Who We Are
Our Mission: To make disciples, united in worship and service.
Our Vision: To embody Christ, loving all people and introducing them to the God we love.
Core Values:
- The authority of the scriptures for our faith and practice.
- Obeying the Great Commandment by loving God with all we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
- Fulfilling the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations.
- Affirming unity in essentials, diversity in non-essentials, and love in everything.
- Worshipping in spirit and truth, drawing from both historic and contemporary worship forms.
First Baptist Church Waynesville is a Christian community where all are welcome.
Our church seeks to be a free and faithful voice of the gospel of Jesus Christ, adhering to historic Baptist principles, freedoms, and traditions.
Membership in our church is open to anyone who publicly professes faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and is in harmony with the mission and vision of our church. If you are a Christian and not active in a church, we invite you to become a vital part of the First Baptist family by transfer of your church letter or by statement of faith. If you do not identify yourself as a Christian, we invite you to begin the journey of discipleship with us.
Statement of Faith
The sole authority for the faith and practice for our church is the Scripture of the Old and New Testaments.
We affirm the freedom of the individual believer led by God’s Spirit within the family of faith to read and interpret Scripture relying on the historical understandings of the Church and the best methods of Biblical study.
We affirm the freedom of the local church under the authority of Jesus Christ to shape our own life and mission, to call our own leadership, and to ordain those whom we perceive as called by God and gifted for ministry.
We affirm the larger body of Christ expressed in various Christian traditions and cooperation with believers everywhere in giving full expression to the gospel.
We affirm the servant role of leadership within the church, following the model of our Servant Lord, and the full partnership of all of God’s people in mission and ministry.
We are committed to the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ and the calling of God to all peoples to repentance and faith, and reconciliation and hope.
We affirm that ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience in which we remember Christ’s sacrifice and anticipate his return.
We are committed to religious liberty of all persons without interference by the state. We affirm that the separation of church and state is essential to religious liberty.
