About Us

Who Are We? 

We asked this question of ourselves as a church. What we found:

We are a church where worship is central. Our gathering together in worship reminds us of who we are. It connects  us to God and to one another. Worship is the most important thing we do  as a church.

We have a faith that engages both heart and mind. We are willing to ask tough questions and wrestle with the challenges  of faith in the modern world. One can be a thinking person and a  Christian, and we believe a Christian needs to be a thinking person. At  the same time, faith is deeply felt and is more than a set of facts; it  is a vital relationship with Jesus.

We are a church called to mission. We are concerned about and involved in the wider community, beginning  with the campus and Ames community and extending to the whole world. We  do this because God has blessed us and leads us to share those blessings  with others. God loves this world of ours and calls us to love it too.

We are a diverse congregation. We are a mix of spiritual types, a mix of ages, a mix of ethnicities, a  mix of town and gown, faculty and students. We don’t all think alike,  we have different gifts, and we consider our differences a real  blessing.

We honor the past and embrace the future. We  are traditional in the best sense of the word. We take pride in our  heritage and history, but we don’t worship it. We are open to new ideas  and approaches, and this in itself is part of our church’s heritage.

We are a theologically open congregation. We run a broad range theologically, and we don’t have a creedal  requirement. We worship God, we seek to follow Jesus as Lord, we try to  be open to the leading of the Spirit, we find truth in scripture, and if  we don’t agree on all of the other stuff, that is OK.

We are a university congregation. This doesn’t mean we are only for university people, but our geography  and demographics make us a university church. We moved here in 1950 to  be near campus, and more recently we chose to remain near the campus.  Our style of being church is influenced by the presence of the  university, and we are in conversation with the world of learning and  scholarship and artistry that is at our doorstep.

We are Baptist - and ecumenical. We  live out a Baptist vision that values freedom and personal faith while  also valuing the community of believers. We are also part of a larger  family -- we are not the only Christians. Members come from many faith  traditions, and this gives a richness to our life together.

We are a caring community. This may be what holds it all together. We are a diverse bunch, and we  don’t always agree on everything, but we do agree that everyone matters.  We do agree that “they will know we are Christians by our love.” We see  ourselves as a family of faith.

Based on these characteristics, we adopted the following identity statement:

“First  Baptist Church is an open and caring family of faith where worship is  central and faith engages both heart and mind. We are warmly ecumenical,  delight in our diversity, and cherish our Baptist heritage of freedom.  We are called by Christ to share God’s love with the campus, community,  and the world.”

In an effort to be clear about what it  means to be a welcoming community, we have added these words of welcome  to our identity statement:

"As we seek to follow the way  of Jesus, we welcome all people to fully participate in our fellowship:  all ages, colors, backgrounds, political affiliations, and physical and  mental abilities; male and female, gay and straight, rich and poor,  single and married.  We are all God's children, and all are welcome  here."  

We have certainly not arrived, but this a vision of the church that we are living into.  We hope you will join us!