We are a loving, theologically diverse faith community in the American Baptist tradition helping each other follow Jesus through the core values of welcome, worship, work, and wonder.
FBC’s Mission
Our mission is simple: “To love God, love others as self, and serve the world.”
Carrying Out Our Mission
Welcome. Worship. Work. Wonder.
We welcome the presence of God’s Spirit working through our worship, work, and wonder. We welcome all who enter our “doors”—whether in person or virtually. When you worship with First Baptist, our deepest hope is that you will enter as guests, but leave as members of our family—God’s family. Our welcome looks like…
- encouraging one another to express different ideas, beliefs, and feelings without judgment. (We really try!)
- creating an inviting and accessible experience for our intergenerational congregation, such as having a Children’s Corner and a hearing loop in our sanctuary.
- affirming that our LGBTQIA+ brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ are made in the image of God and welcoming them warmly.
- holding weekly coffee time and monthly fellowship meals.
Our worship is primarily a response to God’s grace and faithfulness. Recognizing our profound need for Sabbath from our daily routines, we listen for God’s Spirit as we sing, pray, and learn together. We understand that our worship extends to all we do as we live a life seeking to follow Christ and living in God’s Spirit. We value traditional Sunday worship services along with worship in other times and settings throughout the week, such as…
- our 838 service, offering a more interactive, informal worship experience.
- FBC Earthworks Blue Team activities, helping us worship God through appreciating and experiencing nature.
- Children’s Church, providing an opportunity for kids to learn about Sunday’s sermon text on a level geared for their age.
- worship through music, an important part of our worship life—from congregational hymns and Chancel Choir to our pipe organ and worship band. We love to fill our services with good music!
We work together as a congregation to be the presence of Christ in our world. Part of our response is to do God’s work—by taking care of each other, serving our local community, and giving to and serving with missions projects around the United States and the world. We commit ourselves to the difficult but life-giving work of being and doing life together. Some examples include…
- hazardous waste and e-waste collections by the FBC Earthworks Green Team.
- free food distributions from in-house and Harvesters mobile food pantries.
- partnering and volunteering with AMOS Health and Hope, an organization that works to reduce health inequities in Nicaragua by empowering locals.
- partnering and volunteering with Family Promise of Lawrence to house homeless families.
For more details about all the kinds of work we do, look under the SERVE tab above!
Feeling wonder at God’s grace and faithfulness marks all we do, in and through our welcome, worship, and work. We embrace the mystery of God’s work in our world and throughout history. We gather to wonder together about and explore the questions of our faith. We welcome questions and uncertainties, understanding that often faith rests in discovering further questions rather than in finding concrete answers. We acknowledge and appreciate the myriad ways that God is at work in each of us—through our creativity, intellect, and relationships. Some ways we wonder together include…
- opportunities for discovering our faith through children’s, youth, and adult Sunday School classes.
- a Two-Way Sermon Discussion Group that holds conversations responding from that week’s sermon and looking forward to the following week’s.
- FBC’s Earthworks creation care ministry, with groups like the Purple Team book study.
- small group studies like the Women’s Bible Study and Lunch & Learn series.