Free
Will Baptist Churches are individually owned and governed by
local Church leadership and membership.
This autonomy gives each
church body the flexibility to serve a particular community.
The life of each Church is
determined by an ability to proclaim the consistent Gospel
message of Jesus while living a Spirit filled life within our
communities.
Our Church is a member of the White
River Association, within the
Indiana
State Association of Churches.
What makes us different?
Free Will Baptist Churches are a
group of churches that share a common history, name, and an
acceptance of the Arminian theology
of free grace, free salvation, and free will, based on the
idea of general atonement. Free Will Baptists share similar
soteriological views with General Baptists, Separate Baptists
and some United Baptists
.
The major
difference between Free Will Baptists and the majority of
Baptists, including the Southern Baptist Convention and her
offshoots as well as fundamentalist Baptists, is that Free
Will Baptists do not hold to the traditional Baptist view of
"perseverance of the saints" commonly referred to
as the "Doctrine of Eternal Security" or "once
saved, always saved", where a person, once having made a
"salvation decision", cannot by any means later end up
"lost". Instead, they teach that a person can
"lose one's salvation."
The word
"lose" is inaccurate, though.
The
concept is not of someone sinning occasionally and thus
accidentally ending up "not saved", but instead of
someone "repudiating" their initial choice by continual,
willful sinning and an unwillingness to repent once
confronted.
In addition,
Free Will Baptists practice foot washing as a "third
ordinance" of the church along with baptism and
communion, a practice common in other evangelical groups but
rejected by the majority of Baptist denominations.
Visit the Indiana State
Association