There are some basic elements required for any group to be properly known as Christian. These include; belief in a Trinitarian God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), belief that Jesus was incarnated – God emptying Himself and becoming a human – and lived, died and was raised from the dead, that human salvation from sin and death comes through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross, and that both baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit to dwell within are important.
Where denominations often have their main differences relate to three things, though different denominations agree or disagree on different combinations of those things. The three are baptism, communion and church governance.
Baptists agree that baptism, where possible, should be by immersion in water and is for those old enough to choose to follow Jesus as God and Saviour. As Open Baptists, LBC does not say that those baptised as infants should be baptised as adults if they went through the process in another church whereby they affirmed their own personal faith.
Baptists agree communion is symbolic and that we break and share bread, and share wine together, to remind us of the body of Jesus broken on the cross and the blood of Jesus poured out for our forgiveness. We are also obeying a direct instruction of Jesus to his disciples to remember Him ‘whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup’.
Baptists agree that governance of the church is congregationalist. That is, we do not have a power hierarchy of clergy separate from laity and the Members of a congregation seek together to discern what the Spirit is telling us as we make decisions together. That means, though, that we also have Membership of a congregation that is a little bit different to just coming regularly – that an individual agrees to responsibilities that come with the right to vote, and the membership agree to responsibilities towards the individual to support and encourage them.
It is mainly the combination of these things that makes us Baptist rather than Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Methodist or Pentecostal, although there are other small details that make us distinct too.