We believe the Bible is the sole authority and guide for faith and practice (life). The Bible is God’s written word, telling us about God’s Word (Jesus). While there are different theories held by Southern Baptists on how to approach the Bible, from literal to symbolic, Southern Baptists look to the Bible, particularly the New Testament, as the guide on how to live and how to “do” church. This is one of the reasons that Southern Baptists have no “creed;” the Bible is our guide.

We believe in a regenerate church membership – only Christians can be church members. This belief then leads to the practice of baptism of believers only. Baptism is a sacred symbol, both to us and to the world, of the beginning of our relationship with God. Therefore, only those who have come to a relationship with God, by confession of sins and through faith (trust) in Jesus, should be baptized. Immersion is the mode of baptism.

We believe in the autonomy of the local church. It is the local group of gathered believers that is the church. Inside the church, decisions are made by the entire church body (congregation) discovering God’s will together. No one, not even the pastor, is given more than one vote in decisions made by the church body. While there is no concept of a “church” outside the local body, Southern Baptists have a long history of banding together at the local, state, and national levels to cooperate with others for mutual support and cooperative efforts. The latter include such things as missions, at all levels, theological education, and educational publishing.

We subscribe to the “priesthood of the believer” doctrine, which means several things. The most obvious is that no one must mediate between us and God – we do not need a priest, other than Jesus himself. Each Christian is called by God to minister to others as he/she is equipped by God. This does not diminish the professional clergy, but casts them primarily in the role of equipper and encourager of each Christian to be a minister (priest) to others.

We have historically held very strong to the concept of religious liberty. The civil authorities (“state”) have no business in deciding for individuals what beliefs (or churches) they should agree with or support. Additionally, the church is not to become the civil authority. While our relationship with God does fundamentally change us from the inside, we are not to impose our beliefs on others by means of any kind of coercion, blatant, or implicit. Christians are to be influencers (the salt) of society.

We are missionary-minded. This is one of the primary reasons that Baptists join together. We fund, train, and support missionaries to plant churches throughout the world.