PREAMBLE

We declare and establish this constitution to preserve and secure the principles of our Faith and to govern the body in an orderly manner. This constitution shall preserve the liberties of each individual church member and the self-empowering of this body in its relation to other churches.

 

Article 1

Name and Purpose

 SECTION 1.  NAME

              The name of the Church shall be Cedar Crossing Baptist Church of Cedar Crossing, Georgia.

 

 SECTION 2.  PURPOSE

              The purpose of this church shall be for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.   It shall seek to attain   this through the public worship of God, the preaching of the Gospel, consistent Christian living by its   members, personal and mass evangelism, missionary endeavor and Christian education.

 

SECTION 3.  DENOMINATIONAL POLICY

              It shall be the policy of this church, to the fullest possible extent, with the independent character of a     Baptist Church, to support all missionary and benevolent undertakings of the Southern Baptist Convention       and the Daniel Baptist Association.
 

 

SECTION 4.  CHURCH COVENANT

       

We believe that we have been led by the Spirit of God to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Upon professing our faith, we have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, in the presence of God and this Assembly, we solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, we commit to walk together in Christian love, striving to strengthen this church in knowledge, holiness, and unity. We pledge to promote its spiritual growth and well-being, uphold its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines, and contribute cheerfully and regularly to support the ministry, church expenses, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel throughout all nations.

We also commit to maintaining personal and family devotions, providing religious education for our children, and seeking the salvation of our loved ones and acquaintances. We will conduct ourselves with integrity in the world, being just in our dealings, faithful in our commitments, and exemplary in our behavior. We will refrain from gossip, slander, and excessive anger, abstain from the sale and consumption of intoxicating beverages, and use our influence to combat substance abuse and the spread of harmful materials. With zeal, we will work to advance the Kingdom of our Savior.

Furthermore, we pledge to care for one another in brotherly love, to pray for one another, and to offer support in times of sickness and distress. We will cultivate compassion in our hearts and kindness in our speech, being slow to take offense and always seeking reconciliation in accordance with the teachings of our Savior.

  SECTION 5.  ARTICLES OF FAITH

(Adopted the Articles of Faith from the Baptist Faith and Message, as approved by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1963.)

The Scriptures
        The Holy Bible, written by divinely inspired men, is the record of God’s revelation to humanity. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction, with God as its author, salvation as its purpose, and truth without any mixture of error as its foundation. It reveals the principles by which God judges us and will remain, until the end of time, the true center of Christian unity and the ultimate standard for evaluating all human conduct, creeds, and religious beliefs. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ serve as the key to interpreting the Bible.
 
God 
              There is one and only one living and true God.  He is and intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe.  God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections.  To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.  The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence or being. 
 

God the Father

              God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace.  He is all powerful, all loving and all wise.  God is father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
 
 

God the Son

               Christ is the eternal Son of God.  In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin.  He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross he made provision for the redemption of men from sin.  He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion.  He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and of man, and in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man.  He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission.  He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
 

God the Holy Spirit

               The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.  He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures.  Through illumination He enables men to understand truth.  He exalts Christ.  He convicts of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment.  He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration.  He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.  He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.  His presence in the Christian in the assurance of God to bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ.  He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism and service.
 

 Man

            Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is crowning work of His creation.  In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice.  By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.  Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence; whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin, as soon as they are capable of moral action become transgressors and are under condemnation.  Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.  The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
 
 
6. Salvation

              Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.  In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.

A. Regeneration

                 Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus.  It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

                 Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.  Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ.  Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God. 

B. Sanctification

                 Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enable to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.   Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerated person’s life.

 
C. Glorification
                 Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
 
 
7. God’s Purpose of Grace

              Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners.  It is consistent with the free agency of man and comprehends all the means in connection with the end.  It is a glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy and unchangeable.  It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

              All true believers endure to the end.  Those who God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall preserve to the end.  Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the cause of Christ, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
 
 
8. The Church

              A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

              This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation members are equally responsible.  Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.

              The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.
 

9. Baptism and The Lord’s Supper

               Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin , the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.  It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead.  Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s supper.

                 The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

 
10. The Lord’s Day
              The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day.  It is a Christian institution for regular observance.  it commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employment, work of necessity and mercy only being expected. 
 
11. The Kingdom

               The kingdom of God both His general sovereignty over the universe and His Particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King.  Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ.  Christians ought to pray and to labor that the kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth.  The full consummating of the kingdom waits for the return of Jesus Christ and the end of the age.

 

12. Last Things

               God in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end according to His promise.  Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.  The unrighteous will be consigned to hell, the place of everlasting punishment.  The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

 

13. Evangelism

               It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations.  The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others.  Missionary effort on part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of all regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teaching of Christ.  it is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

 
14. Education

               The cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is coordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the churches.  An adequate system of Christian schools is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ’s people.

               In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility.  Freedom in an orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute.  The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.

 

15. Stewardship

               God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him.  Christians have a spiritual debt to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions.  They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for  helping others.  According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately and liberally for the advantage of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.

 

16. Cooperation
               Christ’s people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God.  Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches.  They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner.  Members of the New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational and benevolent ministries for the extension of  Christ’s Kingdom.  Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people.  Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.
 
17. The Christian and the Social Order

               Every Christian is under obligation to seek and to make the will of Christ supreme in his own life and in human society.  Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus.  The Christian should oppose in the spirit of Christ every form of greed, selfishness, and vice.  He should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the aged, the helpless and the sick.  Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth and brotherly love.  In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in an good cause, always being careful to act in spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.

 

18 Peace and War

               It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness.  In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ, they should do all in their power to put an end to war.

               The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord.  The supreme need of the world is acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of His law of love.

 

19. Religious Liberty

               God alone is Lord of conscience, and he has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it.  Church and state should separate.  The state owes to every church, protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends.  In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others.  Civil government bein

 

g