About First Church
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Welcome to the web page of First Church in Peterborough, 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 The Sacraments: We believe in partaking of the sacrament of Baptism in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit following a person's profession of faith in Christ. We believe in Communion, the receiving of the Lord's Supper (bread and grape juice representing the Body and Blood of Christ) as a remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross.
About Salvation: We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; that this salvation is based upon the sovereign grace of God; that it was purchased by Christ on the cross; that it is received through faith, apart from any human merit, works, or ritual; and that salvation results in righteous living, good works and biblically informed actions to bring about godly justice wherever we live.