Church Mission (Purpose)

At Southpoint Baptist Church, we seek to bridge the gap between Christ and community through gospel-centered lives. 

 

Church Focus (Principles)

To achieve our mission, we focus on these four guiding principles:

  • Relevant Teaching: God’s Word is vital to the spiritual growth of every person. It is as relevant today as when it was written. It will be as relevant in the future as it is now. But relevance demands a grasp of both Scriptural truths and cultural norms. We are tasked in bringing the truth of God’s Word into our culture in such a way that it is understandable and relatable to those listening. We want our teaching to be engaging, compelling, and inviting to everyone, but we will do so without watering down or overlooking the gospel. 

  • Transformative Worship: Our goal is not to create a worship experience but to sound a call to worship. As we come together, we will present our people with music, singing, testimony, and Scripture to move their hearts in worship. Our desire is that this time of worship prepares and excites our hearts to receive God’s Word. We want people of all ages to leave encouraged, challenged, and changed by their time spent together in God’s presence. We will seek to honor God with excellence and creativity in every worship service.

  • Meaningful Presence: Here, we have two very important ideas. First, meaningful presence is about our church family. When we come together, it is not to be consumers. We want every member to find a role in the church that is meaningful and fulfilling to them. We also consider ourselves family. So, coming together is more than a church service. We do life together. Second, meaningful presence speaks to our presence in the community. We want to meet people where they are with the love of Christ. We want to meet their practical needs and be an irreplaceable, essential part of their lives.

  • Resurrected Lives: We serve a resurrected King who rules the hearts of resurrected people. We all come from different backgrounds, whether it be race, finances, schooling, religion, etc. We all have our struggles, sins, and shame. Regardless, the resurrected life reminds us that we are new creatures in Christ because of His work on the cross. As we go through our day, we remind ourselves that we are dead to our old lives and resurrected to newness in Christ. This is more than coming to life in Christ, but continuing in life with Christ. At its heart, Resurrected Lives speaks to salvation, discipleship, and everything in between. 

 

Church Vision (Plan)

904 Vision (A Ten-Year Plan): We desire to play a part in 904 resurrection stories by 2036. How?

  • $200,000 for Jax - $200,000 given back to support communities in Jacksonville. The commitment of $20k/year to give towards local organizations and events like First Coast Women, backpack raising, homeless shelters, food pantries, hurricane relief, school lunches, toy drives, adoption agencies, community events, etc. 

  • 36,000 Gospel Conversations - As a church, we commit to sharing the gospel with others through testimonies, outreach, tracts, prison ministries, mission trips, Gideons, etc. God has not commanded us to convert souls. But He has commissioned us to share the gospel. We leave the results of our gospel conversations with Him.

  • 904 Resurrection Stories - As we engage our community and the globe with the gospel, we believe God will do the work of resurrecting souls. We are simply excited to be a part of it. As we submit to His leading by meeting the needs of others and using that as a launching point for the gospel, we believe we will witness stories of life change, whether salvation, rededication, restored relationships, addiction breakthrough, and more. 

 

Statement of Faith

WE BELIEVE in one perfect, infinite, holy, and eternal God, Creator of all things, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (1 Peter 1:2; Mark 12:29)

 

WE BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, His virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death for our sins, His bodily resurrection, and His personal, literal, imminent return. (Isaiah 7:14, 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Corinthians 15:3-5; John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)

 

WE BELIEVE that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, our only infallible and authoritative rule for faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

 

WE BELIEVE that man was created in the image of God, but in Adam’s sin, the human race fell, and inherited a sin nature, and became alienated from God; that man is totally depraved and of himself, totally unable to remedy his lost condition. (Romans 3:10-19, Romans 5:12,19)

 

WE BELIEVE that marriage, as defined by the Bible, is between a man and a woman. (Genesis 2:18-25; Romans 1:26-32)

 

WE BELIEVE in salvation by grace, through faith, available freely to the whole human race, but received only by those who trust in the completed work of Christ. (John 3:16; Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, Ephesians 2:8-10)

 

WE BELIEVE that all who take Christ as Savior are born from above by action of the Holy Spirit and are eternally secure from all condemnation; rejection of Him brings condemnation to eternal Hell. (John 10:28, Romans 8:35, John 3:5-7,14,15, Romans 8:11, Revelation 20:11-15, John 5:24-29)

 

WE BELIEVE in righteous living and good works, not as a means of salvation, but as its evidence and fruit. (James 2:18-20, Ephesians 2:10)

 

WE BELIEVE in the distinct personality of Satan, that he is the “god of this age,” author of all the powers of darkness and sin, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. (1 Peter 5:8, Revelation 12:9-10)

 

WE BELIEVE in the Church which is the body and bride of Jesus Christ which includes all born-again believers, whose purpose is to glorify God through worship, prayer, fellowship, teaching, witnessing of Christ, and observing the ordinances of her Lord.  These are the Baptism of believers by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. (Ephesians 5:23-27, Revelation 19:7-9, Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Romans 6:3-5)

 

WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit seals, baptizes, in-dwells, and regenerates all believing sinners at the moment of conversion; that He sovereignly gives every believer at least one gift for service, but that  certain gifts of the tongue, the gift of healing, and the gift of miracles were temporary sign gifts and are no longer in the Church today. (John 16:7-15, John 14:17, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Titus 3:5, 1 Corinthians 12:4-13)

 

WE BELIEVE in the bodily, personal return of Jesus Christ; that He will come for the believers, catching them away in the rapture.  We believe that God will bring to pass the details of His Son’s return to earth in the manner taught in God’s Word.  While we acknowledge the vast diversity of opinion surrounding the doctrine of the return of Christ, and do not wish to make this matter a test of fellowship, the general opinion held by the church is a pre-tribulational, pre-millennial position. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 3:10)

 

WE ACKNOWLEDGE that the above doctrinal statement in no way exhausts the content of our faith which is in the entire Word of God.  We do believe that these statements are representative of the sound doctrine taught in the Bible.