About Us
About Fairview Baptist Temple
Fairview Baptist Temple is an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist church following the New Testament pattern in the heart of West Virginia, about 40 miles from Charleston. We are a church made up of many nationalities, backgrounds, ages, and personalities. We believe that the church was designed to reach men, women, and children of all walks of life, regardless of these differences.
There are many issues discussed in our statement of faith, but these are some important distinguishing titles that we would like to define:
Independent
This simply means we are self-governing, self-ruling. All our finances support the staff, bills, and other expenses of the church. We receive no funds from outside sources and send no funds to outside sources unless in exchange for materials or support of missionaries who are accountable to their independent, local, New Testament, Bible-believing Baptist church.
Fundamental
Being fundamental, or fundamentalist, means to believe in adhering to and willing to stand for the fundamentals of the faith. The fundamentals of the faith are as follows:
Verbal inspiration of the Scriptures - every word of God is perfectly recorded in the Bible.
Virgin Birth and Deity of Jesus Christ - Our Lord was virgin born and was fully God in the flesh.
Vicarious Death of Christ by Blood - Jesus Christ was crucified and shed his blood in our place for the sins of the whole world.
Victorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after he was buried. He remains alive forever.
Visible Return of Jesus Christ - Our Lord will return to snatch his children away before returning as reigning King on the earth.
Baptist
C.H. Spurgeon, a famous preacher, said over 100 years ago, "We believe Baptists are the original Christians." The Baptist people have always existed from the time of the church's inception (Christ and his disciples) until present day with no break in line of doctrine. The Baptist Distinctives are as follows:
B - Bible The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice.
A - Autonomy of the Local Church The church governs and runs itself.
P - Priesthood of Every Believer Every Christian has access to and is accountable directly to Jesus Christ.
T - Two Ordinances Instituted by Christ, we believe in Baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper.
I - Individual Soul Liberty Every man has certain freedoms, among those to live according to the conscience God gives him governed by God's Word.
S - Separation (Personal, Ecclesiastical, and Church/State) We believe in living a holy, separate lifestyle personally, as a church, and keeping free from state influence.
T - Two Offices In the Bible there are two offices in the church, that of Pastors and deacons.
S - Saved Church Membership We believe the assembly is made up of born again, baptized believers.
Indigenous
Indigenous means we are self-reproducing. We are in a constant evangelistic endeavor to reproduce our church and our doctrinal heritage by planting other independent churches in America and in countries around the world.
There are more than 15,000 independent Baptist churches in America and at least 10,000 independent Baptist missionaries serving on mission fields worldwide.