I believe the church is the gathered people of God, the body of Christ, of which He is the head. The universal church consists of all the elect of all ages. The local church is a visible expression of the universal, and it is the primary context for Christian life, worship, and ministry.

I am a Baptist. I hold to believer’s baptism, the baptism of those who have professed genuine faith, as the only baptism taught in the New Testament. Baptism is by immersion, signifying death and resurrection with Christ (Rom. 6:3–4). Baptism does not save; it is an ordinance of the church, a public declaration of what God has done in the soul.

I hold to congregational church government: the whole congregation, not a board of elders above the congregation or a bishop over multiple congregations, is the final authority under Christ in local church matters. Elders (pastors) lead, teach, and shepherd; deacons serve; but authority resides in the assembled covenant community.

I believe the church has two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of Christ’s death, a proclamation of His return, and a means of grace for believers, not a repetition of the sacrifice or a physical transformation of the elements (contra Rome).

Church membership is not optional for the Christian. To be connected to a local church, to be under its care, accountable to its elders, and committed to its members, is the expected norm of the New Testament (Heb. 10:24–25; Acts 2:41–42). Lone-ranger Christianity is not a biblical category.