“About Us”
Berean Baptist Fellowship Church is a group of Christ followers who presently meet in the home of David and Vickie Jelle, located at 9690 East Bennett Dr., in the Rita Ranch area of Tucson, Arizona. We are a community of sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose from the dead. Due to Christ’s great grace and love for us, we’re committed to living our lives for His glory, keeping His good and gracious commandments, in our homes, in our church, and in the community, out of love for God and love for all mankind.
Our aim is for everything we do to be governed by the Bible, God’s perfect Word to us. We reject man-made gimmicks and manipulative techniques. What we have is the Word of God and believe that is enough. Since we hold fast to the Bible being the sufficient rule of our practice, we preach the Bible in our worship services. We teach the Bible in all our Bible studies and midweek services. We try to pray according to the Bible in our times of fellowship. Our group seeks to be self-consciously organized according to the Bible.
When we focus on the Bible, it centers us on Jesus Christ. So, our public worship is centered on Jesus. We preach Jesus in our sermons. We pray in Jesus name. We sing to Jesus and about Jesus in our songs of worship. We practice two biblical sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are both about Jesus and His work to save us from our sins. We’re Christ-centered because Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Jesus rescued us from our sin and shame, reconciled us to a holy God, and promises us everlasting life. That’s why we love Him and keep His commandments. That is why we worship Him.
Not every church agrees exactly what the whole Bible means, but we believe that to be faithful to God, we have to understand His Word, which means that we hold to certain theological beliefs. We sincerely love our brothers and sisters in Christ who differ from us on these mattes, but we want to state plainly what we believe so that others can compare it to the Scriptures to see whether or not they also believe it is true.
We are Reformed.
“Reformed”
To be “Reformed” means that we agree with what the Protestant Reformation said about how sinners come to be saved. We believe that in eternity past, God unconditionally chose some sinners for salvation (Ephesians 1: 3 – 6). Left to ourselves, none of us would choose to come to Christ (Romans 3: 11- 12). Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up in the last day (John 6: 44), and “All that the Father gives to Me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out” (John 6: 37). Having chosen a people for salvation in eternity past, God graciously sent His Son, Jesus, into this fallen world to atone for their sins, guaranteeing that they would be saved (Romans 5: 9 – 10). At the right time, God sends the Holy Spirit into the hearts of His chosen people to apply the work of Jesus Christ, to claim them for Himself, give them life, and keep them for all eternity (I Thessalonians 1: 4 – 5; 2 Thessalonians 2: 13). Reformed theology is expressed in the confessional tradition of the Reformation. For a more complete explanation of what it means to be “Reformed” see the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith.
We Are Baptist
“Baptist”
To be a “Baptist” church means that we believe the Bible teaches that the church should be composed of believers (I Corinthians 1: 2; Ephesians 1: 1). Some churches teach that believers and their children should be church members. But as Baptists, we only baptize those who give a credible confession of faith (Matthew 28: 19). Only baptized believers should join the church (I Corinthians 12: 13). The purpose of the church is to preach the gospel and live holy lives for God’s glory in this world. Only true believers should be members of the church.
Being Baptist, we’re serious about evangelism and missions. The kingdom of God only advances, and new churches can only be established, when more and more people come to believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we preach the gospel to all creation, calling all people without distinction to come to Christ and be saved from their sins.
When more and more sinners come to believe in Jesus for salvation, they should form new churches, ordered according to the Bible and with faithful pastoral leadership. That is how the kingdom of God grows. That is why the primary mission of the church is to preach the gospel and plant churches.