Once you’ve found your way to ERBC it’s easiest to enter via the Edwards Road entrance. Parking is easy; the spaces in front are reserved for you. Someone outside or just inside the entrances will help you find your way and help your children settle in.
Sunday Morning: 9:00 a.m. Sunday School; 10:30 a.m. Worship Service in the Sanctuary
Sunday Evenings: 6:00 p.m. September to November, January to May: Sunday Night L.I.F.E. Discipleship for Adults, FUSION for Students and AWANA for Children
Wednesday Evenings: 5:00 p.m. Wednesday Night Dinner (first time visitors' dinner is free; member reservations are required by Monday - please call the church office at 244-2975); 6:30 p.m. Children's Choirs; Middle School Bible Study; Midweek Worship and Prayer Service; 7:30 p.m. High School Bible Study
Whatever…really. You’ll find some people in coat and tie (or dress) and others in whatever’s comfortable. It’s about Jesus, not us, so we’re not real picky about stuff like that. If you’ve got a Bible, feel free to bring it; if not, you can have one of ours.
In order to make room for everyone, we offer an opportunity for small groups (we call them Bible Fellowship Groups or just “BFGs”) at 9:00 a.m. here on campus. Worship follows at 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary. You’ll also find helpful people all around the building who are committed to answering your questions and helping you feel at home.
Sunday morning worship usually starts with a blend of wonderful old hymns and great new choruses, led by a praise team, choir and small orchestra. Feel free to express yourself however the Spirit moves – or not at all. After some announcements our Pastor will share a message right out of the Bible and offer a chance for people to respond. Somewhere along the way, we give members a chance to give a financial offering, but we don’t expect our guests to participate. At no time will you be singled out or asked to do anything silly.
Provisions are available for those who need a little extra help hearing. If you need a listening device, ask an usher, and one will be provided for your use during the service.
No two people agree on everything, but here is an overview of the beliefs that are essential to the faith and practice of the people of Edwards Road Baptist Church.
The Bible is what God says is true about Himself, man and salvation through Jesus Christ.
There is one and only one living and true God. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. 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 reigns over and cares for His universe, His creatures, and all of human history. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God the Son, Jesus Christ, was sent by God the Father. He lived the perfect life that we were supposed to live and died the death that we deserved, willingly taking our place. God the Spirit convinces, convicts, calls, changes and completes.
We’re created by God, in His image, but have rebelled against Him. We’re all in need of forgiveness and restoration.
Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. It’s not earned through good works, morality, religious affiliation or family background. True salvation is evidenced by a changed life and attitude toward sin and God.
God saves keeps and forgives us by His divine grace. In turn, Christians are to love, forgive, restore, serve and worship with others.
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a symbolic act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in Jesus’ ability to conquer sin and death. The Lord’s Supper (what others call Communion) is a another such symbolic act, whereby members of the church memorialize the death of the Jesus and anticipate His second coming.
We think the church should be an autonomous local congregation of believers in Jesus Christ and associated with each other by shared beliefs, purposes and practices laid out in the Bible. The Bible also speaks of the church as the “Body of Christ,” including believers from every generation, tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
The first day of the week, Sunday, is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. We observe it with worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.
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 to the earth, the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge everyone in the way that only He can. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous will receive their reward and will live forever in Heaven.
It is the duty and privilege of Christ-follower and of every Christian church to try to make disciples of everyone in the world. Jesus said to preach His message to all nations and to try constantly to win unbelievers by our words, lifestyle and any other method consistent with His teachings.
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. We are therefore obligated to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions – cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally.
Christians and churches ought to cooperate with one another for the benefit of the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries necessary to advance Christ’s Kingdom. Cooperation is desirable between 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.
All Christians ought to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in their own lives and in human society. Christians should oppose racism, injustice, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.
God made the family the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image and the marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through the example of a consistent lifestyle and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.