Jared Smith, Covenant Baptist Church (Philippines)

3 Preface

A Statement of Faith designed for the Covenant Baptist churches in the Philippines.

I have served for almost 20 years as the pastor of a Strict and Particular Baptist church in London, England. In 2017, my wife and I grew increasingly burdened to pioneer a Strict and Particular Baptist movement in the Philippines. Although we plan on beginning this work in the summer of 2019, the Lord has already paved the way for the first church to be organised within the next three weeks (12 August 2018). Subsequently, I have been prompted to draw up a Statement of Faith around which the new church may be organized. There are actually two parts to the Statement:

First, there is A Declaration of Faith arranged under 70 headings beginning with, “We believe”. I have purposefully not included Scripture references to support the points, as these are lavishly supplied in the second part of the Statement.

Second, there is An Explanation of Faith topically arranged. As it has been my aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the faith, I have not been concerned about the length—it is as long as it needs to be.

Both parts are not what I hope they could be, but they are what they are. Not only do some points need smoothing out, but there are whole sections that should be added to guard against current heresies and errors. I fully intend to make these changes in due course.

As it stands, this soon-to-be newly formed church is in need of something now. So it is in the spirit of Jude that this document is presented—I have given all diligence, not only to write unto you of the common salvation, but to exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Yours to serve in the cause of truth,

Jared Smith
Bethesda Baptist Church,
Kensington Place
London, England