What We Believe

Baptists hold many beliefs which are shared by the vast majority of Christian churches and denominations across the world. Baptist churches don’t belong to a denomination and so there are some differences between Baptist churches. Youghal Baptist church is part of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. 

Baptism

The biggest difference is that we believe that we can’t simply be brought up to be a Christian. John the Apostle, introducing the Good News about Jesus, explains ‘to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God’.(1)

Baptism is the public sign that we have been reborn as Jesus’ believers and followers. As John writes, this is not something that happens at natural birth, but a birth that comes from God when we believe the Good News{link to Good News page} of Jesus.

The Church

The church is then not a geograpical area, like a parish, or a building. The church is the body of believers. The local church is the local community of belivers. Together, as church, believers in Jesus encourage one another to keep going, ‘looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.’ (2) Jesus gave us each other for support and encouragement.

With the help of his Holy Spirit we try to live lives that are no longer selfish but selfless, loving God and our neighbour. Churches are communities of care, not communes cut off from the world. Jesus prayed ‘as you sent me into the world (3), I am sending them into the world.’ Through the church, God reaches out into the world with his truth and love. Jesus prayed that we may have union with one another and with him.(4)

Communion

Jesus explains that those who believe in him are part of him. The church is his body. (5) When Jesus takes the bread and says ‘this is my body, which is given for you.’(6) We remember that Jesus gave his body to bring together a new body of people for himself. It is a celebration of local Christian union, eating together as one new family. We don’t literally eat Jesus but Jesus is there. (7) Jesus said ‘For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.’ (8) Eating bread as a ritual act isn’t holy. Local church union and love is holy.

The Bible

As you probably noticed, the Bible is our textbook. It has been described as the ‘Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth’! We believe the Bible to be God’s inspired Word gifted to the world. It teaches us about God – one God in three persons. It explains where we came from. It teaches us about our fallen sinful human nature. It points us to Jesus, the Son of God, our Saviour. It tells us where we are going. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy ‘All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work’. (9)

Our church leadership is guided by the Bible. This means that the Bible provides the foundation for all our belief and it has the final authority on all matters. We believe the Bible speaks for itself. You don’t need a magazine to explain it or a chatecism. You don’t even need a priest, pastor or minister. We encourage people to read the Bible for themselves.

Over the years the Bible has been translated from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek into many languages. We believe that although God inspired the original words, the Gospel message is still crystal clear.

For a more precise understanding of what we in Youghal Baptist Church believe, there is a link to our “Statement of Faith” below.

Download our statement of Faith