I. BAPTIST

A. Congregationalist – Historically, Baptists are autonomously ruled congregations.  Our structure is that we are led by an organizational structure from within, but the Holy Spirit speaks through the membership of the congregation to recognize God’s calling, God’s wisdom, and God’s direction.   We answer to no authority other than King Jesus.

We hold Quarterly Business Meetings to discuss matters of our Church and solicit direction and support of the Congregation.  We elect officers to make daily decisions, but consult the whole of the congregation in more significant matters.

B. Believers Baptism / Regenerate Membership – We believe in baptism as a testimony of being called into faith in Jesus Christ as represented by a transformed life.  Additionally, ‘baptism’ is defined as being “dunked.”  Therefore we believe that upon a person’s clear profession of faith, he or she should be baptized by immersion as an act of obedience to Christ, and as a prerequisite for membership in our congregation.

C. Confession of Faith – We have a brief Statement of Faith under which we currently function.  A more detailed Confession can be found as the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

II. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

A. Pastor – Scriptural Leader of the Congregation under supervision of and in cooperation with the Deacons. Our Pastor functions also as our Chief Executive Officer and our Moderator.  The Pastor is called by the congregation for an indeterminate term as the Holy Spirit leads the Pastor and Congregation to work side by side for the Glory of God.

B. Deacons – A Board of qualified men who cooperate and consult with the Pastor to lead the congregation with their primary focus on the spiritual direction of the congregation.

C. Trustees – Legal, and financial overseers of the physical property of the Church and its mission.

D. Christian Education – A central focus of our congregation is to “edify the saints.” We do this through various studies of the Bible and its Doctrine.  We hope to utilize God’s teaching in our efforts to build the believers and reach out directly to our community.  Visit our “What We Do” page for more details.

E. Missions – We support and or provide several missions which are local, national and international.  We attempt to maintain a balance of these levels of mission, with a local emphasis as God has called us all to be ministers, missionaries, and evangelists.

III. THE BIBLE IS OUR AUTHORITY

A. Scripture is God’s Word given to us as everything we need to know for faith and action.  We follow it as our primary authority as it is what God has spoken to us.

B. Any and all decisions of our congregation are decided based upon God’s Word as we are best humanly able to do.

IV. COOPERATION

Although Baptist are autonomous in the local congregation, we choose to cooperate with other churches of like faith.  As a result, we associate with the Finger Lakes Baptist Association, the Baptist Convention of New York, and the Southern Baptist Convention.  We also cooperate with local associations of Churches and Pastors in worship, evangelism, and study.