Who We Are
First Baptist Church of Denver is a Christian Community.
We realize that everyone is at a different place in their spiritual journey and so we want to make space for all to be part of who we are collectively. We feel strongly that living out Jesus’ ethic of love is experienced best when in fellowship with others.
First Baptist Church of Denver is a historic Baptist Community.
We are committed to the Baptist principles of Soul Freedom, Church Freedom, Bible Freedom, and Religious Freedom.
First Baptist Church of Denver is a Welcoming and Affirming Community.
We are committed to being an equitable and diverse community of faith, including all people identifying as LGBTQ+. Our life-changing and healing community is committed to establishing relationships that offer support and encouragement to all.
First Baptist Church of Denver is a Serving Community.
We recognize that everyone is a minister and there is a place for all to serve within our congregation and community.
You may notice this page looks different than you're used to.
While most "what we believe" pages have bulleted lists of statements followed by prooftexts from the Bible, we go about this a bit differently.
As Baptists, we are a non-creedal people, which means that we don't subscribe to any common creed or doctrine and instead hold the Bible and our individual freedom to interpret its meaning as the core of our beliefs.
As such, our congregation has determined that the above set of values is what our church will operate and live by, and this is what we believe at our core.
What does "Welcoming and Affirming" mean?
There are many churches that simply say that they're "welcoming of all." While that is something, we feel that simply being welcoming of all is simply not enough. Many times, individuals are welcomed into a church space as they are, but then are expected to change in order to conform to the church's beliefs. This is especially the case for the LGBTQ+ community, as many are "welcomed" into churches but then expected to change the totality of themselves in order to fit in.
Not here. At First Baptist, we are welcoming and affirming of all people, whether they are gay, lesbian, transgender, black, white, or simply a human. We not only welcome you, but we affirm you for who you were created to be in the image of God and affirm that you have a place here, just as you are.
We are against Christian Nationalism.
First Baptist Church believes that Christian Nationalism is against the teachings of Jesus and is dangerous for our freedom, religious and otherwise. As Baptists specifically, we hold Christian Nationalism to be antithetical to our core values.
To read more about this position, visit https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/statement.