Practices
When we meet together, we assemble as one group to sing hymns, pray, and then listen to one of our ministers teach the word of God as we follow along in our own Bibles. We prefer to use the King James Version of the Bible because it involved a much more careful method of translating than all the other English versions.*
The ordinance of baptism is administered by the pastor or another Primitive Baptist minister who goes by the biblical title of “elder.” (Primitive Baptist “elders” are men who have been ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry.) The only mode of baptism we recognize is by immersion in water. Because of fundamental differences between what we believe the Bible to teach and what other orders teach, we do not recognize the baptisms of other orders. This requirement of “re-baptizing” does not deny their experience, but it identifies them with the doctrines of salvation by grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ as believed by the mainstream of Primitive Baptists.
Currently, we observe the ordinance of communion twice yearly, at sometime during the second weekend of the months of May and October. Those baptized into the Primitive Baptist faith and in good standing with their home church are invited to commune with us. The emblems we use for this service are unleavened bread and wine. Unleavened bread is needed to aptly represent the sinless body of Jesus Christ. Wine, which does not spoil nor sour like grape juice, appropriately represents the complete and everlasting cleansing of Jesus’ blood. After the ordinance of communion is administered by the pastor, the example of feetwashing is then observed. While many churches have stopped observing this practice long ago, we feel it necessary to literally honor what Jesus said in John 13:14-15, which says, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” As a matter of discretion, the men separate into a different area from the women before they separately begin to wash each other’s feet. While participation is limited to members, visitors are always welcomed to observe the service.
*The work was done by 54 scholars divided into six groups containing nine translators in each group. Each scholar made his own translation of one of the books of the Bible which was then reviewed by each one of the other members of the group. Then the whole group reviewed the book. It was then sent to the other five groups to undergo the same scrutiny. In the end, every single verse in the Bible had been carefully examined and decided upon a total of 14 times, by as many as 50 or more people! Some of the more modern English translations resulted from the work of only two men. For more detailed information on the translation process of the King James Version, go to chick.com/ask/articles/translate.asp
The ordinance of baptism is administered by the pastor or another Primitive Baptist minister who goes by the biblical title of “elder.” (Primitive Baptist “elders” are men who have been ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry.) The only mode of baptism we recognize is by immersion in water. Because of fundamental differences between what we believe the Bible to teach and what other orders teach, we do not recognize the baptisms of other orders. This requirement of “re-baptizing” does not deny their experience, but it identifies them with the doctrines of salvation by grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ as believed by the mainstream of Primitive Baptists.
Currently, we observe the ordinance of communion twice yearly, at sometime during the second weekend of the months of May and October. Those baptized into the Primitive Baptist faith and in good standing with their home church are invited to commune with us. The emblems we use for this service are unleavened bread and wine. Unleavened bread is needed to aptly represent the sinless body of Jesus Christ. Wine, which does not spoil nor sour like grape juice, appropriately represents the complete and everlasting cleansing of Jesus’ blood. After the ordinance of communion is administered by the pastor, the example of feetwashing is then observed. While many churches have stopped observing this practice long ago, we feel it necessary to literally honor what Jesus said in John 13:14-15, which says, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” As a matter of discretion, the men separate into a different area from the women before they separately begin to wash each other’s feet. While participation is limited to members, visitors are always welcomed to observe the service.
*The work was done by 54 scholars divided into six groups containing nine translators in each group. Each scholar made his own translation of one of the books of the Bible which was then reviewed by each one of the other members of the group. Then the whole group reviewed the book. It was then sent to the other five groups to undergo the same scrutiny. In the end, every single verse in the Bible had been carefully examined and decided upon a total of 14 times, by as many as 50 or more people! Some of the more modern English translations resulted from the work of only two men. For more detailed information on the translation process of the King James Version, go to chick.com/ask/articles/translate.asp