Bannister Road Baptist Church

Our Statement of Faith



 Section 1: The Scriptures:  We believe God, who is Truth communicated through Spirit, controlled men so that the Scriptures are without error and, therefore, authoritative in all they teach and in all matters they touch. We believe the Bible is the supreme revelation of God’s will for man and constitutes the only infallible guide for faith and life.

Section 2: The Trinity: We believe there is one, and only one, true and living God; while there is indivisible unity in the Godhead, He exists in three separate persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—equal in every divine attribute and executing distinct, but harmonious offices in the work of creation and redemption.

Section 3: God the Father: We believe God the Father is an infinite, eternal, wise, all powerful, holy, just, good, loving and all-knowing Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. 

Section 4: God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary as no other man was ever nor can be born of a woman. He is “God manifest in the flesh.” He lived a life of absolute sinlessness and in His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins, dying not as a martyr, but as a voluntary substitute in the sinner’s place. He rose bodily on the third day and ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest, interceding and preparing a place for us. 

Section 5: God the Holy Spirit: We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person possessing all the attributes of deity and is equal with God the Father and God the Son. We believe that He was active in creation and is the restrainer of the evil One; that He convicts of sin, of judgment, and of righteousness; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the new birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, helps, and distributes spiritual gifts to all believers; that the Apostolic gifts, such as tongues and healing, were unique to the first century and ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed.

Section 6: Angels, Good and Evil: We believe in the existence of angels who were created by God to bring honor and glory to His name and to serve Him. Angels who have chosen to follow God are ministers for Him on behalf of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. There were among the hosts of angels those who fell with Satan. They are presently functioning in Satan’s counterfeit system as rulers of darkness, to be resisted by the believer through the armor provided by God. We believe that Satan, the “god of this age” and “the prince of the power of the air,” once knew heavenly honors. That because of pride and ambition to be above the Almighty God, he fell and is currently the power of all darkness and evil and is destined for final defeat at the hand of God’s Son, and for the judgment of eternal hell, a place prepared for him and his angels.


Section 7: Creation: We believe in the Genesis account of creation, and that it is to be accepted literally, not allegorically or figuratively; that man was created directly in God’s own image and after His own likeness; that man’s creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary change of species, or development through interminable periods of time from lower to higher forms.  


Section 8: Man: We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created by a direct act of God and not from any previously existing form of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, the first parents of the entire human race. By voluntary transgression man fell from his sinless state, in consequence of which all men are now sinners by nature and by choice, and therefore under just condemnation to eternal judgment and separation from God in a place called hell without defense or excuse.


Section 9: Salvation: We believe the Scriptures teach that Christ died for the whole world and that salvation of sinners is divinely initiated, wholly of grace, and accomplished only through the mediatorial work of the Son of God. It is wholly apart from works and is upon the sole condition of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The great gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification, that judicial act of God accompanied by the pardon of sin and the imputation of divine righteousness, not because of any work of righteousness on our part, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood. 

Section 10: The Church: We believe the Scriptures teach that the local church is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. Its Scriptural officers are pastors, sometimes called bishops or elders, and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are in Scripture.



    a. The Mission: We believe the true mission of the church is found in the Great     Commission: first, to make individual disciples; second, to build up the church; third, to     reach and instruct as He has commanded.

    b. The Ordinances: We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a     believer, done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Baptism     is performed under the authority of the local church to show forth our faith in the     crucified, buried and risen Savior. Baptism pictures our death to sin and resurrection to a     new life. It is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership. The Lord’s     Supper, or communion, commemorates the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the     bread representing His body that was broken for us, and the fruit of the vine representing     His blood that was shed for us. We believe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s     Supper are to be observed under the authority of the local church.


Section 11: Coming Events

    a. The Rapture of the Church: We believe in the “Blessed Hope,” the personal, imminent,     pre-tribulation, and pre-millennial appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His     redeemed ones of the church. 

    b. The Judgment Seat of Christ: We believe that every saved person of the Church Age     will appear before the “Judgment Seat” to be judged by the Lord in regard to his service     and receive rewards according to his works.

     c. The Millennial Kingdom: We believe that Christ will return to earth after the seven-        year tribulation period with His saints to establish the Millennial Kingdom which will     literally be on the earth and ruled by Christ from the throne of David.

     d. The Eternal State: We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to     eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire.     The souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord     where they consciously await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and new body are     reunited to be forever glorified with the Lord. The souls of the unbelievers after death     remain in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with spirit, soul, and body     reunited they shall appear before the Great White Throne and shall be cast in the lake of     fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment


Section 12: Civil Government: We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society; that governing officials are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, with the exception only of things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord the conscience and the coming Prince of kings of the earth.

Section 13: Sanctity of Human Life: We believe that all human life is sacred from fertilization throughout the entire natural human life; that human beings are created in His image and, as such, are to be protected; that the weak, vulnerable, infirm, handicapped, pre-born and needy deserve our respect and our care. 


Section 14: Marriage and the Home: We believe that the home was the first institution God provided for man; that marriage is a sacred relationship between one man and one woman for life; and that adultery, fornication, and homosexuality are a perversion of God’s natural order for marriage.