We Are a Church Committed to Historic Christianity.
We understand Scripture to teach that the Church is comprised of all those individuals for whom Christ died (Ephesians 5:25).
Throughout history, God has actively worked to gather a people for Himself and the revelation of God’s purposes and actions have been
given to us in the Holy Scriptures. As a local, visible church, we glory in God’s grace as it has been demonstrated in this
ingathering of those whom God has chosen to save.
Historically, the marks of a true church have been these: [Taken from
The Belgic Confession (1561, Article 29)]
- The pure doctrine of the gospel must be preached
- The pure administration of the sacraments must be applied
- The proper exercise of church discipline must be carried out
GRBC is committed to these 3 historical marks of a true, New Testament church. We labor to preach the Biblical gospel of
salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. We have little desire for what is “new”
because these things seem not to last.
We Are a Southern Baptist Church
We are committed to historic Baptist principles. By this I mean that we believe in the baptism of believers
only. Furthermore, we believe that only baptized believers should comprise the membership of this local church. As Baptists we stand
in the great tradition of men such as Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
We are committed to the Southern Baptist Convention in as much as it aligns with historic Southern Baptist doctrines. We see value in
partnering with other Southern Baptist churches for the sake of missions. We strive with them to see the true gospel reach every tribe,
tongue, people and nation (Revelation 5:9).
The historic Southern Baptist doctrines which we treasure are best summarized in the first recognized confession of faith that
Southern Baptists produced,
The Abstract of Principles. We long for a
sweeping revival of these great truths among our SBC brethren.
We Are a Reformed Church
In addition to being committed to historical Christianity and Baptist principles, we believe in the distinctive doctrines of the
Reformers such as John Calvin, Martin Luther and John Knox. The distinctive doctrines that flow from the Reformation include:
The Sovereignty of God
God is not only sovereign over all of creation, but He is sovereign in salvation as well (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Ephesians 1:3-11
& Romans 8:28-32). An individual can only be saved when God grants him the desire and ability to repent and believe in Jesus
Christ (2 Timothy 2:24-25).
The Importance of the Local Church
No Christian is called to live in isolation from other believers. God is gathering a people for Himself; He is not simply gathering
individuals. The local church provides essential means of grace that cause believers to endure until the end (Hebrews 10:19-25).
Therefore, membership at GRBC is taken very seriously. The primary benefit of membership is the protection that qualified spiritual
leaders and other believers provide to the covenant members and the central responsibilities of membership are outlined in our
Church Covenant.
A High View of Scripture
The reformed view of Scripture emphasizes the Bible’s inspiration, authority and sufficiency. Scripture alone must take authority
over the church and all of its practices. The Word and the Spirit work in perfect harmony to provide all the guidance required to
govern the life of the church. Therefore we strongly guard against saying more than the Bible says or less than the Bible says on any
issue. All churches must fight against being ruled by tradition, legalism or pragmatism and we find the reformed understanding of
Scripture helpful in winning this fight.
The Doctrines of Grace
The heart of reformed theology has been summarized in the acrostic
TULIP:
T - Total Depravity teaches us that all persons are corrupted by the Fall to the degree that Scripture declares that we
are born as spiritual corpses and we are at war with God. This condition causes us to find the pleasures of sin greater than the
pleasures of God and without God’s regenerating work within us, we would have no desire or ability to repent or believe.
U – Unconditional Election refers to God’s freedom to choose, before time began, those individuals whom He would
graciously save. God’s election is based completely on His own purposes and pleasure. He did not choose anyone based upon
foreseen merit or faith. The elect receive special grace from God that grants them repentance and faith and the non-elect receive
common grace, but spurn the kindness of God and therefore, incur just wrath.
L – Limited Atonement does not deny that Jesus’ death is sufficient to save a million sinful worlds like ours. Limited
atonement (better called
particular redemption) teaches us that what God desired the death of Jesus to accomplish, it did
accomplish. Jesus’ death atoned for those whom God had chosen to save. Jesus did not simply die to make salvation possible, but to
actually save! He died for particular people in such a way that the wrath of God was removed from them and the righteousness of Christ
credited to them.
I – Irresistible Grace reminds us that every person resists God until God chooses to overcome that resistance. Because
we are spiritually dead and therefore, unresponsive enemies of God, God must change us from within in order that we repent and believe.
God’s grace overcomes our sinful resistance and reveals Christ to us in such a compelling manner that we choose to repent and believe
and this is what we call conversion.
P – Perseverance of the Saints means that all who are regenerate and converted will be kept by the power of God and not
lose their salvation. Though they may stumble in sin, they will never fall from the grace which has justified them. Perseverance
until the end is the ultimate proof of one’s election.
While we are first and foremost Christians, we would gladly be called Calvinists as well, so long as those calling us that have a
clear understanding of what they are saying.
We Are a Racially Integrated Church
We name this among the central features of our church because having just attempted to elucidate the beauty of the gospel, we are
reminded that one purpose of the gospel is to create a new culture in which Christ is the center (Colossians 2:11) and this culture
must transcend all other cultures. We desire to visibly demonstrate the unifying power of the gospel as it overcomes racism and
ethnocentricity.
We Are A Church Filled With Sinners Who Rest In God’s Grace As We Fight Against Everything That Dishonors Christ In Our Lives
In other words, it’s easier to say we are all these things than to actually be all these things. We are a very imperfect people who
fail daily. Every covenant member of GRBC has struggles with sin. Not one of us has fully overcome…yet. And while we wait for our
Lord to come, we rest in Christ, we glory in Christ and we are determined to be aware of our sin, but more aware of Christ.
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