What We Believe
The experience of the pandemic has brought with it the opportunity to reflect on what we want people to know about us as a community of faith. We are still in the process of reflecting on how we grasp the roots of our faith for life and ministry beyond COVD-19. As Baptists, our faith is not creedal, but the reflections below summarize our active wrestling.
We are a resurrection people.
We believe Jesus was crucified, and God raised Jesus from the dead (I Cor 15:50-58). By doing so, God demonstrated divine love for the world, and showered life-giving power on humankind. Because of this merciful act, we stand on the promise that eternal life begins now through the disciplined practice of loving one another (I John 3:14). We believe that we, too, shall see God face to face.
Because Christ lives, we are called to be disciples of God’s love and care in the world. With this love, we care for one another and seek to live justly with all creation.
We are called to the radical friendship that Christ invites with disciples. (John 15:15) The spirit of authentic, resurrection friendship is essential to our worship, service, and witness.
We are a people of the Story.
We are a progressive Black Christian witness in the borough of Brooklyn, and we believe our history is a powerful demonstration of love and of the profound presence of God’s grace in a broken and fractured world.
We believe our lives are a continuing part of God’s never-ending story of love. God cares about our lives.
When we gather together to worship, to study, for fellowship, and to serve, we are rehearsing the truth of God’s love as recorded in the holy scriptures.
We are a people of life-giving action.
Life-giving action is justice, mercy, grace, and love.
Among us, you can expect to be loved and valued as a unique expression of God’s grace in the world. You can expect to wrestle with your faith and to be “provoked to good works” (Hebrews 10:24). You can expect to be supported to find your vocation as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
We are a community of friends witnessing for Christ.
The Concord Baptist Church of Christ was founded in 1847 by Rev. Sampson White, an abolitionist, and is affiliated with the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Churches USA.
