We affirm that ‘Jesus is Lord’. He is Lord over our individual lives, the life of each church, and the life of the whole world.
A Christian is someone who is in a living relationship with God and who recognises Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Christians recognise the need to change and live in a way that does not prevent a relationship with God.
We as Baptists, like other Christians, believe that there is no one so important in human history as Jesus. He is “God with us”, and “God’s way of showing us what God is like” (John 1:14).
We believe in God the creator of all that is.
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
We believe He was born of a virgin, lived, ministered to people around Him, was crucified on a cross, died and rose again.
We believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is at work today.
We believe that each one of us is individually responsible before God and that we have a duty to work to free people from want, discrimination, ignorance, oppression and injustice.
We share our basic beliefs with many believers from other denominations.
We believe that the whole the Bible is the Word of God because we believe that its writers were uniquely inspired by God’s Spirit.
Therefore the Bible is our guide in matters of belief and behaviour. We look to the Holy Spirit, and God himself to deepen our understanding and bring the truth to light.
From the example of the New Testament, Baptists claim that baptism is for those who believe and able to declare that Jesus is Lord. Here in Boston Baptist Church we accept into membership Christians from other traditions who may not have been baptised as adults but who have made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
Because of our conviction that the Church is made up only of freely believing disciples of Jesus Christ, we believe that baptism is the outward sign of our joining ourselves to Christ and His Church.
We baptise people by immersion. That means after a person has publicly declared themselves to be a Christian, they are “buried” for a moment in water, in a baptistery (a large tank under the floor in the church), then to “rise up” to a new life.
As a symbol of Jesus’ claim on our lives, baptism by immersion is practised, representing a desire to die to self and to live for Christ.
Baptists understand the church as a community of believers gathered in the name of Jesus Christ for worship, witness and service.
Baptists believe that everyone is equal before God and that anyone that attends a Baptist church has a role to play and can use their God-given skills and talents for the good of the church and the community.
These gifts include teaching, evangelism, social action, pastoral care, prayer, healing, taking part in worship, administration or hospitality.
We Acknowledge that all Christians are members of the universal church. However, those who believe that God has called them to serve in our fellowship become ‘members’ of our church and meet together at the church meeting to discern God’s will for us.
Baptists believe that each Christian has a duty to share their faith with others.
We recognise that mission is not just evangelism, but also includes promoting justice, social welfare, healing, education and peace in the world.
We believe that Religious freedom for all has always been a keystone of Baptist understanding.
Acceptance of differences of outlook and diversity of practice is encouraged within Baptist churches, as well as in our wider world.
