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Who We Are
The Pleasant Street Free Baptist Church of Springvale, Maine has been around since August 29, 1829, when it was founded as the "Free Will Baptist Church in Sanford." (Springvale is a village within Sanford.) Our worship and service home has been located on Pleasant Street since at least 1867 and probably since 1834.
When the Particular (Calvinist) and many Free Will Baptist churches united as the United Baptist Convention of Maine, we were part of that movement, dropping the word "will" from our name. We have remained firmly committed to the statement of our founders that: "We do jointly agree to take the Scriptures of Truth for our only guide and rule and the New Testament our only book of discipline and to be wholly governed by that, and we do furthermore agree to watch over one another for good and to love one another as brothers and sisters, hoping that it will be for the good of our souls and the glory of God and for the benefit of others all around."
Over the years we have maintained a solid evangelical stance and matured in our understanding of God's grace to us in Jesus Christ. We have been deeply involved in foreign and home mission support and have connected with various organizations that have helped us broaden our work with youth. We were actively involved in Christian Endeavor in its hay day and our very active youth group has gone on mission trips through M-fuge - a ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention but open to other groups. We are currently invovled in changing our denominational affiliation as we have become increasingly concerned with the American Baptist Churches' (which we joined in 1903 when it was first formed) inability to hold to sound doctrine and practice. As of this writing we have not made a final decision of a new denominational home, but we do want a relationship of mutual support and accountability with churches of like faith and practice.
You are invited to come and worship with us, find out more about us, and share with us our walk with Christ.
Church Covenant
Having been led by the Spirit of God to profess our faith in Jesus Christ, and having been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we solemnly and joyfully affirm our covenant with God and with each other as one body in Christ.
We pledge to serve Christ in the fellowship of this congregation. We will strive, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love, to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to place it above all institutions of human origin; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel throughout all nations.
We will strive to maintain as far as possible family and personal devotions; to teach our children the Christian truths: to walk uprightly in the world; to be honest in our dealings, faithful in our relationships, set an example by our lifestyle, and be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.
Believing our bodies to be temples of the Holy Spirit, we will strive to avoid experiences and habits which harm or defile the body and hurt our witness.
We will strive to watch over each other in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to help each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense but always be ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the instruction of our Savior to seek it without delay.
We pledge that if we move from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with another church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.
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Confession of Faith
We believe:
1) That there is only one true and eternal God consisting of three co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen. 1:1; Deut. 6:4; John 4:24; John 14:6-13; Gal. 4:6; 2 Peter 1:17; Psalm 2:7ff; Isa. 7:14; John 1:1-18; Heb. 1:8; Psalm 51:11; 1 John 4:13; Acts 5:3,4)
2) That the Bible, the Word of God, is our final authority and is trustworthy for faith and practice when interpreted responsibly under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit within the community of faith. (Deut. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 2:15, 3:16-17)
3) That God created humankind in the divine image. Through Adam's fall all became sinful, lost and condemned. Each human being by deliberate choice participates in sin and is in need of redemption through Christ's atoning death and resurrection. (Gen. 1:26-30; Eph. 2:1-22; Rom. 1:19-32, 5:12-21; 1 John 2:2, 4:10)
4. That Jesus Christ is God's Son, fully divine and fully human, the eternal and preexistent Word. (Heb. 1:1-3; 4:14-15; John 1:1-3, 14)
5) That God offers forgiveness of sin and justification by grace through faith in Christ Jesus apart from works. Such redemption is received by human individuals as God's gift upon repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ, enabling us to participate in Christ's reign as a present reality and a future hope. (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Eph. 2:8-22; 1 John 1:6-2:11)
6) That the Church is a community of faith consisting of believers in Christ as Lord. Believers have a personal relationship to God through Jesus Christ, follow the Lord in believer's baptism, share in the Lord's Supper, gather regularly for worship and conenant for mutual edification and care-giving. (Matt. 16:15-19; Rom. 10:9-10; Acts 16:30-33; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Eph. 1:22-23; Heb. 10:23-25; James 1:27, 2:8)
7) That the Church is called in Jesus Christ to proclaim, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Good news of God's reconciling grace, inviting persons to receive salvation and follow Christ as His disciples. (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Gal. 3:26-28; Rev. 22:17)
8) That Jesus Christ will return visibly, at which time He will raise the dead and judge all people. Believers will enjoy eternal fellowship with God as they participate in the fullness of His eternal reign, while unbelievers will suffer eternal separation from god. (Matt. 24:29-31, 25:31-46; 1 Thess. 4:14-18; Rev. . 20:4-6, 11-15)
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