Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
My family has held to the Christian faith as far back as we can go to the 1300's There have been Pastors, Rectors, Deacons and Churchwardens; most were of the Anglican faith but now our direct line is Baptist. Since August 2012 I have served in a Russian-speaking ministry in Cedar Park, Texas: Novaya-Nadezhda (New Hope) presently I work with the youth but I am working towards ordination and becoming a Commissioned Minister while improving my Russian language skills. I currently hold a Deacon Ministry Award from the Christian Leaders Institute.
As Baptists, we believe the following:
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The Bible is our sole authority for all matters of faith and practice.
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The church should be autonomous or self-governing.
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The believer does not need a priest, other than Jesus Christ, to come boldly to God.
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Every Christian has equal access to God personally.
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God’s Word gives us two ordinances for the church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
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Each person is individually responsible for his decision to accept Christ.
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The separation of church and state is biblical.
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The believer is eternally secure and cannot lose salvation.
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There are two biblical offices in the church: pastors and deacons.
I want to share my faith my with children and raise them in the admonition of the Lord. I want my daughter to know that she is a daughter of the King and a Lady/Princess; and my son to know that he is a Son of the King and a Knight/Prince.
1 Timothy 3:8-13
8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Polycarp 5:2
In like manner deacons should be blameless in the presence of His righteousness, as deacons of God and Christ and not of men; not calumniators, not double-tongued, not lovers of money, temperate in all things, compassionate, diligent, walking according to the truth of the Lord who became a minister (deacon) of all. For if we be well pleasing unto Him in this present world, we shall receive the future world also, according as He promised us to raise us from the dead, and that if we conduct ourselves worthily of Him we shall also reign with Him, if indeed we have faith. *
* Polycarp was a Disciple of John the Apostle and wrote an Epistle of his own. While not Scripture, it does have some good information in it.
The advantage of a family constitution is that it ensures clarity and transparency and families know what to do when disagreements arise.
In addition, it strengthens the family’s emotional cohesion because the family works together to formulate the family constitution.
