Who We Are:

New Life Church was established in 1957 as a mission church of First Baptist Church of Baton Rouge.  Located in what is known as the Laurel Lea area of Baton Rouge, the original name was Laurel Lea Baptist Church. 

 We continue to be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and we appreciate our heritage in that denomination.  However, as we seek to follow the Lord our primary aim is to be biblical, not denominational, so we will endeavor initially to describe who we are theologically.  Our understanding of scripture is undergirded by Jesus’ favorite topic of discussion as found in the gospels, the kingdom of God. 

The first message Jesus preached was, “Repent, the kingdom of God is here,” and his last topic of discussion with the disciples before his ascension into heaven was the kingdom of God.  A basic definition of the kingdom is the dynamic rule and reign of God on earth.  When we call Jesus Lord, we are speaking of the kingdom.  Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to displace the kingdom of darkness with the kingdom of light.   Whenever Jesus cast out a demon he would proclaim, “The kingdom is near.”  Whenever he healed the sick he would say, “The kingdom is here.” 

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray he said, “Pray like this, ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…..” When we think of heaven we generally think of the kingdom future when ultimately God will judge the earth, punish the wicked and reward those who have faith in him, restore all things and bring heaven to earth.  Jesus taught that although the kingdom was a future reality, he had come to bring the kingdom future into the present age. Whenever his ministry went forth, the kingdom future broke into” this present evil age.”

Obviously the kingdom has not come to this present age in its fullness yet. We know this because evil continues to be part of the world we live in.  We continue to suffer and bad things happen to good and bad people alike, so we pray that God’s glory would break into this present evil age in greater measure all the time.  We long for heaven to touch earth.  We yearn for the presence of the future in our lives and in our world.  We look forward day by day to be transformed into the image of Christ.

So what does it look like when we pray for the kingdom to come?  It looks the same as it did in the life of Jesus and the first century church.  They expected the intervention of God in the daily affairs of life.  When they were ill, they prayed for healing. When they were harassed by demons, they cast them out.  When they needed provision they multiplied food or got the money to pay taxes out of a fish’s mouth. 

Jesus did not leave us alone when he ascended to heaven, but he sent his Spirit to live in us and dwell among us to continue his ministry  among us.  At New Life Church we have the expectation that the Holy Spirit will do the ministry of Jesus among us every time we gather and that he will continue with us as we work and play outside of the church gatherings.

The Purpose of the church:

We believe the purpose of the church is to advance the rule of God on the earth by continuing the ministry of Jesus in word and, deed and life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We have a theology of power that affirms the present day ministry of Jesus through spiritual gifts given to the church to win the lost, heal the sick, care for the poor, cast out demons, and disciple our people as we live according to the fruit of the Spirit.

We also have a theology of pain knowing that the kingdom will be consummated only at the return of Christ.  We teach our people how to suffer in Christ’s name but never to befriend sickness.  Our call is to participate with Jesus in destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and do only what we see the Father doing (John 5:19). 

 Values:

 First of all we affirm orthodox evangelical doctrine as seen, for instance in the Westminster Confession, The Baptist Faith and Message and The Vineyard Statement of Faith.  In addition we have a number of other core values:

1.The pursuit of God

2.Christ likeness

3.Being Spirit-led

4.Prayer

5.Discipleship

6.The kingdom of God

7.The mercy of God

8.Integrity

9.Servant leadership

10.The individual, single or married

11.Unity and reconciliation

12.Collegiate relationships

13.Living in reality, affirming both the natural and the supernatural in our worldview (being naturally supernatural)

14.Simplicity (a non-hype approach)

15.Being culture current so as to contextualize the gospel for our culture.

Priorities:

Worship:  Our highest value.  It is an end in itself, not a means to an end.  We want to give God that which is due him as the Word and the Spirit lead us.  We want to worship with our whole being through culture current music God has given us.  Beyond that our lives become worship to God – our time, energy and resources belong to Him.

Word:   God’s word is central to all of life.  We expound the word for the purpose of living and doing the Bible.  Ours is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge approach, but an effort to understand the whole counsel of the Bible for the purpose of obeying it. 

Fellowship:  The church is all about relationship with God and a community of believers he places us with.  As the body of Christ we are called to serve the Head (Christ). We begin by serving fellow believers.  We are not complete outside of these relationships and we work hard to learn to live together in service, unity and love.

Ministry:  Our second order of service to Christ is to the world.  Out of our love and devotion to God naturally flows a love for the things he loves.  He loves the world and has commissioned us to go complete his task by bringing the gospel of the kingdom to every nation.

Training:  The Ephesians 4 model for leadership is to equip the saints for the works of service.  The job of the leader is to work himself out of a job by teaching the people to move in the gifts of the Spirit as they live their lives by the fruit of the Spirit.

Other Distinctive Positions:

Since most of us grew up with rock-n-roll and blue jeans, we readily relate to that culture.  As a result we have a casual, non-hyped, non-religious atmosphere about what we do and who we are. 

The kingdom of God is a theme in the Bible that under-girds our understanding of scripture and our approach to life in general.  As a result, we always welcome the Holy Spirit and embrace his gifts and endeavor to give him the freedom to be God among us.