Who We Are
We are followers of Jesus Christ. While post-moderns resist labels, they are helpful in understanding what defines a person or group. Jesus Christ is the center of every Christian’s individual faith and Jesus is the center of this church’s corporate life. We believe Jesus is the Son of God. We believe Jesus is God in the flesh and that “in Him the fullness of deity dwells” ( Colossians 2:9). The primary label for those of us at Trinity is “Jesus Follower.” That’s how we want to be known. We want our lives to resemble the life of Christ in attitude, action, thought, and word. This is our highest calling and our greatest desire.
We are a family of believers. Family is a buzz word today. We use this word to describe the relationships we have with those who are our kin and we use “family” to describe the close relationship we may enjoy with co-workers. When we say “Trinity is a family” I think this is what we mean: we genuinely love each other. But this is no mere friendly affection. It is an unconditional love, the kind of love Jesus would want in his family. We don’t always live up to this, but our aim is to love one another without strings attached. And not only do we love one another, but we ask God’s help in portraying that same unconditional love to everyone, especially those outside our fellowship. We believe Jesus died for them too and everyone has a place at the table in Jesus’ family.
We celebrate Baptist distinctives. Being Baptist is not Trinity’s primary goal. But it is a large part of who we are. It does not mean we belong to this denomination or that convention, although it does mean we voluntarily cooperate with other Baptist groups for the sake of evangelism and missions. For this church, being Baptist amounts to four primary Baptist distinctives. Other protestant churches share these beliefs. It’s just that for 400 years Baptists have championed these causes:
- Bible Freedom: We love God’s Word and believe that every believer has the freedom and responsibility to read and interpret it for themselves under the Lordship of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
- Church Freedom: We celebrate and defend the autonomy of the local church. This body of believers is independent. We look to Jesus alone as the Head of the Church. We own our own buildings, call/hire our own staff, pay our own bills, and even send our own missionaries. While we affiliate with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and cooperate with several other groups, these associations are voluntary and they reflect relationships with like minded people who share our values and missions goals.
- Soul Freedom: We believe every person is created in the image of God and that everyone is both free and responsible to decide for themselves regarding their relationship with God. We call this doctrine the Priesthood of All Believers. Each believer is a priest and all of us can approach God based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who died that we all might have access to God.
- Religious Freedom: We believe in a free church in a free state. As Americans, we hold dear the First Amendment of the US Constitution which secures religious liberty for people of all faiths or no faith. Baptists come from a history where we have been all too familiar with the hardships of being identified with the religious minority. Religious liberty means to us that the government should remain neutral in religious matters. The state should not engage in any action that will support religion (no establishment) nor take any steps to hinder worshipers as they follow the dictates of their conscience (free exercise).