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Mission
Welcome to the IFB
Church Listing website. My mission at this site is to create the
largest and most comprehensive listing of Independent Fundamental Baptist
Churches in
the world.
I happy to
report as of September 10, 2005 we are back online. We were
experiencing some technical difficulites due to our hosting provider
and have since switched to a new provider which should allow this
directory to function much more smoothly.
If you are like most
IFBs when trying to move, it can be very frustrating to try and find
a good Bible preaching church. While we do not deny that other
churches are also preaching the Bible and the Gospel, we believe in
the distinctive philosophy, interpretations and applications of
Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches.
There are other
listings of IFB churches on the internet, but this one will be
different. We will be different in that we will list all varieties
if IFB churches and not just a select few that believe a certain way
on some issues.
For instance, many IFB listings will only list
churches that are KJV only making it difficult for IFBs who do not
hold to KJV Only position to find an IFB church who believes as they
do. On the other hand, while we might disagree with KJV Only IFB
Churches we will still list them. That is what will make this site
the most comprehensive of its kind.
The intial listing of
churches on this site was compiled using an automated programs
that scan existing directories on the web. So you will see
imperfections as to addresses and names and other info. I would
appreciate all the help I can get from you people who use this
directory to correct mistakes in it.
I also have also added
a question, which it would seem should not have to be asked - but it
must. I have added a question to the survey regarding seperation.
Any IFB that is true to it roots should be able to answer it
truthfully and without hesitation. But some IFB churches have left
their heritage and are now inviting people who do not believe in all
the fundamentals into their pulpits. So this listing will hopefully
help us to distinguish those IFBs who are still separating from
false teachers from those IFBs who now are not.
Qualifications
for being listed
Here are the the qualifications a church must
meet to be considered a
true IFB church(one that is faithful to the historic heritage if IFBs):
They must be
fundamental
What we mean by
"fundamental" is that they would teach and preach the fundamentals
of the faith as outlined in the Niagara Bible Conference of 1878
Confession of Faith:
1. The
verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scriptures in the original
manuscripts.
2. The
trinity.
3. The creation of
man, the fall into sin, and total depravity.
4. The universal
transmission of spiritual death from Adam.
5. The necessity of
the new birth.
6. Redemption by the
blood of Christ.
7. Salvation by faith
alone in Jesus Christ.
8. The assurance of
salvation.
9. The centrality of
Jesus Christ in the Scriptures.
10. The true church
made up of genuine believers.
11. The personality of
the Holy Spirit.
12. The believer's
call to a holy life.
13. The souls of
believers go immediately to be with Christ at
death.
14. The premillennial
second coming of Christ.
There are a few things
to note on this list of fundamentals. For instance article 12 "The
believer's call to a holy life" can be applied many different ways.
One IFB church may apply that to movie theaters and say a believer
must not go to shows if he is going to lead a holy life. Another IFB
church will say that a believer may go to shows, but they may not go
to shows that are filled with filth if they are going to lead a holy
life. We are not going to get into how churchs apply such a
fundamental, only that they believe in it as it taught in the
scriptures.
Article 14 can be a
somewhat tricky one. I have heard of fundamentalist churches that
are not Premillennial, but rather are Amillennial or Postmillennial
in belief. We would consider adding such a church if it could be
proven they were solidly fundamental and met the other
qualifications as well.
Another mark of a
fundamentalist church is that they separate from other churches,
colleges or other parachurch organizations that do not hold to the
fundamentals of the faith. This means on a corporate level they do
not participate with or endorse such institutions or
churches.
The final thing I will
add here is that while the church must stand for the fundamentals of
the faith they do not have to call themselves fundamentalists. In
recent years many fundamentalist, while remaining fundamental in
belief and practice, have chosen not to use this title. The reasons
are varied but most come down to guilt by association.
Because there have
been many cult-like churches and institutions which call themselves
fundamentalists some have chosen to drop this title. But in no way
have they drop their belief in or defense of the fundamentals of the
faith. These churches we would gladly accept and list on this site
as long as they meet all the other qualifications for
listing.
They must be
Baptistic
When we say Baptistic,
we do not mean the church has to have Baptist in their name. They
must be Baptistic in that they preach, practice and defend the
following beliefs that Baptists have historically
believed:
Biblical
Authority
Baptists believed the Bible was the sole authority for
all matters of faith and practice. Most Baptists believe that this
means the church may not do anything that contradicts or violates
New Testament commands, principles or examples.
Autonomy of the
Local
Church
Baptists believed
that each local assembly of believers should be autonomous in its
government and discipline. Baptists rejected all forms of church
hiarchy. Baptists believed the highest ecclesiastical authority is
the Pastor of a local church.
Priesthood of the
Believer
Baptists believed that every believer is a priest before
God. Pastors do not function as Priests in the Old Testament did.
Each believer has equal access to God whether or not they are a
Pastor.
Two
Ordinances
Baptists believed in only two ordinances - Believer's
Baptism by Immersion and the Lord's Supper. Baptists believed that
Baptism is to be by immersion in water and that this is only after a
profession of faith has been made. Baptism is a picture of Christ's
death and burial and is completely separate from Salvation. The
Lord's Supper is also a memorial of Christ's death and sacrifice on
the cross. Baptists do not believe any special power or "grace" is
bestowed through these two ordinances.
Individual Soul
Liberty
Baptists believed
that each person should have complete freedom of conscience in
matters of faith. No one should be forced to believe or adhere to
something they do not believe freely. This is why historically
Baptists have been hesitant to make or accept creeds and
confessions.
Saved,
Baptized
Church
Membership
Baptists believed that only saved and scripturally
baptized believers may become members in a local church.
Two Offices
Baptists
believed the New Testament only prescribed two offices for the local
church - Baptists believed the scriptural references to Elders,
Bishops and Overseers all refer to one office, that of Pastor. The
only other office prescribed for the New Testament church is that of
a Deacon which is subordinate and supportive to the Pastor.
Separation of Church
and State
Baptists believed the state should only be involved in
the affairs of government and not interfere in matters of religion.
Baptists completely rejected church-state government. This is not separation of the
church and state in the sense that the government may not mention
God or the Bible in public. It only meant that the government should
not lift any one denomination over another.
They must be
independent
Whether they say it in their name or not, the
church must be independent. Independent Fundamental Baptists feel
that the autonomy of the
church (a Baptist distinctive) is compromised by convention style system and
some associations. There are some loose associations of fellowships of Independent Baptist
Churches that do not compromise the autonomy of the local
church.
So here is a summary
of the qualifications a church must meet to be listed on this
site:
Independent - Not part
of a convention
Fundamental - Holds to
the fundamentals of the faith, separates from
modernist churches.
Baptist - holds to Baptist
Distinctives.
To
those outside Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches it would seem
that you could not get any narrower than the qualifications I
have mentioned above. But we who are IFBs know that there are many
more differences even among people who hold the beliefs mentioned above.
For this site, as I mentioned earlier, I will not get any narrower. Churches
that do not meet these qualifacations may still be in the
site but we will make sure they are identified clearly.
How
is a church submitted to this directory?
I do not claim perfection for how churches will
be submitted to this directory. To list a church, a person need only
go to my submission page and enter the information about that
church. You do not need to be a member of or even attend this church
in order to submit this information. All I ask is that you know the
information to be true and accurate.
Another way
churches will be added to this site is by me directly. When I first
put this site up I wanted it to mostly come from churches
submitting themselves. I have found that many IFB churches(even
with websites) are hestiant for many reasons to answer any questions
about themselves in a listing like this. So I have decided that
I will investigate churches through their websites
and occasional phone calls to churches and then
list them myself. I have changed the question format to allow
for any or no questions to be answered except contact
information. However, I will attempt to do investigations to
get as much information as I can as time permits.
Why do this? It
is because I believe this information is important. There is no
reason why a church cannot make public the things I have
requested. I do understand some of the reasons, but I don't think
they are valid. Some reasons might be that IFB churches don't want
their membership to be able to compare their beliefs on certain
issues with other IFBs across the world. Well, that time has now
come and this information will be free to all who want it. There are
many other questions I could have asked that I did not because I did
not think it would be appropriate in a public setting like
this.
Take the Protestant
Reformation for example. Many people throughout Europe did not know
what the Bible really said. They did not know of the excesses of the
Catholic Church. But as people began to receive information from
other churches and read the Bible from themselves they wanted to see
change. Let me make it clear I am not saying IFB churches are like
the Catholic Church. I am just saying that locking down information
is something that they practice as well. Many IFB churches present
their views on various issues as if all IFBs believe as they do, or
that all good Bible believing churches believe as they do. It comes
as a shock to many IFBs to find that other IFB churches believe
differently on some of these issues. That is what this site is
about, to allow IFBs to find churches that are closest to their
beliefs as well to inform them as to the diversity of beliefs and
practice of IFBs throughout the world.
So when I investigate a church, I will be
as fair and honest as possible with the answers. If I don't see a
clear answer for a question on their website, then I will leave it blank
until I can contact them or someone contacts me to answer those questions.
If information is
received about a church more than once, I will look into this. It
will not be listed on the second submission, if it has the same name
and is in the same location. I will examine these instances on an
individual basis.
On
the first submission however, it is an automated process and the
listing will go immediately into the directory live.
When you submit
a church to this site nothing is known of who you are except your
I.P. address which is added as part of the submission. If I see a
malicious user who continually sends bad submissions I will block
that person's I.P. address from this site.
What
if I want to contest information about a church you have listed?
I do not have the time
or financial resources to research each and every listing provided
to this site. If I have information listed about a church that you
believe to be inaccurate then please contact me at larryharriman@ifbreformation.org.
I will look at your concerns and get back to you. Before I change
information about a church I will ask that you have witnesses who
agree with your changes that will back up your claims. These
witnesses must email me separately and confirm what you have
said.
What
if we do not want our church listed?
I realize than many
IFB churches will not want their church listed because of this
site's affiliation with ifbreformation.org. However, this site is
not only for people to be able to find like minded IFB churches, it
is also for cataloging the beliefs of IFB churches across the United
States. I would not have an accurate representation of churches
without having even those who disagree with my positions on
ifbreformation.org. So the answer to this question is no. A church,
once it is established to be an IFB church, will not be removed from
this list. On this same note, I would encourage those who attend IFB
churches to give me information on other IFB churches in your area
if you know it to be factual.
What
kinds of questions do you ask about churches?
The questions I am asking are never open ended.
They are geared to be objective, fact based questions about what a
church preaches and practices. These questions have to do with
things that distinguish IFB churches from one another. They are
questions like what a church teaches about election or what a church
teaches about Bible translations. Many Pastors have emailed me
asking how this information will be used. The simplist answer is
this - IFBs from all over the US as well as the world will be able
to come here and search for churches that believe as they do. Also I
will adding statistics pages to this site in the future to show what
percentage of IFBs believe a certain way on the issues.
If you have any other
questions about this site please feel free to contact me at larryharriman@ifbreformation.org
Go to church submission page
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