Our Mission

“Loving God, Loving Others, Reaching the Lost”

galesburg church outreach

When a lawyer questioned Jesus on the greatest commandment of the law, He  answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Here at Harmony Baptist Church we seek to uphold the command to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind by gaining a  better knowledge of God through His inerrant Word. We want to know what He has to say and allow the Bible to change us, rather than allowing practice or materialism to become idols of the heart. We firmly believe that the better we know and obey God’s Word, the better we will be able to love God, and in turn, love others.

Showing kindness, longsuffering and compassion to each person in our church family and other Christians is an evidence of true salvation (John 13:35). We pursue this goal by encouraging one another through regular fellowship times, Bible studies, accountability (Matthew 18), sharpening each other (Proverbs 27:17), showing a 1 Corinthians 13 type of love, edifying one another through godly music (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16), praying for one another (James 5:16), and ministering to physical, spiritual and emotional needs (2 Corinthians 9, Galatians 6:1, Psalm 147:3).

One of the greatest ways we can show love to others is by sharing the good news of the Gospel! Just before ascending to heaven, Jesus commanded His disciples to go out into the whole world to teach people about Himself. He told them to baptize new believers in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20) and teach them to obey His commandments. The heart of our church family is to reach out to those in our community and around the world who have never entered into that personal relationship with Jesus Christ through repentance and faith in Christ alone. As new believers are added to our circle, we seek to disciple them through personal Bible studies so they may learn how to best serve God and become disciple-makers themselves!

 

Independent Baptist

  • We are free to follow God’s Word without a mother church or organization telling us what to do or how the church should work.
  • We have Baptist distinctives:
  1. Biblical Authority
  2. Autonomy of the Local Church
  3. Priesthood of the Believer
  4. Two Ordinances:
    • Communion
    • Baptism by immersion
  5. Individual acceptance of Jesus Christ as the only way to God
  6. Spiritual growth
  7. Two Offices:
    • Pastors
    • Deacons