A LITTLE ABOUT US

Founded in 1883, First Baptist has a rich history in Bellingham. As times have changed, so have we. Our 150-person congregation is a unique blend of longtime members and a younger, postmodern crowd. We seek to embrace these differences and grow together through love in the Holy Spirit. Our Sunday morning worship gathering offers a convergence of all kinds of musical styles, from jazz to bluegrass to classical to rock. Our location downtown puts us in an exciting position to live out the gospel. Every Tuesday night, we host a free meal for our neighbors in need through the local ministry Loaves and Fishes. We also partner with the Lighthouse Mission, Agape Home, and other local ministries, to uphold Christ’s call to care for the poor. Located in our city’s Arts District, First Baptist Church is dedicated to promoting the arts as a reflection of God’s creativity, character, and beauty. We offer a Summer Academy day camp every summer for children, and also encourage the gifts of music and visual arts within our congregation. Unity in diversity is prized in our body of believers.

MISSION & VALUES

Mission

Cultivating a community that invites all people to experience the empowering love of Jesus Christ


Values


Fierce Love, as demonstrated by:

  • Showing radical hospitality to everyone God places in our lives.
  • Being radically generous with our time, talent, and treasure.
  • Seizing every opportunity to demonstrate God's reconciliation

Empowering Others, as demonstrated by:

  • Feeding the body, mind, and soul
  • Not doing for others what they can do for themselves
  • Trusting the work of the Holy Spirit in each other's lives

A Thriving Community, as demonstrated by:

  • Seeking God's good for the city and its people
  • Discovering God's purpose and joy for our lives
  • Practicing the classical spiritual disciplines
  • Building and preserving authentic relationships in our lives

The Living Word of God, as demonstrated by:

  • Making the Scriptures foundational to everything we do
  • Making the Bible foundational to everything we teach
  • Orienting our lives around its living center, Jesus Christ



Strategy

Experience God – Grow in Grace – Empower Others – Freely Invite


Marks

A maturing disciple at FBC asks regularly:

  • Have I met with God today?
  • Am I close to someone far from God?
  • Do I have any 2 AM friends?
  • Have I empowered someone else today?
  • Is my current lifestyle sustainable?
  • Am I a generous giver?

CHURCH COVENANT

Having been led by the Spirit of God to profess our faith in Jesus Christ, and

 

Having been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,


We do now solemnly and joyfully affirm our covenant with God and with each other:

  1. We pledge to serve Christ in the fellowship of this congregation.
  2. We shall endeavor to love one another, to remember one another in prayer, to share in each other’s joys, and to sustain each other in times of distress.
  3. We aspire to be a fellowship of the concerned, where the lost may find Jesus Christ, sinners may find pardon, seekers may find meaning for their lives, and where all who come may find welcome.
  4. We shall strive to be responsible church members, through faithful attendance, study and giving.
  5. We shall seek to be obedient to Christ in our daily living. Within our homes, in our labor, and while at leisure we shall strive for attitudes and actions which will reflect God’s Spirit working through us.
  6. Believing that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, we shall endeavor to avoid experiences and habits which defile the body and hinder our witness.
  7. Bound together in a fellowship of faith with all who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we shall pray and labor for a spirit of unity among all Christians.
  8. Believing that our call to be a church is a call to witness in the world, we dedicate ourselves anew as servants of the Lord of all life. Whenever humanity is in bondage to ignorance, poverty, fear or prejudice, we shall strive for truth, justice, freedom, dignity, and peace. Whenever people are separated by barriers of hostility and distrust, we shall be ministers of God’s reconciling love.
  9. As we pledge our support to the work of our missionaries throughout the world, we commit ourselves to the mission to which God calls us all.
  10. Acknowledging our human frailties and ever seeking forgiveness, we profess our need of the Holy Spirit, and commit our lives to Jesus Christ, and through Him to the care, the judgment, the deliverance, and the mercy of the almighty God.

Amen.