Who We Are
Guiding Statements for Broadway Baptist Church
Our Mission
We seek to learn, live and proclaim Christ’s
message of grace, hope and love through worship, fellowship and service.
Our Vision
We strive to:
- Nurture personal relationships with Jesus Christ.
- Help believers discover and practice their spiritual passions and gifts.
- Be a caring fellowship of Christians ministering to all ages.
- Live the love of Christ by bearing one another's burdens.
- Understand and respond to the needs of the community.
- Discover ways to join in ministry with people of other cultures.
- Invite all in our diverse community to join us in worship, fellowship and service.
- Embrace change while honoring our church’s rich heritage and traditions.
Our Values
We believe:
- We are as children of God, each equal in God’s eyes.
- In the Good News of God’s love as revealed in Jesus Christ our Savior.
- In the necessity and power of prayer.
- The Bible is the revealed Word of God and a daily guide for living.
- In the Baptist heritage of a free church and a free conscience.
- Every individual is a minister responsible for finding and using his or her gifts.
- We are an instrument of collective action called to do God’s work on Earth.
- In carrying Christ’s healing message to a broken world.
Baptist Freedoms
Our church affirms its traditional Baptist heritage based on our belief in:
| Bible Freedom: |
to read and study the Bible for ourselves |
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| Soul Freedom: |
to come to God without anybody telling us how we must do it |
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| Church Freedom: |
to decide for ourselves how we can best work for God in our world |
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| Religious Freedom: |
to worship as we choose and to give that same right to everyone else |
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Our church has long valued its Baptist freedoms. As a result of our
commitment to freedom, in November 2001, we voted as a church to end our
relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention. The church continues its
affiliation with the
Kentucky Baptist Convention, the
Long Run Baptist Association, and the
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
A Statement of Faith and A Declaration of Conscience *
Events and trends among religious groups in the United States during
the past two decades have presented crucial issues of faith and conscience
for Baptists concerned for ethical integrity and doctrinal fidelity.
Broadway Baptist Church stands committed to certain historic Baptist
convictions which continue to guide its ministry and witness.
The members of Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, KY therefore wish
to affirm those principles of biblical interpretation and theological
commitments which are at the heart of the identity and mission of this
historic church.
We Affirm:
- The authority of the Old and New Testament Scripture as understood
in the light of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (I Tim 3:16)
- That Christ is Lord of life and is the norm of all Christian understandings
of the nature of God and humanity, life in the world, and is the
gift of God for human redemption (Col 2:9; Matt 5:21-48)
- The separation of church and state involving freedom
for all people to worship God according to the dictates of conscience
and their
understandings of truth (Acts 17:26)
- The priesthood of each believer
before God by which we have direct access to and responsibility before
God as Creator, Redeemer and Judge (1 Pet 2:9)
- The freedom of conscience under the
Lordship of Christ by which believers exercise competency of soul
in the community of faith to
understand
and act upon the will of God for one’s personal and social
life.
- The equality of all people before God who has created both male
and female in the image of God. All Christians are to serve as ministers
of the Gospel (Eph 4:12) and there is to be no discrimination against
persons based on gender, race, social standing or ethnic origin in
the body of Christ (Gal 3:28)
- The autonomy of the local church in
all matters pertaining to polity, discipline and decisions relating
to larger associations which are
in all cases to be democratic in organization and open to participation
by all members.
- Broadway Baptist affirms our faith and freedom in
Christ above conformity to denominational orthodoxy and declare
our invitation to all people to share with us in our pilgrimage of faith.
*
Unanimously adopted by the members of Broadway Baptist Church on October 15, 2000.
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"I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,
'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.'
So he set off and went to his father.
But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion;
he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him."
NRSV:
Luke 15: 18 - 20
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