Jesus commanded his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mat 28:19-20, ESV) This makes perfect sense when we remember that another word for “disciple” is “student.” In one sense, Jesus was commanding his students to, “Go therefore and make students of all nations.”
The preaching and teaching ministry of First Baptist Church is designed “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Eph 4:12-14, ESV) Our methods include:
- expository preaching
- Sunday School
- a monthly journal
The goal of these things is not only to grow in our understanding of God and our obedience to him, but above all to grow in our love for God. At First Baptist, we take the imagination seriously.
Expository preaching: Expository preaching brings the Bible to bear in all of its power upon all of life. The expository preacher chooses a passage from the Bible, explains it in its context, and exhorts his hearers to think, feel, and do what the text teaches. He tries to avoid taking the passage out of context, or using it as a pretext to launch off into something that has little or nothing to do with the text itself. You can listen to some of these sermons here on this website.
Sunday School: Over the last few years our Sunday School has covered the feasts of Israel, the geography of the Holy Land, our church’s doctrinal statement, methods of biblical counseling, how to be changed into the image of Christ, how to read the Bible to get the most out of it, a biblical study ofThe Imitation of Christ, by Thomas À Kempis, a survey of the Old Testament, Dispensationalism, Conflict, the Gospel of Matthew and the Conscience. All ages meet together.
We want to meet people where they are, and hope to provide something for everybody, children, adults, new Christians, and mature Christians.