We believe in the divine inspiration of the Old and New Testament Scriptures as the only infallible rule of faith and practice; the depravity of the whole human family, occasioned by the fall of our first parents., and salvation by the grace of God through the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the necessity of regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit and by repentance and the exercise of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in Justification by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; the obligation of every intelligent creature to love God supremely, to believe what God says, and practice what God commands.

We believe the Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is composed of all His true disciples and in Him is invested supremely all power for its government. According to His commandment, Christians are to associate themselves into particular societies or Churches; and to each of these Churches He has given needful authority for administering that order, discipline and worship which He has appointed.

We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as a symbol of the believer’s faith in a crucified and risen Savior and the believer’s death to sin and his resurrection to a new life; that baptism is necessary for Church membership; that the Lord’s Supper is a symbol to commemorate the dying love of Christ and that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances of the Church.

We believe the Lord’s Day is a Christian institution for regular observance.

We believe that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to His Word, or not contained in it. Civil magistrates being ordained of God, subjection in all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

We believe that the bodies of men after death return to dust, but their spirits return immediately to God the righteous to rest with Him; the wicked to be reserved under darkness to the judgment. At the last day, the bodies of all the dead, both just and unjust, will be raised.

We believe that God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world by Jesus Christ, when every one shall receive according to his deeds; the wicked shall go away in everlasting punishment, the righteous into everlasting life.

Adopted by Wilderness Baptist Church on 3/15/2000

The Baptist Faith and Message

Article XVIII. The Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.