What we Believe
We believe the Bible to be the Word of God and we hold to the doctrines of the Trinity,
salvation by trusting in Jesus Christ, repentance from sin, and that Christians are to live
lives separate from conformities to this world. We believe in missions, Christian
education, the ordianances of the Lord's Supper, baptism, washing of the saint's feet,
Spirit-filled lives (not charismatic) that result in witnessing to men about Christ, eternal
Hell and Heaven, and all else the Bible teaches.
Articles of Faith
1. Trinity—We believe there is but one true and living God whose essence is spirit and
who exists in a Trinity of equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and
that they are each equal and infinite in their being, power, glory, and attributes.
The Father—We believe that God the Father is the First Person of the divine Trinity
who is absolute in His deity possessing all the attributes of deity and equal with the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
2. Jesus Christ—We believe in the absolute deity of Jesus Christ our Lord and that He
shares equally in all the attributes of deity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We
believe in His virgin birth, in His perfect and sinless humanity, in His miracles and in
their literalness, in His substitutionary, satisfactory, propitiatory, atoning death on
Calvary, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in
His present intercessory ministry, and in His personal return for the Church.
3. Holy Spirit—We believe in the absolute and full deity of the Holy Spirit, the Third
Member of the blessed Trinity, who is equal with the Father and the Son. It was the
Father who gave His Son, the Son who gave His life, and it is the Holy Spirit who today
gives spiritual life to those who believe in Christ. He indwells the believer and
empowers him and Christ’s Church for service giving the various gifts to the members
of the body of Christ to aid the Church in accomplishing the Great Commission.
4. Scriptures—We believe that holy men of old wrote the Bible as they were moved (lit.
“Being borne along”) by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), which harmonizes with 2 Timothy
3:15, which teaches that all Scripture is inspired (lit. “God breathed” or “breathed out by
God”). This means that the Holy Spirit so superintended the writers of the Holy Scripture
that, although they utilized their own vocabularies and experiences, they wrote the very
exact message God intended without any omission, addition, or error which means that
the Bible is theologically, historically, scientifically, and geographically correct since the
Holy Spirit is incapable of erring. Being plenary verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit
guarantees the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible in every area in which it speaks
and makes it the highest authority and guide for the believer. The King James Version
of the Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the church.
5. Salvation—We believe in salvation by grace totally apart from any human merit.
Salvation is bestowed by a gracious God upon unworthy man conditioned solely upon
his faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 3:
16).
Security of the Believer—We believe that the Word of God teaches the security of the
believer, that God will keep securely in His hand (John 10:25-30) those who are trusting
in Jesus, but offers absolutely no hope for that person who is not trusting in Christ (1
Peter 1:5). The link that unites God and man is faith (John 3:16). The security of the
believer is based upon a continuous faith in Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:21-23; John 3:
16; Hebrews 3:12-13). We believe that the Scriptures present the possibility of an
authentic believer ceasing to believe (1 John 2:24; Hebrews 3:12-13) but not in the
probability (Hebrews 6:9). We believe that apostasy is committed by willful unbelief and
is without remedy (Hebrews 6:4-6). Simply stated, we believe that God has given to the
believer Scriptural grounds for knowing positively that he is saved; that God has
promised and provided to keep His children even in times of failure, when they fall out
of fellowship with Him; that God has assured His followers that as believers they are
secure in Christ and shall never perish; but that God has, also, clearly warned the
Christian against the possibility of making ship-wreck of his personal faith in Christ, and
thereby, becoming an apostate, and
that, if such should happen, there is no way he could be restored to salvation—his
doom would
be sealed.
New Birth—We believe that all men are born with a depraved nature and are sinful by
nature and by choice and as such are alienated from God, born dead in trespasses
and sin. We believe that this condition can only be reconciled by the new birth, which is
a work of regeneration wrought by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-6) Titus 3:5), conditioned
upon a man’s personal faith in the atoning work of Jesus on Calvary as sufficient
payment for his sin (Ephesians 2:8-10).
6. Resurrection—We believe in future bodily resurrection of the believer, at which time
he will receive a resurrected glorified body, and that the new body will be joined with the
soul so that the child of God will spend eternity to come as a body/soul being. We
likewise believe that the unbeliever will be resurrected with a body and soul, which will
forever suffer in the torments of hell.
7. Judgment—We believe in the future Judgment Seat of Christ at which time the
believer will stand before Christ and be judged and rewarded for the deeds done in the
body whether they be good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). We also believe in the Great
White Throne of Judgment for the unsaved, where their lives will be reviewed and
judged according to their works, which will determine the degree of their punishment in
the eternal flames of hell (Revelation 20:11-15).
8. Devil—We believe in the existence of a literal personal evil and malicious being
called Satan or the Devil who led a rebellion against God at some point before creation
and was cast out of heaven along with the angels (demons) who followed him. He and
his demonic hordes seek to tempt men to sin and thereby doom them to eternity in the
fires of hell. His doom and that of mankind who follow him has been pronounced as the
lake of fire where he will one day be banished and shut up forever.
9. Church—We believe in the local church as God’s autonomous, self-governing,
divinely ordained institution for this age, whose head is Christ (Ephesians 5:22-23;
Colossians 1:18) and whole life and vitality are produced by the regenerating indwelling
presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Great Commission (to
evangelize and edify) is still the great task of the Church today (Matthew 28:18-20). We
believe that the individual local church is the highest spiritual authority on earth outside
the Christian home and that all other parachurch organizations or institutions exist by
the authority granted by the local church or cooperating local churches, and that their
only right of existence is as they ultimately aid the Church in fulfilling the Great
Commission.
10. Pastor—We believe that the pastor, as the under-shepherd, is to lead his flock as
he is led by Christ through His Word (Acts 20:28). He is not to lord over God’s heritage
but to lead by example (1 Peter 5:2-3) and as a servant (Matthew 23:11). The sheep
(as a whole or in part) are never told to leadthemselves, that is the under-shepherd’s
task. We believe that the pastor is to work in cooperation with his church board but is
never to be subservient to the board, recognizing that in the multitude of counselors
there is safety (Proverbs 11:14).
11. Ordinances—We believe that God has given His Church the ordinance of Baptism,
which is to be administered only to believers, by immersion and in the name of Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit; and the Lord’s Supper, which is to be open to all born
again believers present; and the washing of the Saint’s feet—Matthew 28:19,20;
Romans 6:3,4; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13: 1-17.
12. Separated Living—We believe that all Christians should live in such a manner as
not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and separation from all religious
apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of
God. (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
13. Human Sexuality—We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual
activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and woman. We believe that
any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication,
adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. Any employee of
the church becoming pregnant or causing pregnancy as a result of consensual
intercourse, outside of the marriage relationship, shall be terminated from employment.
(Gen. 2:22-24; Gen. 19:5-13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29, 1 Cor. 5:1,6-9;
1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4).
We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman
(Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor. 7-10; Eph. 5:22-23).
We believe that both men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but
that God has ordained distinct and separate functions for men and women in the home
and the church. The husband is to be the leader of the home and men are to be the
leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church. Accordingly only men are eligible for
licensure and ordination by the church (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12).
14. Divorce and Remarriage—We believe that God hates divorce and intends
marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. Divorce and remarriage are regarded as
adultery except on the grounds of fornication. Although divorced, Christians (even if they
are remarried) may hold positions of service in the church and be greatly used of God
for Christian service. But they may not be considered for the office of pastor or deacon
(Mal. 2:14-17; Matt. 19:3-12; Rom. 7:1-3; 1 Tim. 2:2,12; Titus 1:6).
15. Abortion—We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn
child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of
unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that that abortions of
pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population
control, or the mental well-being of the mother is acceptable (Job 3:16; Psalms 51:5;
139:14-16; Isa. 44:24; 49:1,5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).
16. Missions—We believe that God has given the church a great commission to
proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every
nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
As ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations
and not wait for them to come to us (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 13:10; 16:15; Luke 24:46-48;
John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20).
17. Giving—We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s
wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe
that God has established the tithe (10%) as a basis for giving, but that every Christian
should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church,
the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that a Christian
relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been
made (Gen. 14:20; Mal. 3:10; 28:22; Prov. 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:
6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17).
18. Creation—We believe in the literal historicity of the Genesis account of God’s
creating this earth and man in seven literal twenty-four hour days, of man’s early home
in the Garden paradise, of his fall by eating the forbidden fruit, of his spiritual death and
depraved nature resulting from this rebellion, and of his expulsion from the Garden.
We totally reject evolution as being merely an alternate theory of origins. It dictates one’
s total worldview including his foundation for truth and morals. Evolution is the creation
of the depraved mind of fallen man in his vain attempt to avoid God. If God did not
create then He has no right to control. Evolution turns this universe into a giant machine
operated by the laws of nature, ruling God out and denying the supernatural origin of the
Bible and all biblical miracles. Evolution ultimately deifies man and makes God
irrelevant and unnecessary. Evolution and biblical Christianity are incompatible.
Free Will Baptist Church Covenant
Having given ourselves to God by faith in Christ, and adopted the Word of God as our
rule of faith and practice, we now give ourselves to one another be the Will of God in
this solemn Covenant.
We promise, by His Grace, to love and obey Him in all things, to avoid all appearance
of evil, to abstain from all sinful amusements and unholy conformities to the world, from
all sale and sanction of intoxicating beverages, and to “provide all things honest in the
sign of all men.”
We agree to faithfully discharge our obligation in reference to the study of the
Scriptures, family devotions, sector prayer, social worship; and by self-denial, faith and
good works, endeavor to “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ.” We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together for church and
conferences, public worship and all the observances of the ordinances of the Gospel;
nor fail to pay according to our ability for the support of the church, of its poor and all its
benevolent work. We agree to accept Christian admonition and reproof with meekness,
and to watch over one another in love, endeavoring to “keep the unity of the Spirit” in the
bond of peace. To be careful of one another’s happiness and reputation, and seek to
strengthen the weak, encourage the afflicted, admonish the erring, and as far as we are
able, promote the success of the church and the Gospel.
We will everywhere hold Christian principle sacred and Christian obligations and
enterprises supreme, counting it our chief business in life to extend the influence of
Christ in society, constantly praying and toiling that the Kingdom of God may come, and
His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. To this end we agree to labor for the
promotion of educational and denominational enterprises, support of missions, the
success of Sunday schools, and evangelistic efforts for the salvation of the world. And
may the God of peace sanctify us wholly and preserve us blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday
9:30 a.m. Sunday School
10:30 a.m. Morning Worship
6:00 p.m. Evening Worship
Wednesday
7:00 p.m. Youth Group
7:00 p.m. Bible Study
3713 Pennington Lane
Woodbridge, VA, 22192
(709) 590-5199
Directions