New River Fellowship’s approach to beliefs is that in essential points of Christian doctrine, we strive for unity; in non-essentials, we strive for diversity in the application; in all doctrinal matters, we show love and grace to one another. We acknowledge that, due to our wrestling with our former nature of sin as we strive to put on the new nature of God through Christ in the Holy Spirit, we should not assume that all our beliefs regarding doctrinal matters (and especially our applications) will be perfect. It is only by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit that we can endeavor to understand His Word in the first place! We do find throughout history several confessions of faith that help state our beliefs on various doctrinal matters. Perhaps the best summary of our core beliefs is articulated in the Preamble to the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message: “We are a people who profess a living faith. This faith is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ, who is ‘the same yesterday, today, and forever.’ Therefore, the sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is Jesus Christ, whose will is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. A living faith must experience a growing understanding of truth and must be continually interpreted and related to the needs of each new generation. Throughout their history, Baptist bodies, both large and small, have issued statements of faith which comprise a consensus of their beliefs. Such statements have never been regarded as complete, infallible statements of faith, nor as official
creeds carrying mandatory authority.”
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