A church is not a building, a religious organization, or even just a group of believers in Jesus Christ. It is an organized group of baptized believers in Jesus Christ who meet regularly in some locale for fellowship, teaching, worship, and accountability, administrated and led by servant/leaders appointed by that congregation. (Acts 2:42; 20:7; I Corinthians 16:2; I Timothy 3:1-13; Hebrews 10:25; Revelation 1:10)

Baptists differ widely from congregation to congregation. Yet all Baptists, including Calvary Baptist Church of Quincy, have a commitment to the following:

• The Bible alone is our source of authority in the Christian life, not tradition, any other writings, or so-called modern prophets or seers
• The self-governing nature of the local church – this coincides with our view of independency
• The individual right of every believer to approach God directly through the merits of Jesus Christ. No earthly priest is needed as each believer is a priest before God (I Peter 2:5,9; Revelation 1:6)
• That every person received into the membership of a local church is to be born again by God’s Holy Spirit through faith in Christ
• That each individual believer has a responsibility to search the Scriptures and seek God’s will for his or her life (Acts 17:11; II Timothy 2:15)
• That government has no right or authority to determine matters of faith and that church and state must be separate (Acts 5:29)
• There are two practices ordered by the Lord for His people to practice in this day – baptism for believers by immersion (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:41; Acts 8:38) and the Lord’s supper (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:23-26)