What We Believe
One God
There is one God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; who subsist in unity, and also as three separate distinct Persons.
Jesus Christ Is God’s Son
Jesus Christ is God’s Son. He was born of a virgin as both God and man, lived a sinless life, died to atone for the sins of human beings, was buried, arose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and will literally return to earth.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the divine helper, assistant, counselor and instructor and His work is to reveal Christ, convict of sin, lead to repentance, guide believers, comfort, strengthen, and sanctify the soul.
The Bible
The Bible is God’s Holy Word, without error, and is the sole authority for life.
Created Man’s Need for God
Human beings are the special creations of God, made in His image. They fell through the sin of the first man, Adam, and all human beings are sinners in need of salvation.
Salvation
Salvation is a gift through repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Every person who truly is saved is eternally secure in the Lord Jesus Christ and will spend eternity in heaven, while those who die in their sins will spend eternity in hell.
Baptism
Baptism is by immersion after salvation and is done in obedience to Jesus Christ’s command.
Of course the Bible would be our ultimate belief statement, but Grace does affirm the 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message. This is not a creed but is a generalized document which would be representative of what most Southern Baptists believe.
Grace holds a high view of Scripture. We believe, preach and teach unapologetically that the Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant and infallible Word. We believe that it is without error and is complete.
We believe that the Bible teaches that all things come from God and He expects us to be good stewards of those resources. We also see a Scriptural pattern for the support of the local church by returning 10% of everything that God has given to us. We believe that the New Testament pattern is that all believers are given a mandate to support the local church with their tithe (10% of their income). Many believers support other para-church ministries and mission work but that work should always be supported by an offering above and beyond what is given to the local church.
Yes. Grace is part of the Southern Baptist denomination.
In 1845 a group of Baptist churches met in Augusta, Georgia, and agreed to begin cooperating together to do missions work around the world. From there the denomination began and grew. Today there are over 16 million Southern Baptists and some 42,000 churches. The denomination exists so that churches can cooperate together to do missions work on a local, state, national and international level. The main way that Southern Baptists work cooperatively is by giving money to the Cooperative Program (CP).
The Cooperative Program funds the following:
- The six Southern Baptist seminaries for theological training of church leaders
- The North American Mission Board (NAMB) for mission work in the United States and Canada
- The International Mission Board (IMB) for mission work around the world
- The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) which is the public policy arm of the SBC and is dedicated to addressing social, moral, and ethical concerns with particular attention on their impact on American families and their faith.
- The Annuity Board which allows workers in Southern Baptist entities and churches to invest in a retirement program
- The Southern Baptist Foundation which was established to provide a wide range of investment and estate planning services for Southern Baptist Convention agencies, institutions and individuals. Its objective is to support the Convention in its goal of spreading the gospel.
Grace also cooperates with churches on a local level to do work through the Northshore Baptist Association and we cooperate with other Louisiana churches through the Louisiana Baptist Convention to do work in our state.
Many people mistakenly call the denomination the Southern Baptist Convention, but this is actually the name of the annual meeting which is held each June. It is in this meeting that Southern Baptist churches send messengers to conduct the business of the denomination.
No one, other than the Lord Jesus, tells a Southern Baptist church what to do. All Southern Baptist churches are independent but choose to work together or cooperate to train and send out workers to spread the Gospel around the world.
Grace is Pastor led, deacon served, team organized, and church approved.
- The Pastor: The Pastor leads the church. He sets the vision for the church and leads the staff in having a focused plan for direction of the ministry of the church. Certain financial and personnel decisions must be made in consultation with various teams, the deacons and with the approval of the church body.
- The Deacons: The deacons serve the church body in many ways. Their various roles include serving as a sounding board to the pastor, approving certain financial and personnel decisions, serving on both permanent and special teams, ministering to the widows of the church, being on call for emergencies, and providing extra security during worship services.
- The Teams: There are two types of teams. Standing or permanent teams and special teams. Standing teams come alongside the pastor and staff to help with the ministry of the church. There are advisory and approval functions of certain issues or processes within their scope.