Nashik Baptist Church is a reforming baptistic church. We hold to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. You can consult that document for a fuller description of our beliefs.

Below, we have briefly detailed our major beliefs.

A Brief Declaration of Belief

1. We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writings as fully and verbally inspired of God, that God preserves the words of Scripture, and the church accepts them as the final authority for faith and life. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and that it is divinely inspired and preserved. We believe in plenary, verbal inspiration and that the Bible is the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, and the supreme, infallible authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
2. We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in the Trinity, the unity of the Godhead in the form of three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are equal in every divine perfection and execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work in redemption. We believe in God the Father; we rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and eternal death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
3. We believe in the deity and virgin birth of Jesus Christ. We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal and only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, of virgin birth, sinless in His life, making atonement for the sin of the elect by His death, burial, and resurrection.
4. We believe in the personality, deity and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from God to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement to come. We believe His purpose is to regenerate, indwell, sanctify, and comfort those who believe in Jesus Christ.
5. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believe in Him are justified through His shed blood. We believe that all men by nature, choice and practice are sinners, but that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We believe, therefore, that those who by faith receive Christ as Lord and Saviour will rejoice forever in God’s presence, and those who do not receive Christ as Lord and Saviour will be forever separated from God.
6. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His present life as our great High Priest and Advocate. We believe His resurrection was bodily and personal, His ascension was back to heaven and visible, and He is now engaged as the great High Priest for each believer.
7. We believe that all who repent and receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, are born again of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become children of God. We believe that His blood was shed for us on the cross. Jesus Christ is the only propitiation for sin. Without the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ there would be no forgiveness of sin.
8. We believe that heaven is the literal, eternal, conscious abode of the redeemed, and that hell is the literal, eternal conscious abode of the unredeemed. We believe in heaven, the eternal home of the redeemed. We believe heaven to be the place where the saved will live forever in the eternal bliss and blessings of God. We believe in hell, the Christless eternity for the lost, where there will be burning and torment for those who have not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. We believe that hell, unbelievers, Satan and all the fallen angels will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever and forever.
9. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances—baptism and Lord’s Supper—to be observed as acts of obedience and as perpetual witnesses to the cardinal facts of the Christian faith. We believe in the church: a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and of which all regenerated people are members. We believe that the local church is a company of professing, born-again believers in Jesus Christ, immersed on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, work and fellowship. We believe that to local churches are committed for perpetual observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and that God has laid upon these churches the task of proclaiming to a lost world the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and the enthroning of Him as Lord and Master. We believe that human betterment and social improvements are the inevitable by-products of such a gospel, but we do not believe that a social gospel will save.
10. We believe that baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of identification with Christ in death, burial and resurrection, and that the Lord’s Supper is the partaking of bread and fruit of the vine as symbolical of the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of His sacrificial death until He returns.
11. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We believe that the apostolic office ceased with the death of the apostles. We believe that it is His church that He promised continual existence, to continue the work He started until He comes again. We believe that the ministry of reconciliation is committed to every believer and all are saints/priests of God. The believer is therefore able to commune directly with God, confess his sins directly before God and personally study the Word of God without need of any other proxy or representative before God saving the Lord Jesus Christ.
12. We believe that all believers are called to a life of holiness, devotion and service to the Lord. We believe that every human being is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and autonomous and must be free from any ecclesiastical or political authority; therefore, church and state must be kept separate as having different functions with each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other. We believe that spiritual gifts are given to the church for the express purpose of winning the lost and edifying other believers. The Holy Spirit is given to each believer upon acceptance of Christ and His purpose is to exalt and bring people to Christ in other than self-gratifying ways. Speaking in tongues was the least important of these gifts and was given as a sign for unbelievers. Since the present day Charismatic movement does not follow these Scriptural principles and purposes, it therefore cannot be of God or the Holy Spirit.
13. We believe in the sealing, security and preservation of true believers in Jesus Christ. We believe in the eternal security of all who are born again and that such inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled, and that each believer is kept by the power of God and nothing can separate us from Him, ourselves included. We believe that believers can lose the joy of fellowship with God, can grieve God and can quench the Spirit of God in them, but they cannot lose the salvation of God granted to them.
14. We believe in the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ over all creation as the heir of all things and in His personal, visible return as predicted in the Scriptures. We believe in the bodily and visible return of Jesus Christ according to His promise. We believe in the general resurrection of the dead. We believe that unbelievers will face God and be judged by Him according to their works, not for salvation, but for their proper and rightful places in the lake of fire. We accept that there are several biblically-reasoned views of eschatology and that there should not be ungodly division in the church over this issue.
15. We believe and accept literally the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, and reject any idea of theistic evolution or of the days of Genesis chapter one being long periods of time.

Matt Shmucker from the 9Marks ministry has offered a helpful summary of what a church covenant is. He argues that a church covenant can be described in at least five different ways:

• A church covenant is a promise made to God, to a local church, and to one’s self.
• A church covenant is a summary of how we agree to live. While our statement of faith is a good summary of what we believe, our church covenant is a summary of how we agree to live. More importantly, it is a summary of how God would have us live. It does not include every explicit command regarding obedience, but it does give a general summary of what it means to live as a disciple of Christ.
• A church covenant is a sign of commitment to God, to His church, and to personal holiness.
• A church covenant is an ethical statement. Historian Charles W. DeWeese writes, “A church covenant is a series of written pledges based on the Bible which church members voluntarily make to God and to one another regarding their basic moral and spiritual commitments and the practice of their faith” (Baptist Church Covenants, p. viii).  One theologian calls church covenants the “ethical counterpart to confessions of faith.” A church covenant can be an important part of applying a Christian worldview to every aspect of our lives. Inherent in the purpose of a church covenant is the understanding that church membership involves being held accountable to live in a manner consistent with a common understanding of Scripture.
• A church covenant is a biblical standard. A church covenant is helpful in a church that is practicing Biblical church discipline. As members of a church, we exhort one another to live holy lives, and we challenge brothers and sisters persisting in sin.

The covenant of Nashik Baptist Church is as follows:

Having been brought, we trust, by the Spirit of God to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and to give up ourselves to Him; and having been baptised upon our profession of faith, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we now, relying on His gracious aid, in the presence of God, the angels and this assembly, do solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other.

• We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
• We will walk together in brotherly love, desiring to exercise an affectionate care and prayerful watchfulness over each other, faithfully admonishing and entreating one another as occasion may require; seeking to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportments; strive to avoid anything that could bring unwarranted harm to the Body or jeopardise our own of the faith of another.
• We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, eager to make productive use of the means of grace.
• We will endeavour to bring up such as may at any time be under our care, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of our family and friends.
• We will rejoice at each other’s happiness and endeavour with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows.
• We will seek, by Divine aid, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, remembering that, as we have been voluntarily buried by baptism and raised again from the symbolic grave, so there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life.
• We will work together for the continuance of a faithful evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines. We will contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.