About Us

What is a Reformed Baptist Church? Is your congregation half Reformed and half Baptist?
Do you sprinkle and immerse? What do you mean by Reformed Baptist? The Reformed
Baptist Churches are a group of independent local congregations committed to historic
Christianity and in particular, historic Baptist principles.

Oh! So you are a Baptist group? That's another good question. Yes, we are Baptists with a
difference. Let us explain. The formal, doctrinal basis, (secondary to the Bible), of
Reformed Baptist Churches is the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. We are historically in
the Baptist tradition. We believe in the baptism of believers only. We believe that only
baptized believers should be members of local churches. In this sense we are unashamedly
Baptist. We are Baptists in the tradition of John Bunyan, Benjamin Keach, and Charles
Haddon Spurgeon. The problem is that you may have met not a few people who call
themselves Baptist who are not that kind of Baptist. Tragically, Baptist churches, like other
churches, have been subject to the erosion and dilution of their biblical convictions. In
recent years, however, the God of grace has been pleased to create a thirst in many across
our land and across the world for biblical revival and thoroughgoing reformation. Not a
few have looked back and discovered how far modern evangelical and fundamental
Christianity has deviated from historic Christianity. They are sickened by the
man-centered worship of the church today and want to return to the God-centered
worship of historic Christianity. The names of the great Reformers, Luther, Calvin, Knox,
and many others have once again begun to be revered as those God was pleased to use to
restore the great gospel truths of Scripture alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and faith alone
to the church. The writings of their godly successors in the Puritan tradition, John Owen,
Thomas Goodwin, George Whitefield, yes, and Spurgeon too, have once again begun to be
appreciated as treasuries of Bible truth. This is why we say that we are a Baptists with a
difference.

So what exactly do you believe? Another good question! Many in our day give too high a
priority to many secondary issues in choosing a church. The first and most important thing
to consider in choosing a church is what they believe. We are happy to tell you what we
believe.

We believe in sovereign grace. In other words, we teach that God is sovereign not only in
general, but especially in salvation (1 Cor. 1:26-31; Eph. 1:3-11; Rom. 8:28-32). Salvation is
by grace alone plus nothing (Eph. 2:8-10). A man is saved only when God gives him the
willingness and the ability to repent and put his faith in Jesus Christ, the one who suffered
the wrath of God in the place of sinners (Phil. 1:6, 29, 30; 2 Tim. 2:24, 25).

We believe in the centrality of the local church in the Christian's life (Matt. 18:15-20; 1
Tim. 3:15; Heb. 13:17). There are too many "Lone Ranger Christians" around today who
think that it is sufficient to be a member of an invisible church. The problem with invisible
churches is that they have invisible members and invisible officers. The help and the
accountability they give is also invisible. We believe that Christians need each other and
need a good local church to instruct, counsel, and, if need be, correct them.

We believe that the preaching and teaching of the Word should be central in the life of the
local church. According to the Apostle Paul, the church is "the house of God, which is the
church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth". In the figurative language of
Revelation 1:20 local churches are lampstands. In other words, they are essentially
sources of light, the light of the Word of God. Many other things ought to be part of the
local church: good fellowship for christians, generous benevolence to the poor, missionary
and evangelistic endeavors toward the lost, but it must never be forgotten that the
fountain of all these things is the proclamation of the Word of God. Where Christ removes
the lampstand the church ceases to exist, even if the shell of a social club, a charitable
organization, or a mission program remains (Rev. 2:5).

We believe the church should be a spiritual family which cares about the spiritual welfare
of its members (1 Thes. 5:12-14; Phil. 2:1-5). Becoming a member of a local church is a
covenant commitment to the Lord and to the members of a local church. It means
willingness to be transparent, willingness to be humble, and willingness to undertake the
obvious responsibilities of such a commitment (Eph. 4:1-3, 25-32). Such a commitment
ought not to be lightly undertaken or frivolously forsaken.

We believe that the policies, practices, and worship of the church should be ordered by
the Word of God. The Word clearly says that the local church is "the house of God, the
church of the living God" (1 Tim. 3:15). As such the will of God revealed in the Word of God
must regulate church life. `Lord Pragmatism' (`what-will-work') and `Lord Tradition'
(`the-way-we've-always-done-it') rule in many churches, not the Lord Jesus. Our modern
generation of church-goers needs to be told that when these two `Lords' rule the church
the result is condemned as "will-worship" (Col. 2:23) by God's holy Word!

This edition of "Reformed Baptist?" Edited from a tract from:

Reformed Baptist Church of Sault Ste Marie
C/O 1705 Davitt
Sault Ste Marie, MI 49783