About First Church
-
Welcome to the web page of First Church in West Rutland, Vermont. 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 Death: We believe that death seals the eternal destiny of each person. The saved will inherit eternal life whereas the unsaved will be eternally separated from God. (Romans 8:9-14; Daniel 12:2; John 6:47)
About Tenacity: Never give up - A river cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its perseverance. 'Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... who for the joy set before him endured the cross... so you will not grow weary and lose heart' - Hebrews 12:1-3