NorthPointe Church voluntarily affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention in its local, state and national expressions. Made up of some 43,700 churches nationwide with over 16.3 million members, it is America’s largest protestant denomination. (Larger than Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal and Pentecostal groups combined.)

We choose to affiliate with the SBC for the following reasons:

Its Organizing Principles - In the SBC, constituent churches function as independent, autonomous congregations, with their own style and sense of identity. They govern themselves under Christ’s leadership, without interference by any denominational bureaucracy or control.

Its Networking Potential – By participating with such a large number of Churches nationwide, we can cooperate together to accomplish things on a world-wide scale that would be impossible for us as a single church. For example, in 2007, The International Mission Board of the SBC, baptized 475,072 new believers and started 23,486 new churches in foreign countries! In response to hurricanes Katrina & Rita in 2005 alone, California Southern Baptists mobilized 500 volunteers who served 1.3 million meals and distributed over $1 million in relief dollars from its California Churches. Worldwide, the SBC starts 53 churches every day and baptizes a new person every 38 seconds. You can see the obvious networking potential!

What’s a “Baptist” Anyway?

Bible/Born again.
Baptists believe that the Bible is God’s Word to us, and shows us how to find eternal salvation through receiving Jesus Christ into our lives.

Autonomy of local churches.
Local churches are free to govern themselves under the leadership of Jesus Christ.

Priesthood of every believer in Christ.
Every person who has trusted in Jesus Christ for eternal life has a direct personal relationship to Jesus, without need for someone to function as an intermediary.

Teaching and training Christians.
God’s people are to be taught the scriptures in order to discover the plan of God for their life and service for him.

Immersing believers in water baptism as a confession of their faith in Jesus.

Separation of church and state.
History has shown that both the church and the state operate best when not under the control of the other.

Telling the good news of Christ to the whole world.