Baptists cherish and defend religious liberty, and deny the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon a church or body of churches. We honor the principles of soul competency and the priesthood of believers, affirming together both our liberty in Christ and our accountability to each other under the Word of God.
God
There is only one true God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; who subsist in unity, and also as three separate distinct Persons.
Jesus Christ
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 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. Each believer has direct access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible
The Bible is God’s Holy Word, without error, and is the sole authority for life.
Humans
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.
Church
The Church is the local body of baptized believers with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head.
Since its organization in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has grown to over 16 million members who worship in 47,000 churches in the United States. Southern Baptists sponsor about 5,000 home missionaries serving the United States, Canada, Guam and the Caribbean, as well as sponsoring more than 5,000 foreign missionaries in 153 nations of the world.
The term "Southern Baptist Convention" refers to both the denomination and its annual meeting. Working through 1,200 local associations and 41 state conventions and fellowships. Southern Baptist share a common bond of basic Biblical beliefs and a commitment to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world.
You become a Southern Baptist by uniting with a Southern Baptist church, one in friendly cooperation with the general Southern Baptist enterprise or reaching the work for Christ. Typically church membership is a matter of accepting Jesus as your Savior and Lord and experiencing believer's baptism by immersion.