What We Believe

Sheddocksley Baptist Church is a mainstream Christian Church and therefore holds in common the central beliefs of the Christian Faith.

We believe that God as our creator loves us and longs to have a relationship with us.

However because of our sinful nature we are separated from him and no amount of good works or religious activity can bridge the gap between us.

The good news is that God took the initiative and sent his only Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth. He lived a sinless life and demonstrated that he was the long awaited Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the world. He died on the cross as a substitute for us, taking the punishment for our sins. He was then raised to life again, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit.

So how should we respond to this expression of love? Each one of us need to receive for ourselves God's gift of grace. We do this by firstly turning back to the Father confessing our sins, secondly we acknowledge that Jesus died for us and place our faith in his saving work. Thirdly we ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us and cause us to be born spiritually. Finally we seek to follow Jesus and look to the bible as our guide for everyday life.

As a Baptist Church we have some distinct beliefs:

We believe that people are baptised by immersion as an expression of their own faith in Jesus, just as they were in the early church.

We believe that each Christian has direct access to God and that God can use any of us to fulfil his purposes on earth.

We regard each local church as being competent to manage its own affairs, although we seek to have interdependent relationships with other Baptist churches and Christians in other denominations.

Due to the persecution Baptists have experienced historically we hold that people should have the freedom to express their beliefs without restriction or persecution.