Our Beliefs - Picayune First Baptist Church | Picayune First Baptist Church

What We Believe

Picayune First Baptist Church is a Southern Baptist congregation. We affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mississippi Baptist Convention, and our doctrinal statement aligns with the Baptist Faith and Message (2000).

The Bible

We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God, sufficient for faith and practice. Scripture is our final rule for what we believe and how we live.

God

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — equal in power, nature, and glory.

Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully man, born of the virgin Mary, who lived a sinless life, died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, rose bodily from the grave, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He intercedes for His people and will return one day in power and glory.

Salvation

We believe salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone — not by works, but resulting in good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). Every person who repents of sin and trusts in Jesus is forgiven, made new, and adopted into God's family forever.

The Church

We believe the Church is the body of Christ — every person who has trusted Jesus across every nation and generation. The local church is a gathered community of believers who worship, baptize, observe the Lord's Supper, teach the Word, disciple one another, and carry the gospel into the world.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper

We baptize believers by immersion as a public testimony of their faith in Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). We share the Lord's Supper together as a remembrance of Christ's death and a proclamation of His return until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

The Christian Life

We believe every follower of Jesus is called to grow in Christlikeness — through the Word, prayer, the gathered church, and obedience — and to bear witness to the gospel where God has placed them. This is what we mean by encouraging influencers with the gospel.