Maybe you are unfamiliar with the word ‘Baptist’. You wonder – “Who in the world are Baptists?”  Well, we are not some off-the-wall, splinter group. Being Baptist means that we are people who love God and value five distinct freedoms that God gives all of us:

1.  We believe that every person has the right and privilege to go to God personally and directly.   We affirm the ability and right of each individual to read and interpret Holy Scripture for his or her self.  We do not have a creed, but affirm the time-tested beliefs of the Christian faith.

3.  We believe all people should be free to practice their faith without the intervention of government.  Baptists were instrumental in securing the “Bill of Rights” in the United States Constitution which guarantees all citizens religious freedom. 

4.  We practice baptism by immersion as a powerful ‘symbolic’ act by those who have publicly committed their lives to Christ, being mature enough to understand the commitment they have made.

5.  Baptist churches cooperate together, but each congregation is an autonomous body following God’s guidance, making its own decisions, selecting its own leaders. 

 

Our greatest joy comes not from being ‘Baptist’, but from being committed followers of Jesus Christ. In our life together at GBC, we work with a number of groups: Dover Baptist Association, Virginia Baptists (BGAV), Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Samaritan’s Purse, Meals-on-Wheels, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Habitat for Humanity to name just a few.