About First Baptist Church New Orleans
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First Baptist New Orleans is passionate about being a Biblically thriving church. We have five core convictions about what that means and how that looks in practice.
We must be Scripture-fed.
God’s Word, the Scriptures, is how we know truth. We are convinced that God’s Word is central to our growth as a church. We desire to read the Word, pray the Word, study the Word, sing the Word, and live the Word.
Specifically, we encourage every believer to read God’s Word a minimum of 4 days a week. Research shows that believers who do are most often growing Christians.
We must be Servant-led.
God’s Word clarifies that leadership is essential, but Scripture doesn’t stop there. Scripture also defines the essence of leadership in the church: service. Two primary leadership roles in the church, according to Scripture, are the roles of pastors and deacons. At First Baptist New Orleans, we have both. We expect our pastors and deacons to demonstrate the character, conduct, and care of Jesus Christ.
We must be Spirit-filled.
God’s Word records the essential role that God’s Holy Spirit performs in the life of the church. Repeatedly in the book of Acts, we see the church praying at the moments when God fills the church with His Spirit in a powerful way. Each time He did, they were empowered to go out, making disciples of all nations. We are convinced that we are powerless to make disciples of all nations apart from the Holy Spirit.
Specifically, we desire to be a church that prays together, praying in a Scripture-fed, servant-led manner.
We must be Christ-centered.
After the resurrection of Christ, the Gospel of Luke records an amazing conversation between Jesus and two of his disciples. Jesus makes clear that the Old Testament was ultimately pointing to Him. In the New Testament, Jesus is the central person of the Gospels and the central person of the message in the rest of the New Testament. The Scriptures point to Jesus. Servant-leaders point to Jesus. The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus.
Specifically, we desire to be a church that proclaims the Gospel of Jesus, not only when we gather but when we scatter across New Orleans and all nations. A tool we use to share the Gospel is called The 3 Circles.
We must be Father-glorifying.
When a church is Scripture-fed, Servant-led, Spirit-filled, and Christ-centered, we believe it will be Father-glorifying. Philippians 2:6-11 makes clear that when we focus on Jesus in biblical ways, it brings glory to God the Father.
Specifically, we believe that humility is the essential quality needed in the life of a believer and of a local church to rightly receive God’s Word, rightly choose and follow Servant-leaders, rightly pray and depend on the Holy Spirit, and rightly focus on and proclaim Christ. We desire humility for God’s glory among all nations.
