About Us 

Mission Statement 

Charlton Baptist Church exists to honor and glorify God by making and growing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. 

Our Vision

 To make and grow disciples we will support the hurting, nurture families, and renew our communities with the love and gospel of Jesus Christ.

Support the Hurting

Hurt exists on many levels. Physical hurt exists in our bodies, but hurt goes much deeper than that. At a deeper level, mental, emotional and spiritual hurt are sometimes harder to see and harder to recover from. Jesus has called us to be a support to the hurting, addressing all types of hurt, both through acts of mercy and by being and communicating the only thing that can truly remedy all hurt. The gospel.

Nurture Families

Families come in all shapes and sizes and the local church exists as a family of families. God has ordained the family as an institution where discipleship is to take place and where the gospel is at the center. We have been called as a church to nurture families, providing them with the resources they need that the gospel may be present and active in the lives of the families God has entrusted to our care.

Renew Communities

The gospel not only has the ability to impact individuals and families, but to renew communities. For us, this comes not through enacting social change, but through a belief that the gospel can change the hearts and minds of any who hear it. We are a church who has been called to Charlton, Massachusetts and to the Greater Worcester area. As we carry the gospel out into our communities, we seek the kind of renewal that only the gospel can provide.

Our Beliefs

We believe in the absolute authority, accuracy and inerrancy of the 66 books of the Bible; the full verbal inspiration of the original manuscripts and the all-sufficiency and final authority of the Bible as the Christian’s rule of faith and practice (Proverbs 30:5; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

We believe in one God, Creator and Sustainer of all things, eternally existing in three person, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that these are equal in every divine perfection and that they carry out distinct but harmonious functions in the work of creation, providence, and redemption (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14).

The Father - We believe in God the Father, an infinite personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of humanity, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ (Leviticus 11:45; John 4:24; 1 Peter 1:3; John 3:16).

The Son - We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal and only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and that he is true God and true man and is the only Mediator between God and man (Luke 1:35; John 1:1, 12, 14; 14:9; 1 Timothy 2:5).

The Holy Spirit - We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with the Father and the Son; that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment; that He bears witness to the church; that He is the agent of the new birth; that at conversion He baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ; and that he seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies and helps the believer, indwelling every true child of God (John 16:8-11; 3:3-7; Ephesians 1:13; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 14:16,17; Romans 8:14-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12,13).

We believe God created humankind in His image as male and female. We believe in the historicity of Adam and Eve, who though created free from sin, sinned resulting in the sin nature being passed down to every human being. All people are now sinners by nature and choice, resulting in both spiritual death and physical death (Genesis 1:26; Ezekiel 18:20a; Romans 3:23; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 6:23).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary Sacrifice and that all who believe on Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Revelation 1:5).

We believe that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, and that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are born again of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming children of God. We believe in the eternal security of the believer (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:3, 7; 1:12; 10:27-29; Romans 8:14-17).

We believe in the bodily resurrection of our crucified Lord, in His ascension into heaven and in His present ministry there for us as High Priest and Advocate (1 Corinthians 15:4; Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1-2). We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just, the bodily resurrection of the unjust, the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost (1 Corinthians 15:20-24; Revelation 20:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:8).t

We believe that the Church is the spiritual body of which Christ is the head. We believe that the true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We believe that this universal body expresses itself in local assemblies whose members have made a credible confession of faith, and who have voluntarily associated themselves for worship, for instruction, for evangelism, and for service. We believe in the autonomy of the local church while at the same time recognize the benefit of working in cooperation with other like-minded churches in obeying the Great Commandments and fulfilling the Great Commission (1 Corinthians 12:12-13:7, Colossians 1:18a).

We believe that God’s Word commands every believer to be baptized. It is our conviction and normal practice that baptism is correctly administered by immersion in water. Though baptism has no saving merit, it shows forth in solemn and beautiful symbolism the believer’s faith in and union with the crucified, buried and risen Savior (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:38; Acts 18:8; Romans 6:3-5).

We believe that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of Christ, providing the bread and the cup as symbols of Christ’s broken body and shed blood; that the Lord’s Supper is to be partaken of by saved individuals in commemoration of the suffering and death of their Lord and in anticipation of His soon coming again: and that its observance is to be preceded by faithful self-examination (Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-30).

We believe in the personal and visible return of Jesus Christ in glory and power. We also believe in the bodily resurrection and eternal existence of all people: either in a new heaven and new earth for the saved where they will be forever in God’s presence and fellowship, or in the eternal punishment of hell where the lost will be forever separated from God and His presence. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:1-15; 21:1-8).

 This Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. Our Elders, meeting together as a group, shall serve as our final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application for purposes of Charlton Baptist Church’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline.