About Us

Objectives of James River Baptist Church:

• To be a dynamic spiritual organism empowered by the Holy Spirit to share Christ with as many people as possible in our church, community and throughout the world.
• To be a worshipping fellowship, experiencing an awareness of God, recognizing His person and responding in obedience to His leadership.
• To experience an increasingly meaningful fellowship with God and fellow believers.
• To help people experience a growing knowledge of God and man.
• To be a church whose purpose is to be Christlike in our daily living by emphasizing total committment of life, personality and possessions to the Lordship of Christ.

Relationships:

• The government of this church is vested in the body of believers who compose it.
• It is subject to the control of no other ecclesiastical body, but it recognizes and sustains the obligations of mutual counsel and cooperation , which are common among Baptist churches.
• Insofar as is practical, this church will cooperate with and support the association and state convention affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

This is a sovereign and democratic Baptist Church under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The membership retains unto itself the exclusive right of self-government in all phases of the spiritual and temporal life of this church.

The membership reserves the exclusive right to determine who shall be members of this church and the conditions of such membership.

• Any person may offer himself as a candidate for membership in this church.
• All such candidates shall be presented to the church for membership in any of the following ways:

1. By profession of faith and for baptism according to the policies of this church.
2. By promise of letter of recommendation from another Southern Baptist Church.
3. By restoration upon a statement of prior conversion experience and baptism by immersion whn no letter is obtainable.

Those applying for membership shall be brought under the watchcare of the church and be visited by the Pastor and a Deacon or two Deacons as soon as possible. The candidate will then be presented at a regular or special business meeting for a vote on their membership.