Spirit continually glorifies Jesus Christ, illuminates the Holy Scriptures, strengthens the Church, and enables believers to bear faithful witness to the Gospel.
05
Humanity and Salvation
We believe every person is created in the image and likeness of God and possesses inherent dignity and worth. Through the fall of Adam, humanity became subject to sin and death, and all people stand in need of God’s redeeming grace.
We believe salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. Through His life, death, resurrection, and victorious reign, Christ accomplished the redemption of the world. Those who repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ receive forgiveness, reconciliation with God, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the sure hope of everlasting life.
06
The Church
We believe the Church is the Body of Christ, composed of all who have been united to Him by faith. Christ Himself is the Head of His Church, and every local congregation exists to glorify God through worship, faithful preaching of the Scriptures, prayer, discipleship, fellowship, evangelism, missions, and compassionate service.
The Church is called to proclaim the Gospel, nurture believers in the faith, administer Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and bear witness to the Kingdom of God until Christ returns.
GIVEN TO CHRIST’S CHURCH
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We receive these sacred ordinances with faith, reverence, thanksgiving, and obedience to Jesus Christ.
07 · SACRED ORDINANCE
Baptism
Matthew 28:19–20; Romans 6:3–5; Colossians 2:12
We believe that baptism was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ as a sacred means of discipleship for His followers. In baptism, we are buried with Christ into His death and raised to walk in newness of life, signifying our union with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3–5; Colossians 2:12). In obedience to the Great Commission, disciples are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19–20).
Baptism is a sacred gift of Christ to His Church through which believers faithfully enter into this act of discipleship and are received into the visible fellowship of Christ’s Church. In baptism, God declares His covenant promises, and believers confess their union with the crucified and risen Christ. Baptism proclaims the Gospel, marks our incorporation into the covenant community of faith, and calls us to walk faithfully in the new life we have received in Christ.
08 · SACRED ORDINANCE
The Lord’s Supper
Matthew 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:14–20
We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ on the night before His crucifixion and entrusted to His Church as a sacred and continual remembrance of His saving work. As we gather at the Lord’s Table in faith, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again, giving thanks for His once-for-all sacrifice upon the cross and rejoicing in the redemption accomplished through His body and blood.
The Lord’s Supper is a holy communion in which God’s people are nourished and strengthened in their fellowship with Christ and with one another. As we partake of the bread and the cup, we come with reverence, thanksgiving, self-examination, and joyful expectation, remembering Christ’s sacrifice, celebrating His resurrection, and looking forward to His glorious return.
Following the example of the early Church, we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers (Acts 2:42), receiving the Lord’s Supper as a gracious gift of Christ for the encouragement, unity, and spiritual growth of His Church.
Key Scriptural References: Matthew 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:14–20; Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29.
09
The Christian Life
We believe that every follower of Jesus Christ is called to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love their neighbor as themselves. Through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, believers are called to pursue holiness, grow in Christlikeness, faithfully participate in the life of the Church, and bear witness to the Gospel through lives of worship, obedience, compassion, and service.
10
Our Blessed Hope
We believe that Jesus Christ will personally, visibly, and gloriously return. We joyfully await the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, the renewal of all things, and the everlasting joy of God’s redeemed people in His eternal Kingdom.
OUR HISTORIC HERITAGE
The Apostles’ Creed and Our Heritage
As a Free Will Baptist church, we joyfully stand within the stream of historic, orthodox, Trinitarian Christianity. Along with Christians throughout the centuries, we gladly confess the faith once delivered to the saints and faithfully preserved in the Holy Scriptures.
One of the earliest and most treasured summaries of that faith is the Apostles’ Creed. For nearly two thousand years, Christians have confessed these timeless truths in worship, discipleship, and daily devotion. The Creed beautifully expresses the heart of the Christian faith by proclaiming the saving work of the Triune God.
The Creed unfolds as a threefold confession centered upon the Holy Trinity. It begins with our faith in God the Father, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth. It then proclaims the redemptive work of God the Son, Jesus Christ—His incarnation, sinless life, atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, heavenly reign, and glorious return. Finally, it concludes with our confession of God the Holy Spirit, through whom we confess the holy catholic (universal) Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
The Faith Once Delivered
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
At Pine Hills Free Will Baptist Church, we are grateful to stand in continuity with this historic confession of the Christian faith, joining believers throughout the ages in worshiping the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
COME WORSHIP WITH US
Experience Our Faith in Worship and Community
We would be honored to welcome you to Pine Hills Free Will Baptist Church.
