First Baptist Church of Hope Mills

First Baptist Church of Hope Mills

The First Baptist Church of Hope Mills is a truly unique church, distinct in our community.  Standing on the timeless truth of God’s Word, FBC Hope Mills is a family embracing both the best of our Southern Baptist heritage and the hopefulness & energy of our emerging future.  Our focus is forward and our most exhilarating times lie ahead as we connect with men, women, and children like you in our pursuit of Christ and His Kingdom. 

Above all else, our goal is to keep Jesus Christ at the center of everything we do.  His love is our motive.  His glory is our goal.

OUR BASIC BELIEFS 

GOD IS

Only one true and living God exists. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, eternally existing in three Persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each equally deserving of humanity’s worship and obedience. His existence is self-evident in the orderly work of creation. He further revealed Himself to humanity in His interactions with the people He chose for unfolding His plan to redeem and restore creation to Himself. God's ultimate revelation of His existence and nature is in the person of Jesus Christ. All that God has disclosed to us of His nature and attributes are found in the inspired written record of the Bible. God is infinite and perfect in all His attributes.

THE BIBLE IS GOD'S WORD

The Bible is God's written revelation to people, divinely given through human authors who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is entirely true. The Bible is totally sufficient and completely authoritative for all aspects of life and faith. The goal of God’s Word is the restoration of humanity into His image.

PEOPLE ARE GOD'S TREASURE

God created people in His image for His glory. They are the crowning work of His creation. Yet every person has willfully disobeyed God—an act known as sin—thus inheriting both physical and spiritual death and the need for salvation. All human beings are born corrupted with a sin nature and into an environment pervasively inclined toward sin. Only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ can they experience the miracle of salvation and rebirth.

JESUS IS GOD AND SAVIOR

Jesus is both fully God and fully human. He is Christ, the eternal Son of God, who put on flesh and dwelt among us to finish God's work of redemption. Born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life and performed many miracles. He died on the cross to provide people forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation. Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return in power and glory.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD AND EMPOWERER

The Holy Spirit is supernatural and sovereign, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ. He lives within all Christians beginning at the moment of salvation and then empowers them for bold witness and effective service as they yield to Him. The Holy Spirit convicts individuals of sin, uses God's Word to mature believers into Christ likeness, and secures them until Christ returns.

SALVATION IS BY FAITH ALONE

All human beings are born with a sin nature, separated from God, and in need of a Savior. That salvation comes only through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Savior, as a person repents of sin and receives Christ's forgiveness and eternal life. Salvation is instantaneous and accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. This salvation is wholly of God by grace on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and not on the basis of human works. All the redeemed are secure in Christ forever.

THE CHURCH IS GOD'S PLAN

The Holy Spirit immediately places all people who put their faith in Jesus Christ into one united spiritual body, the Church, of which Christ is the head. The primary expression of the Church on earth is in autonomous local congregations of baptized believers. The purpose of the Church is to glorify God by taking the gospel to the entire world and by building its members in Christ likeness through the instruction of God's Word, fellowship, service, worship, and prayer. In addition to the manifestation of Christ-like character and the fruit of the Spirit, identification with the church is visibly demonstrated by participation in two ordinances: water baptism and the Lord's supper.

THE FUTURE IS IN GOD’S HANDS

God is actively involved in our lives and our future. Through His prophets, God announced His plans for the future redemption of His people by the life, death, and resurrection of His Son. With the call of the disciples, God prepared the way for the future of His Church. In scripture, God has promised that Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth to resurrect and judge the saved and unsaved. As the all-knowing and all-powerful Creator and Judge, God can and should be trusted today, and with our future.

Who We Are

First and foremost, FBC Hope Mills is simply a local gathering of people who believe in Jesus Christ as God and Savior. As such, we are committed to each other as brothers and sisters in the family of God. We were created for relationship - with God and each other - we were never meant to walk alone. Together we find hope, inspiration, encouragement, wisdom, conviction, & instruction as we serve, worship, pray, and disciple each other toward Christ.

Second, we are a Baptist church. This means we esteem certain beliefs and practices that are distinctive to the Baptist tradition. Prominent among them are concepts like believers baptism, zeal for the Great Commission, the individual priesthood of all believers, local church autonomy, and congregational church government.

Third, we are a Southern Baptist Church. This means we voluntarily choose to cooperate with over 45,000 other like minded baptist churches to fund and deploy thousands of missionaries and church planters all over the world, and to mobilize disaster relief teams and humanitarian aid on an unparalleled scale. We are convinced that churches working together are immeasurably more effective than even the best church is when standing alone.