You may well be wondering what the “Baptist” bit of our church name actually means. Here’s a simple explanation:

Denominations

There is a high-level division of the worldwide Christian church into Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox; then the Protestant churches are divided into many denominations. You’ve probably heard of many of these: Methodist, Anglican (Church of England), Presbyterian, United Reformed, Lutheran, Wesleyan and so on. The Baptist church is simply one of these denominations. There are also several “free” churches, which are independent, not belonging to a denomination.

The Protestant church formed after the Reformation in the early 16th century, when Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King Jr!) stirred up discussion to the Roman Catholic church’s belief that the pope has divine characteristics and that your sins — and those of your deceased relatives — could be absolved through payment of indulgences to the Church (very simplistic explanation). This was a period of severe social and religious upheaval, and various groups split off pursuing their own particular set of beliefs. This is the basis of a denomination: the adherence to a specific set of beliefs.

But they can’t all be right?!

The number of denominations can be confusing to the new Christian, and to many more mature ones! However, all “mainstream” Christian denominations (including Catholic and Orthodox, with a couple of notable exceptions) share an important group of core beliefs:

Existence of God as divine, almighty creator of the universe
Jesus Christ was fully human and yet fully divine, (that is, “the Son of God”)
Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, and lived a completely sinless life
He was crucified and died; God resurrected him after three days
He ascended into heaven and acts as the only intermediary between man and God
He will return at the end of the world
All who believe in him will have eternal life
The Bible is God-inspired

The separate denominations add additional beliefs and understandings to these, and include their own traditions and rituals that distinguish them. In former years, there was a lot of animosity between denominations, but the movement now is towards unity. In fact, we are actively involved in an organisation called Churches Together in Billericay (CTB) which is made up of representatives from the various Protestant and Catholic churches in the town.

So what is a Baptist?

This section is condensed from several sources, primarily material from the Baptist Union web site.

Obviously, the key belief is related to baptism—I expect you saw that one coming. Many denominations practise infant baptisms, also known as christenings. However, Baptists (and some other denominations) believe that baptism is for believers only: those that are able to declare that Jesus is Lord. Baptism is by full public immersion, and symbolises death from the old life and rebirth into the new. There are plenty of biblical references to this. If you want to learn more, come along to the next baptism service—watch the events page, we hold a few every year.

There are several other beliefs held by Baptists, although none is unique to the Baptist church. It is the combination of all of them that defines a Baptist. These include: the authority of the Bible; the church as a community of believers at a local level; the priesthood of all believers (that is, church members meet together to discern the will of God for the church); interdependence through regional, national and international associations and the importance of evangelism (which literally means “sharing the good news”).

The formal definition used by the Baptist Union reads:

    That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.
    That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the third day’.
    That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world.

What does this mean for me?

Whatever your beliefs, you are welcome to attend our church. Hopefully the teaching and sermons you hear and the conversations you have with others will help you to understand our beliefs. Many of our members started coming to this church, not because they were 'baptists' but because they preferred its style to any of the alternatives. You don't even have to get baptised, although the benefits of this will be mentioned from time to time.

The most important thing is that you find a church that you feel comfortable in and are able to develop as a Christian. If you don’t find that at our church, but prefer another local church, that’s fine. Our priority is to win people for God’s kingdom, not to have the biggest church attendance in the area.