The Baptist Church
The Baptist Church is the largest and best known of the many independant protestant churches who have as their distinctive mark their stress on the need for baptism by total immersion combined with the personal profession of faith of the one being baptised. The Baptist Church is particularly strong in the USA, in England and in the former Soviet Union. Among its best known members are the evangelist Billy Graham and the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who was a Baptist Pastor.
Together with all Christians, we find in Jesus Christ the Saviour who has reconciled us with God and who delivers us from the power of evil. We have no other Head but him.
Baptist Convictions
We have genuine fellowship with other disciples of Jesus Christ and with other churches who preach the Gospel. With our Christian brothers and sisters, we make every effort to serve God and to love mankind.
Baptists give great importance to the following points:
- The Bible, which is the Word of God, is the foundation of our life. We believe that God speaks to us through the Bible and that the teaching of the Church must be entirely in accordance with the word of God.
- Personal faith leads us to live out the Gospel in a real way. We proclaim that salvation is a free gift from God to humans. One of our great convictions is that no one is born Christian, but that each one is called to become a Christian through a personal faith in Jesus Christ. Because no one is able to make this decision for another, we do not baptise young children. We baptise by full immersion believers who publicly profess their faith and commit themselves to the service of Christ.
- Freedom of Conscience allows each one to find the way of faith. As one can only become a Christian by their personal decision, the Church must respect each person's freedom. Baptists are always ardent defenders of freedom of conscience. The Church must renounce any attempt to force people to believe or to exercise worldly power. Its mission is to serve, to proclaim the Gospel and to work for the triumph of faith, love and hope.
- The church fellowship is an expression of our common faith in Jesus Christ. A Baptist Fellowship is essentially a gathering of believers called by God to unite in forming a community of brothers and sisters.
In LYON...
... while the Baptist Church in France is small and little known or understood, we have been present in Lyon for more than a century, and have occupied our current premises for around fifty years.
Our aim is to serve the area in which we worship, in particular in areas such as work with young people, with counselling and with social action.