Hey There!

Lighthouse Baptist Church is a gospel-centered, reformed, Baptist church which meets in Hope Mills, NC.  We seek to glorify and enjoy God in all things, particularly by making him known in Hope Mills and the greater Fayetteville NC and throughout the world.  We emphasize Expository Biblical preaching and teaching evangelism, discipleship, authentic worship, and biblical (reformed) theology are core values of ours.

Gospel-centered.  The word gospel means “good news.”  The Bible is a collection of books, all breathed out by God, which focuses on a central message of good news to the people He created.  The good news is that God’s purpose in creation is to graciously reconcile rebellious human beings to Himself.  He has done so by sending His only Son, Jesus, to suffer under the wrath due these sinners.  On the basis of Jesus’ atoning death, all who will repent from their rebellion and trust in Jesus alone will be forgiven and reconciled to God.  The whole of our lives is to be lived under the banner of this good news.

Reformed.  We affirm the theology rediscovered in the Reformation.  It is largely captivated by an understanding of God and salvation which is derived from Scripture alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone.  This theology takes seriously the Bible’s teaching on the sovereignty of God, the sinfulness of man, and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for His church, and the personal electing grace of God.  It is not the theology of a particular man but the teaching of the scripture.  We identify ourselves in this way not for reasons of tradition but convictions of truth.

Baptist. We affirm the historical distinctive of being a Baptist. We believe in the seven distinctive of being called a Baptist. 1) Biblical Authority Biblical authority (Matt 24:35; 1Pet 1:23; 2Tim 3:16–3:17) 2) Autonomy of the local church (Matt 18:15–18:17; 1Cor 6:1–6:3) 3) Priesthood of all believers (1Pet 2:5–2:9; 1Tim 2:5) 4) Two ordinances (believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper) (Acts 2:41–2:47; 1Cor 11:23–11:32) 5) Individual soul liberty (Rom 14:5–14:12) 6) Saved and baptized church membership (Acts 2:41–2:47; 1Cor 12:12; 2Cor 6:14; Eph 4:3) 7) Two offices of the church (elder and deacon) (1Tim 3:1–3:13)

We believe every Christian should be actively committed to membership in a local church.  Our desire is for fellowship and membership to be based on the most basic essentials of the historic Christian faith.  We also desire that disagreement in areas of lesser doctrinal importance not be allowed to divide Christians from the richness of our unity in Christ.

At Lighthouse Baptist Church, we strive to relate to one another according to the general sentiment expressed by the following statement commonly attributed to Chrysostom: “In essentials, unity.  In non-essentials, charity.  In all things, Jesus Christ.”