ABout Us

Bethlehem Baptist Church is a church of real people. We aren't perfect, but the God we serve is. We invite you to join us as we seek to follow our Savior and reach others with the saving message of the Gospel.

Why We Exist

We exist to reach people, grow believers, and go impact the world with the Gospel.

Reach

Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations, known as the Great Commission, is still heard and practiced by believers have today. At Bethlehem, we desire to reach our community, state, country, and the world with the message of the Gospel. We want our world to know and experience the forgiveness that Jesus offers. By building relationships with our community and partnering with missionaries from the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board, we proclaim Jesus in our neighborhoods, country, and around the world.

Grow

We believe the primary role of the church is to grow believers in their relationship with God. We do this through our Sunday morning Worship Services, Midweek Bible Study, Life Groups, and Sunday School. We teach the Bible in context so that believers can mature in their faith in a logical, organized way. We desire that individuals understand God's truth so questions are encouraged. We seek to teach so that the community can understand, believe, and even share what they have learned.

Go

The command of the Great Commission is not just a command for the church as a whole, but also a command for each individual believer to share the Gospel. We want to be a church of people who impact the world with the message of the Gospel wherever we go. We do this by living life transparently and genuinely living out our faith. We want the world to know the goodness of God. So as we go through life we look for opportunities to share what we know not just at church but, also, the grocery store, our favorite restaurants, and everywhere. We want to give everyone the opportunity for peace, stability, and hope that only a relationship with Christ can provide.

To learn more about how we accomplish our mission, check out our ministries.

What we Believe

Here are some of the foundational beliefs that guide all we do at Bethlehem.

God

We believe in one God who is the living God. God is the all powerful, perfect creator, sustainer, and ruler over all of the universe. He is all knowing and infinite in his holiness and love. To Him and Him alone do we owe all of our love, reverence, and obedience.

God has revealed Himself and eternally exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is known at the Trinity.

God the Father

God the Father is the Creator, Ruler, and Sustainer over all creation. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attributes towards all men.

God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. He became incarnate as Jesus Christ through conception by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God during His time on earth. He fully took on the nature of man with all the demands and necessities and identified Himself completely with man. Even being fully man, Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus lived a perfect life, was crucified on a cross, was buried for three days, and was resurrected on the third day with a glorified body. After His resurrection, Jesus ascended into Heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God and fully man, between man and God. He is the perfect Sacrifice, Who, through His death, took the penalty of sin all humans deserve on Himself thus providing the Way of salvation so that we can have a restored relationship with God. One day, He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is fully divine. He gave the inspiration to men to write the Bible; gives wisdom to man to understand the truth; exalts Christ; convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgement; calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He inhabits the hearts of all true Christians, is the promised Helper who guides us in the process of sanctification.

THe Bible

We believe the Bible is the authoritative, inherent Word of God. The Holy Bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by God's revelation of Himself to His creation. Because Scripture is the World of God, it is entirely true and trustworthy. Because of this, it is the standard that all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture points to Christ who is the the focus of the entire Bible.

Creation

We believe that God is the Creator of the universe. All things that are created were spoken into existed by God through His Son, Jesus, and all of creation points to its Creator. God created a perfect world free of sin, sickness, and death. This perfect creation was corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve, the first people, and all of creation has suffered under the curse of sin ever since. Sickness and death are not part of God's perfect plan for his creation and God uncastrated a way of redemption through His Son, Jesus, so that we can be saved from the consequences of sin.

Humanity

Humans were created by God as Male and Female. The first man, Adam, was specially created by God from the dust of the earth, and the first woman, Eve, was created by God from a rib of Adam. Men and women are both created with equal value, dignity, and importance to God, but were created with equally valuable but different roles and purposes in God's creation.

All people are born with a sin nature and suffer under the curse of sin that is inherited from the first people, Adam and Eve. This sin corrupts us and keeps us from having a relationship with God. There is nothing we can do on our own to save ourselves from this curse of sin, but God made a way of salvation through Jesus.

Sin

God created a perfect world without sin, but Adam and Eve's disobedience to God brought sin into the world which has corrupted all of creation. Death, sickness, pain, suffering, hatred, and all other evil in the world comes as a result of sin's corruption of God's perfect creation. This sin nature that we are born with causes us to have a separation from God and is what condemns us to judgement before God. Because we are sinful humans, there is nothing we can do to make ourselves sinless, and, therefore, meet God's standards of perfection. This sin that exists in our lives shows us our helplessness to save ourselves and our need of a perfect Savior to rescue us from our own sinfulness.

Salvation

Salvation refers to the redemption of man through freely accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who obtained eternal redemption from sin for all who believe by His sacrifice on the cross. Salvation from our sins comes only through true faith and belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Apart from a personal relationship with Jesus, their is no salvation, and salvation is only found in Jesus and Him alone.

Broadly speaking, salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.

Regeneration is the work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus.
Justification is the genuine turning from sin toward God.
Sanctification is the life-long process whereby God grows and matures believer to be more like Jesus.
Glorification is the culmination of salvation when we receive our eternal reward and go to be in the presence of God in Heaven.

To learn more about what we believe, click the links below:

Baptist Faith and Message 2000

Bethlehem Baptist Church is an autonomous body of believers who affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Where We Came From

Bethlehem Baptist Church traces it's roots all the way back to July 25, 1790. At the time, Bethlehem was known as Cox's Meeting House. In 1792, the name was changed to Spring Creek Church and was later changed again to Bethlehem Baptist Church. During the life of Bethlehem, our church has called 3 locations home and has been on the current property since 1897. Throughout the many years of Bethlehem existence, many pastors and members have helped guide our church to where it is today, but we believe God is the one who has grown and sustained Bethlehem for all all these years so that it can continue to shine as a light in a dark world.

Where We're Going

Bethlehem has a rich history, but through God's power the future is even brighter. We are constantly looking to reach people and disciple them in new ways while holding on to the never changing Word of God. Our methods may change, but the message we proclaim stays the same. We continually look for innovative and engaging ways to minister to people of all ages ranging from kids to senior adults. We want to make an impact in our community for the Kingdom of God.

Contact Us

Send us an email or give us a call if you have any questions about Bethlehem Baptist Church. Also, please consider filling out a Connect Card so we can get to know you and let you know about what's coming up here at Bethlehem!

bethlehembaptist@bbcmidlo.org

(804) 272-0597