Camden Church of Christ
OUR BELIEFS
At the Camden Church of Christ, we are a Bible based church. We generally speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent. The Bible is our only guide— no man-made additional creeds/booklets/instructions are required. We believe that if God, who is the creator of all, said it in his Holy and divine word, then it is more than good enough for us!
The absolute guidance from the scriptures is taken from three hermeneutical principles:
We follow commandments of the scriptures
We follow examples from the Apostles
We derive necessary inferences from the scripture
In line with our doctrinal/Biblical beliefs, our worship services always consist of the following practices to mirror the First Century Church in the New Testament:
Singing
Preaching (study of God’s word)
Prayer
Giving (weekly)
Communion (weekly)
HOW DO I BECOME SAVED AND BE A CHRISTIAN?
It’s easy! Once you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you get baptized to be saved and become a member of God’s family. We can never be “good enough” by our own accords to be saved. We are all sinners and broken, trying to get as close to God as we can. We know and understand that it is only by God’s abundant grace and mercy that we are saved. Although some may say that you simply have to “believe in your heart” and that makes you become a Christian, there’s no example of that in the Bible. Those people may be well-intentioned, but it goes against what the Bible teaches. Based on what the Bible teaches, here are some things that God requires to enter into Heaven:
HEAR – Romans 10:17
First, you have to hear the Word of God preached. You’ll hear the word anytime you visit with us through preaching and teaching of lessons using the bible. The bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
BELIEVE – Hebrews 11:6
After you’ve heard the gospel, you have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for us all so that we have a chance to be with God the Father in Heaven. This is important because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
REPENT – Acts 17:30
None of us are perfect— at all. We’ve all made mistakes and the bible even depicts characters who have made mistakes just as we do today. The important thing is that we repent of our past sins, which are the things we haven’t always gotten right with our lives. The Bible says that “the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
CONFESS – Acts 8:36-37
If we seek to become a Christian, we have to acknowledge that Jesus will be the head of our lives. We must confess that Jesus is Lord, and that he’s the Son of God. There’s a story in the Bible of a man named Phillip who was with another man who wanted to be baptized (Baptism is the last essential step for reaping all the benefits from God the Father).
He told Phillip, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, then you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’”
In Matthew 10:32-33, it states that “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
BAPTISM – Mark 16:16 & Acts 2:38
You may hear some religious institutions say that baptism is not essential and that all a person has to do to be “saved” is to “believe.” Though they may be well intentioned, The Bible says that you must believe AND be baptized in order to be saved. (Mark 16:16 & Acts 2:38). We’re baptized for the forgiveness of our sins and what we’ve gotten wrong in our lives. According to the bible, baptism isn’t a sprinkle, but a full immersion in water. Only immersion conforms to the description of baptism as given by the apostle Paul in Romans 6:3-5 where he speaks of it as a “burial” and “resurrection”. In every instance in the New Testament, you’ll find that when a person accepted Christ, they were immediately baptized. There was no waiting for a special date.
When you’re ready to be baptized, we won’t wait for a “special service” or on a “special day”. We’ll baptize you right then and there. It’s essential and important to us that you form this covenant with God as soon as you’re ready to. The Bible says “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
Peter, one of the greatest preachers and followers of God that we find in the Bible, said “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38)
LIVE A CHRISTIAN LIFE – Revelations 2:10
Lastly, you just have to live a Christian life, doing your best daily to embody the character of Christ and being faithful to God’s commandments. The bible says, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Come join us for services and hear the word of God. Should you believe the word and are ready to repent of your sins and confess that Jesus is Lord, we’ll baptize you in the’ name of Jesus. We’ll then help you learn more about Gods word and walk a Christian life.
Whether it takes you 30 seconds to decide or longer, we’ll be waiting for you to be added to God’s family.
