Oak Shade Baptist Church Constitution

Preamble

We establish this constitution in an effort to honor our God by functioning in an orderly manner.

We wish to have a common understanding of our goals, purposes and aims. We wish to declare how we are organized together to accomplish those aims, to the ultimate end that our congregation shall be a successful and mighty force for God, actually accomplishing what we know to be His Will for us on Earth.

I. Name

This body shall be known as Oak Shade Baptist Church, located on Oak Shade Road at Tarkington, near Cleveland, Texas.

Il. Objective

To be a dynamic spiritual union empowered by the Holy Spirit to share Christ with as many people as possible in our Church, community, and throughout the world.

To be a worshiping fellowship, experiencing an awareness of God, recognizing His person, and responding in obedience to His leadership.

To experience an increasingly meaningful fellowship with God and fellow believers.

To help people experience a growing knowledge of God and man.

To be a Church which is founded unequivocally on the truth of the Scripture, and its application, in every social and moral situation.

To be a Church which ministers unselfishly to persons in the community and the world in Jesus' name.

To be a Church whose purpose is to be Christ-like in our daily living by emphasizing total commitment of life, personality, and possessions to the lordship of Christ.

III. Statement of Faith

We affirm the Holy Bible as the inspired and inerrant word of God and the basis for our beliefs.

This Church subscribes to the doctrinal statement of the Baptist Faith and Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, in 2000. We voluntarily band ourselves together as a body of baptized believers in Jesus Christ, personally committed to the sharing the good news of salvation to lost mankind. The ordinances of the Church are believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper.

We believe that God wonderfully and immutable creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Gen 1:26-27.)

Rejection of one's biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

We believe that the term "marriage" has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Gen. 2:18-25.) We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4.) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and woman.

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography is sinful and offensive to God. (Matt 5:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10.)

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of Oak Shade Baptist Church as a local Body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model to Oak Shade Baptist Church members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by Oak Shade Baptist Church in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement on Marriage, Gender and Sexuality. (Matt 5:16, Phil 2:14-16; 1 Thess 5:22.)

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19-21; Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 6:9-11.)

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity.

(Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31.) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed towards any individual are to be repudiated and not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of Oak Shade Baptist Church.

IV. Church Covenant

Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now in the presence of God and his assembly most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this Church in knowledge, holiness, and security; to promote its spiritual prosperity; to sustain its worship, ordinances, doctrines, and discipline; to contribute the Scriptural tithe and offering cheerfully, and regularly for the purpose of supporting the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel throughout our community and all nations.

We also engage to maintain family and personal devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to have a Christian walk in the world; to be just in our dealings; faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to combat the effects of sin as it occurs; and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to anger and of taking offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

We moreover engage that when we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.

V. Polity and Relationships

The government of this Church is vested in the body of believers who compose it. Persons duly received by the members shall constitute the membership. (Bylaws; Article I)

All internal groups created and empowered by the Church shall report to and be accountable only to the Church unless otherwise specified by Church action.

This Church is subject to the control of no other ecclesiastical body, but it recognizes and sustains the obligation of mutual counsel and cooperation, which are common among Baptist churches.