About us
At First Baptist Church of Hamlet we seek to follow Jesus, emulating his actions and obeying his teachings contained in the Scriptures. We are called to serve and to minister, whether it is down the street or around the world. We a called to be on mission. It is the calling and responsibility of all believers to be ministers.
About the People
Our congregation is a friendly bunch. We try hard to make all people feel at home in First Baptist Church of Hamlet. We sincerely desire to reach out into our world in loving ministry with the message of Jesus Christ. We enjoy our time as a whole congregation on Sunday mornings, but we also have various groups of different ages who meet throughout the week. Our members pray for one another and for our community, and we care for each other during times of sickness or other difficulties.
About Worship
In our worship services, the Bible is preached with passion and simplicity. The Scriptures are applied to daily living in the real world. We have a wonderful choir that provides music for our services. We are always happy to have members of the congregation participate in our services through prayer or scripture reading. The goal of our music, prayer, and preaching is a true and life-changing encounter with God.
Our Beliefs
We believe in one God, who created heaven and earth. All people were created by God in the image of God. God is eternal and exists as one being with three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son incarnate as a human being. Jesus was both fully God and fully human. He is the fulfillment of the hopes given to Israel by the prophets of a Messiah chosen by God. He lived a sinless life, performed miracles, and taught the truth. Out of love he sacrificed his own life for the forgiveness of the sins of all people. On the third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, truly and fully God along with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit dwells within all who call upon Jesus Christ for salvation. This is the same Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets and the authors of scripture long ago.
We believe that all people have sinned and are separated from God. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has offered salvation to all who repent, restoring them to right relationship with God.
We believe that at Christ's return he will judge all people. Those who have rejected God will be separated from God forever in hell. Those who have accepted the grace and mercy of God will live forever with God in heaven.
These things are revealed to us through the holy scripture, the 66 books of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. These scriptures are inspired by God and are trustworthy and authoritative.
The previous beliefs are shared between all Christians. As Baptists, we have a number of specific beliefs:
We believe that the church is formed of all who choose to trust in the name of Jesus Christ for salvation. This choice can never be made on behalf of a person by any other person, group of people, or institution. For this reason we affirm the principle of the separation of church and state. Those who belong to the church are those who have heard the call of God and obeyed it, not those who have been coerced by a governing authority.
We believe that the ordinance of baptism is reserved for those who have accepted Jesus Christ personally. Baptism is properly practiced by immersion as a symbol of the believer's identification with Christ's death and resurrection. We also give the ordinance of the Lord's Supper as an act of rememberance of the death of Christ. All who affirm personal faith in Jesus are welcome to participate. At both baptism and the Lord's Supper, God is powerfully present in the congregation.
We believe in the priesthood of all believers, that everyone who calls upon Jesus Christ has equal access to God through Jesus. Though we are glad to affirm God's call upon specific people to be ministers, the ministers have no special access to God. Because every Christian has access to God, the important decisions of the church are made by the entire congregation. We affirm the calling of ministers and deacons through ordination. We are willing to ordain anyone who has been called, male or female.
We believe in the autonomy of the local church under the lordship of Christ. Evey church, including our own, is responsible to follow Christ directly, without any external authority placing constraints on the congregation. We do cooperate with other Christians in many ways, but other churches, groups of churches, or bodies of ministers cannot overrule the decision of our congregation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the responsibility of all Christians to spread the message of Jesus Christ, both locally and around the world. This is done both through telling the story of Jesus and through acts of love in Jesus' name.
Affiliation
Hamlet First Baptist is dually aligned with CBF and SBC and affirms women in all areas of ministry.
