What We Believe
The mission of Riverview Baptist Church is: to bring people to faith in Christ; to bring Christians to maturity in Christ; to worship and live to bring praise to Christ; to support locally and globally the work of Christ.
Riverview Baptist church is a member of the North American Baptist Conference (NAB) and the Upper Mississippi Region of the NAB.
The following is a brief description of our values and beliefs. You can download a full copy of Riverview's Statement of Faith at the bottom of this page.
We believe the Bible is God's Word given by divine inspiration, the record of God's revelation of Himself to humanity (2 Timothy 3.16). It is trustworthy, sufficient, without error -- the supreme authority and guide for all doctrine and conduct (1 Peter 1.23-25; John 17.17; 2 Timothy 3.16-17). It is the truth by which God brings people into a saving relationship with Himself and leads them to Christian maturity (John 20.31; 1 John 5.9-12; Matthew 4.4; 1 Peter 2.2)
We believe in one living and true God, perfect in wisdom, sovereignty, holiness, justice, mercy and love (1 Timothy 1.17; Psalm 86.15; Deuteronomy 32.3-4). He exists eternally in three coequal persons who act together in creation, providence, and redemption (Genesis 1.26; 1 Peter 1.2; Hebrews 1.1-3).
We believe God created man in His own image to have fellowship with Himself and to be steward over His creation (Genesis 1.26-28). As a result, each person is unique, possesses dignity and is worthy of respect (Psalm 139.13-17). Through the temptation of Satan, Adam chose to disobey God; this brought sin and death to the human race and suffering to all creation (Genesis 3; Romans 5.12-21; 8.22).
We believe salvation is redemption by Christ of the whole person from sin and death (2 Timothy 1.9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5.23). It is offered as a free gift by God to all and must be received personally through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2.4; Ephesians 2.8-9; Acts 20.21). An individual is united to Christ by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2.20; Colossians 1.27). As a child of God, the believer is acquitted of all guilt and brought into a new relationship of peace (Romans 5.1). Christians grow as the Holy Spirit enables them to understand and obey the Word of God (2 Peter 3.18; Ephesians 4.15; 1 Thessalonians 3.12).
We believe the Church is the body of which Christ is the head and all who believe in Him are members (Ephesians 1.22-23; Romans 12.4-5). Christians are commanded to be baptized upon profession of faith and to unite with a local church for mutual encouragement and growth in discipleship through worship, nurture, service, and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world (Acts 2.41-42, 47; Luke 24.45-48). Each church is a self-governing body under the lordship of Christ with all members sharing responsibility (Acts 13.1-3; 14.26-28). The form of government is understood to be congregational (Matthew 18.17; Acts 6.3-6; 15.22-23).
We Believe the ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28.18-20). It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believers identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6.3-5). The Lord's Supper is the partaking of the bread and of the cup by believers together as a memorial of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. It is an act of thankful dedication to Him and serves to unite His people until He returns (1 Corinthians 11.23-26).
We believe religious liberty, rooted in Scripture, is the inalienable right of all individuals to freedom of conscience with ultimate accountability to God (Genesis 1.27; John 8.32; 2 Corinthians 3.17; Romans 8.21; Acts 5.29). Church and state exist by the will of God. Each has distinctive concerns and responsibilities, free from control by the other (Matthew 22.21). Christians should pray for civil leaders, and obey and support government in matters not contrary to Scripture (1 Timothy 1.1-4; Romans 13.1-7; 1 Peter 2.13-16). The state should guarantee religious liberty to all persons and groups regardless of their religious preferences, consistent with the common good.
We believe Christians, individually and collectively, are salt and light in society (Matthew 5.13-16). In a Christlike spirit, they oppose greed, selfishness and vice; they promote truth, justice and peace; they aid the needy and preserve the dignity of people of all races and conditions (Hebrews 13.5; Luke 9.23; Titus 2.12; Philippians 4.8-9; 1 John 3.16-17; James 2.1-4). We affirm the family as the basic unit of society and seek to preserve its integrity and stability (Genesis 2.21-25; Ephesians 6.1-4).
We believe God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring all things to their appropriate end and establish the new heaven and new earth (Ephesians 1.9-10; Revelation 21.1). The certain hope of the Christian is that Jesus will return to the earth suddenly, personally, and visibly in glory according to His promise (Titus 2.13; Revelation 1.7; 3.11; John 14.1-3). The dead will be raised, and Christ will judge mankind in righteousness (John 5.28-29). The unrighteous will be consigned to the everlasting punishment prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25.41,46; Revelation 20.10). The righteous, in their resurrected and glorified bodies, will receive their reward and dwell forever with the Lord (Philippians 3.20-21; 2 Corinthians 5.10; 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18).