Our Beliefs

This isn't a full statement of faith, but it will give you a sense of what our church believes and how that might be different from other churches. If you have specific questions about what Christians or our church believes, reach out to our pastors. 

We are a Christian Church

Like all other Christians, we believe that Jesus is Lord and God has raised him from the dead. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. We believe in the trinity as expressed in the historic confession of faith, the Nicene Creed. 

We are a Protestant Church

We believe in the Reformation, the 16th century retrieval of the ancient teachings of Jesus and the apostles in response to the errors that had accumulated in the church. Protestant churches are united in the following beliefs, often called the fives solas (sola is Latin for only):

  • sola scriptura - by scripture alone: the word of God is our only infallible rule of faith and practice 
  • sola fide - by faith alone: we are made right with God only by faith in Christ, not on account of any good works we have done
  • sola gratia - by grace alone: we are made right with God only because God has been gracious to us, not because we have earned it
  • solus Christus - by Christ alone: we are made right with God only by the mediation of our high priest Christ so we do not need another priest to serve as an intermediary between us and God
  • soli Deo gloria - glory to God alone: while we respect the Christians who have gone before us, we do not worship, pray to, or glorify saints or icons. 
We are a Baptist Church

We believe that a person should only baptized when they can make their own profession of faith in Jesus, not when they are a baby.

We believe that the whole congregation has authority over the church so all major decisions in the church are made by a congregational vote (like New England town meeting) rather than by the pastor alone, a committee of elders, a bishop, or a denomination.

We are in fellowship with the American Baptist Churches (ABCUSA)

We are part of a national network of baptist churches known as ABCUSA. This network is a big-tent with around 5,000 churches from a variety of backgrounds partnering to support missionaries and ministries in America and around the world. 

ABCUSA was formerly known as the Northern Baptist Convention or the Triennial Convention and its roots date back to the first baptists in America in the 1600s. The more well known Southern Baptist Convention split from the northerners in 1845 over the issue of slavery. 

 

We are in fellowship with the American Baptist Churches of Vermont and New Hampshire (ABCVNH)

We cooperate regionally with a network of over 100 baptist churches in Vermont and New Hampshire. These churches are largely united in the essentials of the faith, but have no required position on secondary issues such as the exact nature of the end times, the age of the earth, or Calvinism/Arminianism.