Beliefs & Values
Our association holds to certain beliefs and values that define us as a movement.
Here you’ll find our constitutionally enshrined Foundational Values, as well as links to helpful pages from Australian Baptist Ministries on what Baptists believe, and the core identity and values of the wider Australian Baptist movement.
Foundational values of the Association
01.
We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. And we confess our faith in him as our Lord. We affirm the need for personal, experiential faith in Jesus Christ and formative discipleship into his likeness.
02.
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth reveals God to us through his birth, life, ministry, death, bodily resurrection, ascension and the promise of his return. Because of this revelation we confess faith in one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In affirming this we acknowledge ourselves to be a part of the whole, world-wide, Christian Church.
03.
Our final authority in faith and practice is Jesus Christ, as revealed in Scripture and present among his people through the Holy Spirit. We recognise the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, interpreted under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and in the community of God’s people, as the primary authority for knowing God’s revelation in Christ.
04.
We understand the church to be the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We believe that God calls a local fellowship of believers into a shared life as a means of grounding his presence among his people within particular communities in the service of his mission to the world. These called, local communities of faith nourish themselves by worshipping, meeting around God’s Word (the Scriptures) and sharing together in the Lord’s Supper.
05.
We practise baptism for believers only, in the triune name of God, into the Body of Christ. Where possible this is by immersion in water as a symbol of our becoming partakers in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
06.
We believe that every believer in Jesus Christ is called to witness, with love and compassion, to the Lordship of Jesus. We believe that the church is to share in the whole mission of God in the world.
07.
We affirm the freedom and responsibility of each local congregation to discover the purpose of Christ for its own life and work in the context of Christ’s call to his whole church. The discernment of this purpose will involve the whole congregation in seeking the mind of Christ under the appropriate exercise of the gift of leadership.
08.
We affirm the responsibility of each local congregation to engage, as part of the Body of Christ and with all seriousness, with its obligation to other congregations as partners in God’s mission. This expressed through the joining together of local congregations in association and interdependence.
09.
We affirm the ‘priesthood of all believers’ in which the only mediator between God and humanity is Jesus Christ. We affirm the gift of the Holy Spirit to all God’s people, male and female, young and old, significant and seemingly insignificant, and so we recognise that all members of the church have a role to play using their God- given gifts, skills and talents for the good of the church and the community in the service of God’s mission.
10.
We affirm the need to preserve freedom of conscience and so stand for the separation of church and state, and for religious liberty of all – including those who do not affirm the foundational values of our Association. We recognise the responsibility of the church to be a prophetic community of God’s grace in his world.
11.
We are a people of hope, believing that ultimately God will bring all things to ‘perfection’.
Item 4 of the Baptist Churches of South Australia and the Northern Territory Inc. Constitution. Adopted 15 May 2010.
View our other Statements here
Read our Baptist Churches SA & NT Constitution
Baptist Churches SA & NT is affiliated with our national body, Australian Baptist Ministries (ABM). Though key policy, organisational, and administrative functions within the Australian Baptist movement take place at a State and Territory Association level, we partner with ABM in a range of national and international ministries. Their site has several helpful and informative resources to help you understand what it means to be an Australian Baptist!
Read about Australian Baptists and what we believe
Discover the values that underpin the wider Australian Baptist movement
We are also affiliated with the wider international Baptist movement through Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), a global fellowship of 51 million baptised Christians in 176,000 churches, comprised of 245 conventions and unions in 128 countries. BWA’s aim is to network the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ with a commitment to strengthen worship, fellowship and unity; lead in mission and evangelism; respond to people in need through aid, relief, and community development; defend religious freedom, human rights, and justice; and advance theological reflection and leadership development.