CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE I – Name
Northeast Regular Baptist Fellowship of Churches. We are a fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches. The term “Regular Baptist” was a name given to Baptist churches in the early days of this country which embraced the doctrines of grace.
ARTICLE II – Purpose
To provide a fellowship for all Baptist Churches which subscribe to the Constitution and Confession of Faith herein contained, and to encourage and promote the establishment of Baptist Churches wherever possible.
ARTICLE III – Meetings
An annual meeting of the Fellowship shall be held for the transaction of business, for the election of officers, and the conduction of a Bible and missionary conference. Time and place of such meetings shall be determined by the council.
ARTICLE IV – Fellowship and Voting Privileges
Section 1: This Fellowship shall include those Baptist Churches in the Northeast (region), which are not in fellowship or cooperation with any national or local convention, association or group which permits the presence of modernists or modernism, and which churches subscribe to the Constitution and Confession of Faith herein contained, and signify in writing their desire to be considered in fellowship with the Fellowship, and which upon such written notice, and recommendation of the council, may be received into the Fellowship by a two-thirds vote of the Fellowship. Such notice of the church’s desire shall be presented to the Fellowship by the clerk of the church.
Section 2: Churches desiring fellowship shall make written application to the secretary. Such applications shall be acted upon at the next annual meeting. A two-thirds vote of the messengers present and voting shall be required for ratification.
Section 3: Each Church shall be privileged to send three messengers as voting delegates to the annual meeting.
Section 4: Business transactions shall be considered valid and binding by a majority vote of the messengers present and voting.
Section 5: The annual meeting and all regional meetings shall be open for all who care to attend.
Section 6: This Fellowship may be dissolved for any church: (a) by action of the local Church in notifying the secretary in writing of such desire; (b) by a two-thirds vote of the messengers present and voting at any annual meeting, upon proof of serious departure from our Confession of Faith or from the provisions of our Constitution.
Section 7: Because fellowship requires attendance at the various meetings of the NRBFC, should a church lack representation at the biannual meetings of the Fellowship for more than three years, (6) six meetings consecutively, the following procedure will be followed. The chairman of the Council of Seven will appoint a member of the Council of Seven to make contact with the absent church to inquire whether there is still interest in the NRBFC. If interest is found, then fellowship will continue. However, if it is found that the church no longer has an interest in the fellowship, a recommendation shall be made to the churches at the next annual meeting that the delinquent church be removed from the fellowship.
ARTICLE V – Officers and Manner of the Election
Section 1: The officers of the Fellowship shall consist of a council of seven men from as many fellowshipping churches. Four shall be elected for two years, and three for one year at the first annual meeting. Thereafter, the number of men whose terms expire shall be elected for a period of two years. Any councilman completing two consecutive terms of two years shall be ineligible for election for at least one year.
Section 2: The Council shall appoint annually a chairman who shall act as moderator at the annual meeting, a vice chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and such committees as may be necessary.
Section 3: The Council shall be elected as follows: One month prior to the annual meeting each church shall submit to the secretary their nominees to complete the Council for the ensuing year, submitting as many names as desired. The secretary shall tabulate the list, the seven highest names being considered the nominees. These seven names shall be submitted to the voting messengers at the annual meeting. From these names the required number to complete the Council shall be determined by ballot.
Section 4: The Council shall make recommendations to the Fellowship for the furtherance of its work and shall be responsible to implement all actions and policies of the Fellowship. The Council shall be authorized to secure the services of such administrative and office personnel as they deem necessary to carry out the work of the Fellowship, except for the Representative. He shall be recommended by the Council and approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the messengers present and voting at any annual meeting of the Fellowship. The Council shall determine all salaries. Its authority, and that of any salaried servant of the Fellowship, is committed to them by the Fellowship, and any action of the Council, or of any salaried servant of the Fellowship, may be called up for review by the Fellowship at any annual meeting.
Section 5: The Representative shall continue in office until he resigns or until his resignation is requested by a two-thirds majority vote of the messengers present and voting at any Annual Meeting of the Fellowship. The Representative is requested to sit in all meetings of the Council in an advisory capacity but without franchise. No salaried servant of the Fellowship may be elected to the Council. It shall be the duty of the Representative to promote the ministry of the NRBFC, to encourage the fellowship and cooperation of its affiliated churches, and to represent its policies and purposes to churches and associations not affiliated with the Fellowship, providing such representation does not compromise nor violate the Constitution and Articles of Faith of the Fellowship.
ARTICLE VI – Ladies’ Auxiliary
A Ladies’ Auxiliary may be formed for purposes of fellowship and service consistent with its Constitution. Such Constitution shall be drafted in consultation and agreement with the Council of Seven.
ARTICLE VII – Amendments
This constitution may be amended at any annual meeting by a two-thirds vote of the messengers present and voting, providing each church in the Fellowship shall have had five months previous notice of the proposed amendment.
Note:
The above copy of the Constitution of the Northeast Regular Baptist Fellowship of Churches includes amendments made at Annual Meetings held on April 6, 1954; April 8, 1969; October 6, 1970 (at which the name was changed from Northeast Bible Baptist Fellowship to Northeast Regular Baptist Fellowship of Churches), April 3, 1987; April 8, 1988; April 6, 1990; April 5, 1996; and April 7, 2006. This copy, therefore, supersedes all earlier copies.
CONFESSION OF FAITH
The revised New Hampshire Confession of Faith adopted by our Fellowship is as follows:
ARTICLE I – Of the Scriptures
We believe that the Holy Bible, as originally written, was verbally inspired and the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore has truth without any admixture of error for its matter. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried.
II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:19-21
ARTICLE II – Of the True God
We believe there is one, and only one, living and true God; an infinite, intelligent Spirit; the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
Exodus 20:2,3; I Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11; I John 5:7
ARTICLE III – Of the Lord Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God; that He was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy, and that He is truly God and truly man without sin. We believe that Jesus Christ, though truly tempted, was not able to sin. We believe that He died so as to provide salvation for sinners, that His actual body was resurrected from the dead and that He is now enthroned in heaven, and united in His wonderful person are the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection, so that He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate and all sufficient Saviour. We believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in which the saints of the Church age will be raptured. The rapture will be followed by the seven year Tribulation period after which our Lord will return visibly and bodily to the earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; 14:30; Philippians 2:5-8; II Corinthians 5:21; Luke 24:35-48; I Corinthians 15:4, 5; John 14:3; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 4:15
ARTICLE IV – Of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; and that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer.
John 14:16, 17; Matthew 28:19; Hebrews 9:14; John 14:26; Luke 1:35; Genesis 1:1-3; John 16:8-11; Acts 5:30-32; John 3:5, 6; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; Luke 24:49; Romans 8:14, 16, 26, 27
ARTICLE V – Of the Devil, Or Satan
We believe in the personality of Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age, and the author of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.
Matthew 4:13; II Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10
ARTICLE VI – Of the Creation
We accept the Genesis account of creation and believe that men came by direct creation of God and not by evolution.
Genesis 1-2; Colossians 1:16, 17; John 1:3
ARTICLE VII – Of the Fall of Man
We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not only by constraint, but of choice; and therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse.
Genesis 3:1-6, 24; Romans 5:19, 5:12, 3:10-19; 1:18, 32
ARTICLE VIII – Of the Atonement for Sin
We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace; through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, honored the divine Law by His personal obedience, and by the shedding of His literal and sacrificial blood in His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins; that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the Unjust; Christ, the Lord, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree; and that all who appropriate by faith the finished work of Christ are saved eternally by the sanctification of His shed blood.
Isaiah 53:4-7; Matthew 18:11; John 3:16; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24, 25; 5:8, 9; I Corinthians 15:3; II Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 2:7; Colossians 1:13, 14; Hebrews 2:14; 9:11, 12, 14; 13:12, 13; I Peter 1:18, 19; I John 4:10
ARTICLE IX – Of Grace in the New Creation
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of life.
John 3:3; II Corinthians 5:17; I John 3:6, 7; Acts 16:30-33; II Peter 1:4; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1; II Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:13; John 3:8
ARTICLE X – Of Justification
We believe that the great Gospel Blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification.
a) That justification includes the pardon of sins, and the gift of eternal life on principles of righteousness;
b) That it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done; but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood, His righteousness is imputed unto us.
Acts 13:39; Isaiah 53:11; Zechariah 13:1; Romans 8:1; 5:9; 5:1
ARTICLE XI – Of Faith and Salvation
We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation.
Acts 16:31
ARTICLE XII – Of the Local Church
We believe that a local church is a congregation of immersed believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its officers are pastors and deacons whose qualification, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures; we believe the true Mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that the one and only superintendent is Christ, through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and methods of its cooperation; on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
Acts 2:41, 42; I Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22, 23; 4:11; Acts 20:17-28; I Timothy 3:17; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:23, 24; Acts 15:13-18
ARTICLE XIII – Of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that Christian Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Saviour, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of church relation. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of His death until He come, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination.
Acts 8:36-39; John 3:23; Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:16; Colossians 2:12; I Corinthians 11:23-28
ARTICLE XIV – Of the Security of the Saints
We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father for Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6; John 10:28-29; Romans 8:35-39; Jude 1
ARTICLE XV – Of the Righteous and the Wicked
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctioned by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked, and under the curse; and this distinction holds among men both in and after death, in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.
Malachi 3:18; Genesis 18:23; Romans 6:17, 18; I John 5:19; Romans 7:6; 6:23; Proverbs 14:32; Luke 6:25; Matthew 25:34-41; John 8:21
ARTICLE XVI – Of Civil Government
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed; except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming Prince of the Kings of the earth.
Romans 13:17; II Samuel 23:3; Exodus 18:21, 22; Acts 23:5; Matthew 22:21; Acts 5:20; 4:19, 20; Daniel 3:17, 18
ARTICLE XVII – Of the Resurrection; Personal, Visible,
Pre-Millennial Return of Christ and Related Events
a) We believe in the Bodily Resurrection
Matthew 28:6, 7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; Mark 16:6;
I Corinthians 15:4; Luke 24:2-6
b) The Ascension
Acts 1:9-11; Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Revelation 3:21;
Hebrews 12:2
c) The High Priesthood
Hebrews 8:6; I Timothy 2:5; I John 2:1; Hebrews 2:17; 5:9, 10
d) The Second Coming
John 14:3; Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16; James 5:8;
Hebrews 9:28
e) The Resurrection of the Righteous Dead
I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:42-44, 52
f) The Change of the Living in Christ
I Corinthians 15:51-53; I Thessalonians 4:13-18;
Philippians 3:20, 21
g) The Throne of David
Luke 1:32; Isaiah 9:6, 7; Acts 2:29-30
h) The Millennial Reign
I Corinthians 15:25; Isaiah 32:1; 11:4, 5; Psalm 72:8;
Revelation 20:14; 20:6
ARTICLE XVIII – Of Separation
We believe that in obedience to God’s Word it is necessary to separate ourselves unto God from worldiness, I Peter 1:13-16. We are also to separate from unbelief, ecumenism, ecclesiastical apostasy, neo-evangelicalism, disobedient brethren, the charismatic movement or any organization that denies the person and deity of our Lord Jesus Christ or the authority of the Holy Scriptures. Principal religious organizations which presently represent some of these practices are the World Council of Churches, National Council of Churches, and the National Association of Evangelicals and their educational, social or missionary endeavors.
Romans 16:17; I Corinthians 5:11, 12; II Corinthians 6:14; 7:1; I Thessalonians 1:9, 10; II Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6, 14, 15; I Timothy 6:3-5; II John 9-11
Resolution
WHEREAS, the local church is the pillar and support of truth (I Timothy 3:15), and as such is to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3); and
WHEREAS, the United States of America, and especially the states comprising New England, have legalized and promoted homosexuality in society, marriage and civil unions; and
WHEREAS, laws enacted by human government can neither supersede nor annul God’s absolute authority over marriage and human sexuality.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MESSENGERS ATTENDING THE NORTHEAST REGULAR BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP OF CHURCHES SPRING CONFERENCE THIS APRIL 4, 2014 AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF ENFIELD, CONNECTICUT THAT
God created only two genders, male and female (Genesis 1:26, 27); and
God instituted and ordained marriage, forever on earth, to be a sacred covenant before Him between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18-24); and
A same-sex civil union is a perversion of marriage and thus is sin; and
Sexual activity is to be solely within the bond of marriage (I Corinthians 7:3, 4; Hebrews 13:4); and
Homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are perversions of God’s gift of sex and thus are sins (Romans 1:26, 27; I Corinthians 5:1, 6:9-11; I Thessalonians 4:1-8); and
God forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance (Genesis 1:27; I Corinthians 6:9, 10; I Thessalonians 4:1-8).
THEREFORE, WE CALL UPON OUR FELLOWSHIPPING CHURCHES TO STAND FIRM IN THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD FOR THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE AND THE PURITY OF GOD-HONORING SEXUAL RELATIONS WITHIN THE MARRIAGE COVENANT IN THESE LAST EVIL DAYS.