Beliefs

Basic Beliefs

Our Basic Beliefs represent the most simple and foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. They capture the basic contours of Christian theology.

Anyone pursuing membership and baptism at East Cooper Baptist Church must agree with these beliefs.

We Believe:

  • The Scriptures are true, authoritative, and sufficient.
  • There is only one true God, Creator of heaven and earth, who eternally exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  • All things exist for the glory of God.
  • All humanity—Christ excluded—is sinful by both birth and action.
  • The deserved penalty for sin is physical and spiritual death.
  • Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, was born of a virgin, and is both fully God and fully human.
  • Jesus Christ died as the sacrificial substitute to pay the penalty for sin.
  • Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will one day physically return.
  • There will be a future, physical resurrection of the dead. Only those who turn from sin and to Jesus in faith and repentance will be raised to eternal reward. Those who do not turn from sin and to Jesus will be raised to eternal conscious punishment.
  • Only through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and repentance from sin can one be reconciled to God and experience true life and joy.

Theological Distinctives

Our Theological Distinctives mark our convictions on areas about which there is some difference of opinion even among Bible-believing, gospel-centered churches. 

Men and women are absolutely equal in essence, dignity and value and are different by divine design. As part of God’s good created order, men and women are to have different yet complementary roles and responsibilities in the home and church, especially as it comes to teaching and authority. These role distinctions are God’s grace to man and woman and are to be protected, preserved and practiced for His glory and our joy.

Baptism is intended only for those who have professed faith in Jesus Christ and can give sufficient testimony to the basics of Christian beliefs. Also, we baptize by immersion because it is not only the original significance of The Word, but also best symbolizes the reality to which baptism points—our death and resurrection in Christ.

We believe that local churches need to send people and resources throughout the world to reach groups of people who do not have an indigenous, self-propagating Christian church movement. Any ethnic or ethnolinguistic nation without enough Christians to evangelize the rest of the nation is an "unreached people group." Reaching these people is the primary focus of our Global Impact Ministry. We will actively seek to raise up and support people from our local body who will go and devote their lives to this task.

We believe the gospel is the Good News of salvation for all who turn to Christ in faith. We believe the gospel of grace was clearly articulated in the 16th Century historical event called The Reformation. The Reformation was marked by “Five Solas”: 

  1. Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) is the doctrine that Scripture alone is the only rule of faith and life for the believer.
  2. Solus Christus (Christ Alone) affirms that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. We are saved only by the work of Jesus as our substitute upon the cross.
  3. Sola Fide (Faith Alone) is the doctrine that God declares us righteous through faith alone, a faith that looks at Christ alone, and not through any human effort.
  4. Sola Gratia (Grace Alone) describes the way God grants us the blessings of salvation. He freely declares us “Forgiven” on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross. This underscores the fact that no personal merit contributes to our salvation. The entire process is based on the mercy and goodness of God.
  5. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone) is the doctrine that all creation and acts within creation should be and ultimately are designed to bring glory to God alone.

Mission & Values

Helping broken people treasure Jesus.

In order to live out the gospel in all that we do...

The Bible reveals to us the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. It is the very word of God, timeless in its expression, and anchoring us to reality in the midst of an ever-changing culture. 

Scripture: Rom. 12:1-2, 2 Tim. 3:16-17, Heb. 1:1-2 

Because we recognize that God has ordained the institution of the nuclear family and called us into the greater familial community of the body of Christ, we celebrate and strive to build strong families within individual homes and across the generations within our church. 

Scripture: 1 Cor. 12:12-31, Eph. 4:11-16, Deut. 6:6-7

We have been both secured by Jesus’ service to us and equipped with spiritual gifts, that we might freely serve both the church and the world. Our members are called to pour themselves out in a variety of ways, as well as to consider their entire lives to be spiritual acts of service. 

Scripture: Mark 10:45, Acts 20:24, Acts 20:35, Phil. 2:17

We believe that followers of Christ are called to multiply through the proclamation of the gospel from one person to the next and through the ensuing process of relational discipleship. Therefore, we mobilize our people in order to expand God’s kingdom to the neighborhoods and nations until they all know the gospel.

Scripture: Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, 2 Tim. 2:2