About First Church
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Welcome to the web page of First Church in Laconia, New Hampshire. We believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself - baptism as a symbol of entrance into the body of Christ and the Lord's Supper a regular reminder of the death, resurrection, and return of Christ. Baptism symbolizes the believer's death to sin and new life in Christ. Those baptized are done so in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Together they are simultaneously God's pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things.
We believe that the kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God's sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan's dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God.
About Receiving Christ: We believe the Biblical pattern for receiving Christ includes acknowledging that Jesus Christ is God's Son, repenting from personal sin, and inviting Christ to be Lord of your life. (1 John 1:8-9; Romans 6:1-7)
About Love: God is love. He loves us and wants for us to spend eternity with Him. He also wants for us to express His love to others by meeting them where they are in life with the message of salvation.