Open & Closed

Every church, if it is to be effective in fulfilling its calling, needs to be open to outsiders. Open hearted in a generous love, reflective of Father God's unconditional welcome of us all.

But each church needs also remember that the blessing comes in and through the arms of Jesus Christ. Jesus, who took us to Himself, that we might come to Father through Him.

Confessing Jesus as 'Lord' is the essence of saving faith. It is a personal awareness of Jesus, communicated to us through His Word and the Holy Spirit, that is the centre of it all. Jesus who died on the Cross, taking our sins, sickness and suffering to himself, that we might be raised to life in and through His resurrection.

We need to be open; but we also need to be closed. If our congregations are not to be cults dominated by the cries of charismatic personalities, or the lairs of legalistic legislators, they need be possessed of an identifiable constituency of core-members who are demonstrably people who look to Jesus as their Lord. Committed Christians who discern together whether the directions and decisions that their leaders commend are, in the leading of the Holy Spirit and in the illuminating truth of Scripture, true to Jesus Christ and His way.

This is the essence of our baptist way. Membership closed only to those who are serious about Jesus. But hearts open with love to all.