Plymouth Haven Baptist Church

PHBC Statement of Faith

[As amended on January 27, 2010]

Who We Are

We are a Southern Baptist Church, voluntarily associated with the NorthStar Church Network:   An Association of Baptist Congregations, the Baptist General Association of Virginia, and the Southern Baptist Convention. The government of our church is vested in the body of baptized believers who comprise our membership. We are subject to no rule other than the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We declare the Holy Bible to be our authority in matters of faith and practice. We declare our kinship with Christians of like persuasions who likewise labor in the interests of the Kingdom of God.

Our Mission

Our mission is to reach persons in our community both inside and outside the church with God’s love and truth through relationships with equipped and empowered believers in order to lead them to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

What We Believe

As Southern Baptists, we are not a body governed by creeds or confessions, but we are set apart by distinctive beliefs and doctrines essentially along the line of those set forth below. We are a congregation of Baptists who cherish and defend religious liberty, and deny any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon any individual member. We honor the principles of soul competency and the priesthood of the believer, and we recognize that probably no member of our congregation agrees with every word of these confessions stated below and no such agreement in toto should be required. We further recognize the autonomy of the local Church. Our criterion for membership is simple: one must have a faith in Jesus Christ for one’s salvation, repent of one’s sins, and surrender one’s life to Jesus Christ, risen Savior and Lord, one must make a public profession of that faith, and one must be baptized by immersion as a believer. We encourage all of our members to come into a closer relationship to God through prayer, Bible study, fasting, witnessing and fellowship with other believers.

We emphasize that the Holy Bible is our authority in matters of faith and practice. In listing some of our “Core Values,” it is not our intent to address all aspects of the Christian faith as our members view them. Certainly, we do not wish to state anything in this document that excludes any person seeking Jesus Christ as his Savior, or which states anything other than what is found in God’s Word. We are a “people of the Bible.”

Salvation: God, being perfect, gave man a free will. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man has been separated from God by sin. All men sin and fall short of the glory of God. In order to bridge this separation, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die an atoning death for our sins. Christ is our Redeemer, Lord, Intercessor and Judge. God’s purpose for our lives is for us to spend eternity in His presence in Heaven. Eternal life is a free gift from God. In order to receive that gift we must know Jesus Christ. To know Him is to have faith that He and He alone is sufficient to save us from our sins. To know Him is to repent of our sins meaning turning away from self and turning toward Jesus Christ. To know Him is to surrender ourselves and our will to Him as Lord and Master of our lives.  Once we know Him, we become a child of God, justified, redeemed and our sins are washed away and our names are written in the Book of Life and eternal life is our inheritance.  Anyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire. (Genesis 1:26-30; 2: 5, 7, 18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8: 3-6; 32: 1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18, 23; 5:6, 12, 19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18, 29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19, 21-22; Ephesians 2: 1-22; Colossians 1: 21-22; 3:9-11. Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3: 14-17; 6: 2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27: 22-28; 6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14, 29; 3:3-21, 36; 5:24; 10:9, 28-29; 14:6; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; Revelations 20:11-15.)

The Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

A. God the Father: God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men. (Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.)

B. God the Son: Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet was without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord, fulfilling His promise that “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me”. (Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1: 18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16, 27; 17:5; 27; 28: 1-6, 19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18, 29; 10:30, 38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:6-11; 16:15-16, 28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20, 28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5, 20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3, 34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8, 24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8: 9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; 3: 20-21; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1: 1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15, 24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.)

C. God the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service. (Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10, 12; Luke 1:35; 4:1, 18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4, 38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11, 14-16, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11, 13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8, 14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.)

The Scriptures: God, who is Himself truth and speaks truth only, has inspired the Holy Bible in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself. Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superinteded by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives. Scripture is to be interpreted through Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, God’s own Son, who is himself revealed to us by the totality of the Scriptures and is its fulfillment. (Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalm 19:7-10; 119:11; 89; 105; 140; Isaiah 1:2; 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 30:2; 36; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 1; 5:39; 14:6; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; I Corinthians 2:10-13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; I Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.)

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Communion): We believe baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership. The Lord’s Supper is an act of obedience and communion whereby believers, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. Any person who has accepted Christ as his personal savior and Lord and professes to be a Christian is welcome to the Lord’s table. (Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16, 21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12.)

Church: A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.  This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members are equally responsible.  Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. (Matt. 16:15-19; Matt. 18:15-18; Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Acts 2:41-42; 5:13-14; 2 Cor. 9:13; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 4:14; Acts 14:23; Acts 6:3,5-6; Heb. 13:17; 1 Cor. 9:6,14; Matt. 23:8; I Peter 5:1-4.)

Stewardship: Recognizing that all things come from God, we encourage our members to share their blessings with Christ’s church. We are taught many things by the Scriptures including the concept of tithing, proper uses of our goods and monies, handling our savings and investments, and Christian generosity. As a church, we expect our members to cheerfully give to the upkeep, maintenance, missions, and causes of Christ’s church, and common expenses incurred in operating Christ’s church. (Genesis 14:20; Leviticus 27:30-32; Deuteronomy 8:18; Malachi 3:8-12; Matthew 6:1-4, 19-21; 19:21; 23:23; 25:14-29; Luke 12:16-21, 42; 16:1-13; Acts 2:44-47; 5:1-11; 17:24-25; 20:35; Romans 6:6-22; 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 6:19-20; 12; 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8-9; 12:15; Philippians 4:10-19; 1 Peter 1:18-19.)

Missions and Cooperations: It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ. Christ’s people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner. Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ’s Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people. This includes support of the Cooperative Program. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament. (Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15; 13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8, 16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2; 8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39 – 12:2; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17; Exodus 17:12; 18:17ff.; Judges 7:21; Ezra 1:3-4; 2:68-69; 5:14-15; Nehemiah 4; 8:1-5; Matthew 10:5-15; 20:1-16; 22:1-10; 28:19-20; Mark 2:3; Luke 10:1ff.; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1ff.; 4:31-37; 13:2-3; 15:1-35; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:5-15; 12; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Galatians 1:6-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Philippians 1:15-18.)

Christian Life & Education: All members are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. As a church we recognize that growing in Christ includes working to improve the world around us and avoiding sin in all its forms recognizing that the world will never find perfection until Christ returns. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, members should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including but not limited to adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every member should be a witness within his or her sphere of influence in order to promote the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. Members should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His Truth.

Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence.  In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage.  Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is equal with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the church.

Exodus 20:3-17; Leviticus 6:2-5; Deuteronomy 4:1, 5, 9, 14; 6:1-10; 10:12; 27:17; 31:12-13; Nehemiah 8:1-8; Job 28:28; Psalms 19:7ff.; 101:5; 119:11; Proverbs 3:13ff.; 4:1-10; 8:1-7,11; 15:14;  Ecclesiastes 7:19;  Micah 6:8; Zechariah 8:16; Matthew 5:2, 13-16, 43-48; 7:24ff.; 22:36-40; 25:35; 28:19-20; Mark 1:29-34; 2:3ff.; 10:21; Luke 2:40; 4:18-21; 10:27-37; 20:25; John 15:12; 17:15; Romans 12-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 5:9-10; 6:1-7; 7:20-24; 10:23-11:1; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 4:11-16; 6:5-9; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 2:3, 8-9; 3:12-17; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:14-17; Philemon; Hebrews 5:12-6:3; James 1:5, 27; 2:8; 3:17.

The Family:  God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.  It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.  It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord.  Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage.  Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth.  Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6, 15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15, 17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4 Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8, 14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.

Our membership is composed of persons who publicly confess Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, and who have been baptized by immersion in accord with Scriptural example and command, and who do otherwise accept and subscribe to New Testament doctrines as practiced by this church.

We do not believe that membership in this church, or any other local church, is a prerequisite for Salvation. However, we do require that those seeking a voting membership in our church will have accepted and declared Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, have been baptized by immersion (following the example of Jesus Christ, Himself).

After a person makes known his or her desire to become a member, he or she will be interviewed by the Pastor, or other person designated by the church, concerning his or her faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and his or her willingness to support the beliefs and doctrines practiced by this church. A person may then be received as a member by a majority vote of members present at any worship service or business meeting.