WHO WE ARE

We are Cumming Baptist Church!

Cumming Baptist Church is a community of believers committed to worshiping the One True Living God, serving others in Jesus’ Name, and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to this community and to the world. CBC began in 1998 as a group called the “Circle of Friends” who sensed God leading them to begin a new work. Since it’s inception, we have seen the mighty work of God in our lives and in our community.

Basic Beliefs

Our Doctrinal Statement (confession of beliefs) is The Baptist Faith and Message adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000.

To see the entire Baptist Faith and Message 2000 statement click here

Significant and distinctive beliefs include the following:

God

We believe in the One True God revealed in the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said, “Let us create man in our image . . . . So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:1, 26-27)

Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Romans 8:8-9, HCSB)

God has revealed Himself to us in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe in the Tri-unity of God; He is a Trinity, three Persons in one Being.

Salvation

Salvation is described in the Bible as a new birth.

To experience salvation, it is essential that a person is born again by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. (John 3:3)

At conversion, genuine believers receive a new life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)

The new birth experience is God’s saving work of grace in response to our faith.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins . . . . But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. . . . . For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, 8-9)

Grace is God freely giving to us what we do not deserve and cannot earn for ourselves.

Faith is my total release of myself, my life, and my eternal destiny to Jesus Christ.

Faith is totally trusting God rather than myself.

Salvation is experienced only through Jesus Christ.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Salvation is found in no one else [Jesus Christ of Nazareth], for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Once I receive salvation on God’s terms, my relationship with Him is eternally secure.

I give them [believers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:28-30)

Believer’s Baptism by Immersion

Biblical baptism is a person’s initial public expression of faith after we have chosen to trust Jesus as Savior.

Those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized . . . . (Acts 2:41)

[Paul and Silas] replied [to the jailer], “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved . . . . then immediately he and his family were baptized. (Acts 16:31, 33)

Along with nearly all Baptists, Cumming Baptist Church practices baptism by immersion which means taking a person under water.

The Greek word for baptize means “to dip”.

New Testament descriptions of baptism indicates immersion was practiced by the early church.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. (Matthew 3:16)

Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. (Acts 8:38)

Baptism is an act of obedience to Jesus’ instructions.

Jesus said . . . . Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . . . (Matthew 28:19)

Baptism allows us to follow Jesus’ example.

Then Jesus came . . . to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him . . . . Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. (Matthew 3:13-15)

Baptism is a visual expression of our personal trust in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection for our salvation.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day . . . . (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

Baptism is also a visual expression of our new life experienced through faith in Jesus.

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)

Lord’s Supper/Communion

We practice two ordinances: practices ordered or commanded by Jesus.

The first is baptism; the second is communion, or the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper was given to us by Jesus the night before He died; the observance is a reminder of His sacrifice for our sins.

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

The Bible

The Bible is a unique book; the Bible is God’s written Word to people.

The Bible was inspired by God’s Spirit; so, God authored the Bible through the bodies, minds and personalities of human writers.

All Scripture is God-breathed . . . . (2 Timothy 3:16)

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

The Bible is absolutely reliable; our totally dependable source of information about and connection to God.

Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. (Psalm 119:89)

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

The Bible is our totally sufficient source of spiritual truth for life on earth and in eternity.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16)

The Church

The Church is not a legal, religious organization; the Church is a living, spiritual organism.

The Bible uses several images to help us understand the Church. The Church is:

— The body of Christ;

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
(1 Corinthians 12:27)

— The people of God.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God . . . . Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God . . . . (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Cumming Baptist Church is “Where You Belong!”

In fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. (1 Corinthians 12:18)

Every member of our congregation is essential to the life of the church.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? (1 Corinthians 12:14, 16-17)

Each part of the Body has an important role to fill.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:7)

You are uniquely gifted by God’s Spirit to make a contribution to the Kingdom of God through the church of God.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 11)

Your Heavenly Father desires, and your Church Family needs you to find your unique place(s) of service and plug in to the body.