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About UsWe are a diverse family of committed followers of Jesus who study the Bible together and seek to live it out in our relationships, communities, and world.
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Our Beliefs
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The Bible
The Holy Spirit guided human authors and superintended the process of the writing of Scripture such that every part of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God, and without error in the original writings. The Bible is the only authority for how to live and what to believe. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; Matthew 5:18; 22:43; Acts 4:24-25) God There is only one God who eternally exists in three equally divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Triune God is eternal, uncreated, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, omnipresent, perfect in holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, truthfulness, justice, and love. He created and sustains all things, and is sovereign over all creation. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16-17; John 8:58; Acts 5:3-4; Genesis 21:33; Exodus 3:14; Psalm 102:27; Matthew 19:26; Psalm 139:1-4; 104:24; 139:7-10; 1 Peter 1:16; Psalm 19:7-9; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; John 14:6; Psalm 76:8-9; John 3:16; Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:3; Romans 8:28) Jesus Christ Jesus is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life of perfect righteousness, died on a cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, and rose from the dead in a resurrected body three days later. Jesus will make a premillennial bodily return to earth. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (John 1:1-3; Hebrews 2:14-17; Matthew 1:18-25; Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Acts 1:11; Revelation 20:1-10; Philippians 2:10-11) The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is fully God, and the third Person of the Trinity. The Spirit convicts the world of sin. The Spirit takes residence in believers at the moment of salvation, making them temples of God who are sealed by the Spirit. The Spirit applies the salvation that was accomplished by Christ, washing believers clean and setting them apart as holy. Believers are able to resist or grieve the Spirit, but are called to keep in step with the Spirit. The Spirit gives Spiritual gifts that are to be used to help build up the church. Those who live by the Spirit will put their gifts to use and they will yield the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control and life. (Acts 5:3-4; John 16:8; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 5:25; 1 Corinthians 12; Galatians 5:22; Romans 8:6) Human Beings God created humans in the image of God. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, all men and women are sinful and in an eternally lost condition apart from the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Genesis 1:26-27; 3:1-19; Romans 3:23-24; 6:23; John 3:18) Salvation Salvation is not attained either wholly or partially through good works, but is by grace alone through faith in Christ Jesus. God desires that all should come to repentance, and he enables men and women to repent and believe in Christ Jesus as Savior. (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 4:19) At the moment of salvation believers are justified, which means they are declared innocent before God based on the righteousness of Christ. They are regenerated, which means being spiritually reborn to new life. They are adopted into the family of God. They are reconciled with God, and united with Christ. They receive the Holy Spirit. They are freed from slavery to sin. They are sanctified, set apart as holy, and have begun the process of sanctification where they become more and more like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 3:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:19; John 8:36; 2 Corinthians 3:18) Eternal Destiny Believers become present with Christ upon their physical death, and will ultimately be resurrected and spend eternity with God in the New Heaven and New Earth. (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:35-58; Revelation 21:1-5) Those who reject the offer of salvation will die in their sins, be resurrected for judgment, and face eternal conscious punishment and separation from God. (John 8:24; 5:29; Revelation 20:10-15) The Church The true worldwide church consists of all who have repented and believed in Jesus Christ. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, who is the Head of the church. Believers are called to gather as local churches to worship God, evangelize, pray, study the Scriptures, serve, exercise their spiritual gifts, grow, and observe the ordinances of baptism and communion which, while they do not impart salvation, are important physical symbols and reminders of spiritual realities. (1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 5:23-27; Acts 2:47; 1:8; 2:42; 6:4; Ephesians 4:12; Romans 12; Matthew 28:18-20; 26:26-29) |
Our History |
On April 26, 1944, thirty of God’s children met by candlelight and voted the adoption of a constitution, elected officers, and covenanted together "by the aid of the Holy Spirit... to walk together in Christian love" and so the First Baptist Church of Westchester was born. The government of the church is vested in its membership and is subject to the control of no other ecclesiastical body.
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