Biblical Authority in All Matters of Faith and Practice
Autonomy or Self-governing Power of The Local Church
You will not find visions, revelations, tongues, or extra Biblical “messages from God” at Riverside Baptist Church. We believe that the entire Bible (66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the only inspired, infallible, authoritative and sufficient revelation of God to man (see John 17:17, Acts 17:11, II Timothy 3:16, 17, Hebrews 4:12, II Peter 1:21).
Our church is completely self-governed outside of a denomination (see Colossians 1:18, I Timothy 3:15, Acts 20:19-30).
Priesthood Of Believers
Every believer has equal and instant access to God. This means that each believer is his/her own priest and has direct access to God’s truth and God’s will for his/her life (see I Timothy 2:5,6, Hebrews 4:14-16).
Two Offices Within The Church
Riverside Baptist Church has two offices of leadership—Pastors and Deacons scripturally entrusted to men only. Scripture refers to the office of pastor with the terms of elder, bishop, pastor and pastor-teacher. It is the responsibility of Pastors to serve the church by leading, teaching, and overseeing the church work. It is the responsibility of Deacons to serve the church family through assisting with care and the provision of special needs (see Acts 6:1-7, Ephesians 4:11-12, I Timothy 2:12; 3:1-13, Titus 1:6-9, I Peter 5:1-4).
Individual Soul Liberty
Every man and woman, boy and girl, young and old must choose personally to come to Christ (see Romans 10:17, Romans 14:1-8, Romans 14:12-23).
Security of The Believer
Salvation is a gift from God that cannot be taken away. When a person is genuinely saved, he/she is always saved. Nothing can separate him/her from eternal life in Christ and he/she can live with full assurance of Heaven as his/her future home (see John 10:27,28, I Peter 1:3-5).
Two Ordinances
We practice two scriptural ordinances at Riverside Baptist Church—Baptism and the Lord’s Table (communion). These ordinances have no part in salvation and only serve as pictures of what Christ did for us (see Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:38-43, Acts 8:36-38, Romans 6:1-6, I Corinthians 11:23-24).
Separation of Church And State
The state should not have the power to intervene in the free expression of religious liberty (see Matthew 22:21, Acts 5:29-31, Romans 13:1-4).
A Further Note About Our Distinctives
Our goal is to teach the whole counsel of God as we preach expositionally through the Bible. Any church can become unbalanced in their theology by overly focusing on one doctrine to the neglect of other truths. Riverside Baptist Church seeks to be balanced in our theology because we believe the church is the pillar and ground of truth. Therefore we firmly believe that the understanding of the absolute sovereignty of God and the reality of human responsibility affect every aspect of our church life, including our doctrine, our preaching, our philosophy of ministry, our counseling, and our worship. Since its inception in 1953, Riverside Baptist Church has subscribed to a balanced doctrinal statement of The New Hampshire Confession of 1833.
