What We Believe

We believe the Bible is the Word of God. We believe that the King James Bible is God’s perfect, preserved Word for the English-speaking people. We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as payment for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day. We believe that the only way a person may go to Heaven when he dies is to first place his faith in the payment that Jesus Christ provided with His shed blood on the cross. Great Valley Baptist church is just that, a Baptist church. Once a person is saved by putting his faith in Jesus, we are commanded to be baptized by immersion to show others what took place when we trusted in Christ; we do this in obedience not to save us but to show that we have been saved. We believe in participating in the Lord’s supper on a regular basis to remember the payment Jesus made for us and express our love to Him for that payment. The Lord’s Supper is not kept to take us to Heaven, but to thank Jesus for His sacrifice.

We believe that the Bible is what it claims to be--the Word of God. We take instruction from the Bible literally. We take instruction from the Bible in the areas of life and faith, and go to it for the answers to life. In a day when opinion polls and media agendas steer our social conscience, we believe that we should first seek God’s opinion on any subject before forming our own.

We believe that the family unit should be strong and healthy. The first institution God made on earth was the family. Programs in the church are geared to help build strong families. Great Valley provides fellowship, friendship, and support services through our social activities. We strive to be protective of our children and present a safe, biblical, and moral ministry.

We believe the church should be the moral conscience of a community. Since God created civil governments, we work hard to cooperate with and work together with our elected officials and civil servants.

We believe that the only requirements for church membership are salvation and baptism by immersion. People who are saved at Great Valley Baptist Church are voted in as members unless they request not to be. A person may join from another Baptist church by transfer. Persons wishing to join from another church other than a Baptist church must give testimony of their salvation and their immersed baptism, and thereby join by Christian experience.

We believe that it is our responsibility as outlined in the Bible to spread the Gospel to our area, nation and the world. (Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15)

We believe that Christians should talk, behave, live, and dress like citizens of Heaven. The basis for these standards are found in the Bible. We make no apology for our conservative beliefs in many areas including music, social issues, dress, and behavior.

We believe a church should not be filled with spectators but participants. We believe a church should be described as a spiritual hospital where people can come for spiritual healing, not a museum where people gather to impress one another. We have a first-class way of doing things. We are careful stewards of God’s money. We give an accurate accounting once a month of every check that is written: to whom, the amount and the purpose of the check. We strive to be honest and responsible.

We believe God’s business is the greatest business in the world.