Our Doctrine

Baptist Church Planters is a fundamental Baptist mission agency which is passionately committed to the sound teachings of the Word of God.  The paragraphs to follow give an overview of the sound doctrines that we hold dear.  For a full statement of the doctrinal position of BCP, see our Articles of Faith.  BCP’s full Constitution is also available to view or download. See below.
View Our Articles of Faith »
View the BCP Constitution »

Salvation

We believe that all who receive Christ as their Saviour by means of the Holy Spirit’s ministry are born from above and are eternally secure in Christ - John 10:28; Romans 8:35-39; Philippians 1:6.  We believe that the individual is chosen by the Sovereign God unto salvation - Ephesians 1:3-6; I Peter 1:2.

Separation

1.  Personal Separation
It is the conviction of the Mission that believers in Christ are to live personal lives of separation from the world unto God; that life under grace does not imply freedom from all obligations to godly living, but rather to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age - Titus 2:11, 12.

2.  Ecclesiastical Separation
We declare ourselves unequivocally and unalterably opposed to affiliation with the World Council of Churches or any of its national Christian councils.  We consider the command of the Scripture to be explicit in requiring complete separation from any alliances which would make us part of such councils (Please note reference to pertinent Scriptures as found in the BCP Articles of Faith - XV, Constitution, p. 16).

We also take a firm stand against New Evangelicalism.  We further urge and expect our Council, staff and missionaries to use extreme caution in personal association with those who hold that position.

It is expected that missionaries on the field will implement our policy of complete separation from apostasy and ecumenism and not cooperate with or support churches or groups which do not hold our separatist position.

Marriage/Divorce

It is the conviction and position of Baptist Church Planters that no one who personally has divorce in his or her background or is presently divorced shall be accepted as a missionary irrespective of when the divorce took place.

New Testament Churches

1.  A local New Testament Baptist church is an organized body of immersed believers meeting regularly in a specific geographic location for mutual edification, the observance of the ordinances, and the evangelization of the world.

2.  A church has stated membership, a pastor whom they have called, and duly elected deacons.  It believes that pastor-elder-bishop and deacon are the only two Biblically stated offices.  It has a congregational form of government as opposed to pastoral, ruling elder, or lay elder government.  It meets regularly for worship and prayer as a congregation that is ordered according to instructions given in the New Testament and is not merely a chance, occasional or unstructured group of Christians.

3.  New Testament churches are established by divine command as gathering places for true believers.  They are central in the spiritual work of Christ in this age, and participation in small, informal group meetings, home Bible study gatherings or home sessions around taped messages are no substitute for active participation in a scripturally organized church.

4.  All personnel of Baptist Church Planters, including the Council, Administration, and missionaries stand firmly on the position that God established three institutions, namely the home, civil government, and the local, New Testament church.

5.  All works and/or churches with a group agreement with Baptist Church Planters must have the name Baptist in their title and advertise their primary name on their stationery, signs, etc.

Church Ordinances

We believe there are two church ordinances - baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  The Mission does not believe a mission church can grow properly when the ordinances are not practiced.  Therefore, it recommends the following procedure for churches not duly organized:

1.  All church planters serving with Baptist Church Planters must be authorized by their commissioning churches to observe the ordinances.  It is the responsibility of the sending church to define how the missionary will exercise this responsibility on their behalf.

2.  However, because the missionary also represents the Mission, the Mission recommends that the sending church receive and hold in trust the membership of those baptized before a mission church is duly organized, and that such members be transferred to the mission church when it is a duly organized Baptist church.  This is not a requirement; final determination will be made by the missionary and his sending church.

3.  If a commissioning church cannot, for reasons of its own, receive these members, it may be willing to have another nearby “mother” church receive the members of the mission church until it is duly organized.

4.  Or, it may authorize its missionary to observe the ordinances when:

• The mission church has a signed Declaration of Purpose; and
• Meets regularly for worship in a designated place.

Charismatic Movement

It is the conviction of Baptist Church Planters that the Charismatic Movement, while containing some who are genuine and sincere believers, is based upon a misunderstanding of the teaching of Scripture regarding the spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of tongues.  This gift was given as a special sign to the nation of Israel as an authentication of the apostolic message, not as a gift to be used throughout this dispensation.  Speaking in tongues and healing were temporary sign gifts which ceased with the completion of the Canon of Scriptures - I Corinthians 13:8.  We stand firmly opposed to the experience-centered, unscriptural emphasis of the Charismatic Movement.

Demonism

We do not exclude the reality of demon possession of the unsaved nor exclude the power of intercessory prayer, but we focus our continued ministry upon the power of the Gospel to transform lives rather than upon a ministry of exorcism.  We believe that the concept of demon possession of believers is without biblical support and, in harmony with this position, reject any practice or teaching of exorcism of demons from believers. We by no means reject the biblical evidence that believers can be attacked, deceived, corrupted, and sifted by demonic forces; and we do not exclude a scriptural ministry of assisting, counseling with and praying for those believers who unwittingly have fallen prey to the enemy’s attack.

Ecumenical Movement

We are opposed to the Ecumenical Movement and to any dialogue with ecumenically minded groups.  The Ecumenical Movement seeks the eventual union of all religions into one super-church.  This means that every church, religion, or religious body participating in the merger must compromise its beliefs in areas of faith and practice to conform to the will of the whole body.  Baptist Church Planters purposes to stand true to the purity of the Scriptures, the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Christian faith as outlined in the New Testament - II Corinthians 6:11-18.

New-Evangelicalism

We take a firm stand against the adherents to New-Evangelicalism wherein they seek to modify the Word of God through the substitution of man’s reason for God’s revelation, placing love above sound doctrine as a basis for Christian fellowship and advocating the rethinking of the fundamentals of the faith - Colossians 2:8; I John 5:1-2.

Neo-Orthodoxy

We oppose this movement of Neo-Orthodoxy as a subtle form of liberalism involving alteration of biblical terms without strict adherence to the truth of scriptures.  Baptist Church Planters believe and teach that the Word of God is completely without error in its original manuscripts and that its authority does not depend upon its acceptance or rejection by man - Jude 3; Ephesians 5:11.