Core Beliefs
The following are the core beliefs of First Baptist Church-Crowley based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.
Baptist Faith and Message, 1963
Adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention
May 9, 1963
I. THE SCRIPTURES
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of
Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation
for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. It reveals the principles by
which God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of
Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious
opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
II. GOD
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. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.
The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal
attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
III. MAN
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His
creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with
freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human
race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his
original innocence; whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward
sin, and as soon as they are capable of moral action become transgressors and are under
condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to
fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God
created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses
dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
IV. SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.
In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new
creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of
sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from
sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality
to Him as Lord and Saviour.
Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all
sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of
peace and favor with God.
B. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart
to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue
throughout the regenerate person’s life.
C. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the
redeemed.
V. GOD'S PURPOSE OF GRACE
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, sanctifies, and
glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in
connection with the end. It is a glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely
wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.
All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by
His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers
may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their
graces and comforts, bring reproach on the cause of Christ, and temporal judgments on
themselves, yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
VI. THE CHURCH
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are
associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of
Christ, committed to His teachings, 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.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the
redeemed of all the ages.
VII. BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
Christian 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 Saviour, 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 prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to
the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through
partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and
anticipate His second coming.
Adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention
May 9, 1963
I. THE SCRIPTURES
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of
Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation
for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. It reveals the principles by
which God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of
Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious
opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
II. GOD
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. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.
The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal
attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
III. MAN
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His
creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with
freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human
race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his
original innocence; whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward
sin, and as soon as they are capable of moral action become transgressors and are under
condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to
fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God
created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses
dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
IV. SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.
In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new
creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of
sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from
sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality
to Him as Lord and Saviour.
Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all
sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of
peace and favor with God.
B. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart
to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue
throughout the regenerate person’s life.
C. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the
redeemed.
V. GOD'S PURPOSE OF GRACE
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, sanctifies, and
glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in
connection with the end. It is a glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely
wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.
All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by
His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers
may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their
graces and comforts, bring reproach on the cause of Christ, and temporal judgments on
themselves, yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
VI. THE CHURCH
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are
associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of
Christ, committed to His teachings, 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.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the
redeemed of all the ages.
VII. BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
Christian 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 Saviour, 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 prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to
the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through
partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and
anticipate His second coming.