Who are we

Baptist Christians have worshipped in Yass since August, 1972. Baptists began to worship in
Australia in the Rose and Crown Hotel in Sydney. The first service took place on the 24th April,
1831. Today there are almost 300,000 people who call themselves Baptists and attend over
820 churches around Australia.

While we are only a relatively small Christian Church in Australia there are over 100 million
people around the world who call themselves Baptists. The people who belong to the Baptist
Conventions in America number over 40 million. There are Baptists in China, India, right
through Europe, England, Africa, in fact there are very few countries in the world where Baptist
have not tried to establish a Christian Church.

William Carey, the founder of the modern missionary movement, was a Baptist who went from
England to India in the early 1700s. Today Australian Baptists support missionaries and aid
workers in the countries right around the world. Our aim is to plant churches that are truly
indigenous, self-governing and self supporting. Our present pastor and his wife have spent
twenty years in and out of Papua New Guinea helping to establish the Baptist Church there.

Our Logo

Throughout Australia Churches who have joined the Baptist Union of Australia identify
themselves by the use of this logo. The circle represents God’s love for the whole world and
the world for which Christ died. The empty cross tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our
sin, was buried and rose again. The open Bible indicates that Baptists are people of the Bible,
which is the Word of God.

What we believe
Baptists believe that the Bible is the Word of God. It tells us all we need to know with regard to
how we should live and what we should believe.

The Bible tells us about Jesus Christ the Son of God who entered our world, born of the virgin
Mary, and who lived to tell us about the Kingdom of God and his love for us.

The Bible tells us Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. He was taken down
from the cross and buried in a tomb but on the third day he rose up from the dead. Now he is
seated at God’s right hand waiting the day when God the Father tells him to come back and
take us all to the judgement seat of God.

The Bible tells us that every person will stand before God and be judged according to whether
our names are recorded in the Book of Life. Those who do not have their names in the Book of
Life will be cast out of God’s presence into hell.

The Bible tells us that there is no reason why anyone should go to hell because Jesus loves us
and died to pay the penalty for our sin. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God
and receives Him becomes a child of God. Their names will be written in the Book of Life.

The Bible tells us that Baptism is for those who are true followers of Jesus Christ as their
Saviour and Lord. Only those who are mature enough to make their own decision to receive
Jesus should be baptised by immersion and accepted as members of the Church of Jesus
Christ.

The Bible tells us that the Church is the Body of Christ and that the Holy Spirit, the third
person of the God-Head, gives each member a gift or gifts to help the other members of the
body to grow to maturity in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit Himself choses what gift we will have
and these gifts are given for the benefit of everyone else.
The Bible tells us that the Lord’s Supper was given to Christians by the Lord Jesus Christ to
remind us that he gave his life for us. The bread reminds us of his body given for us and the
wine speaks to us of his blood shed for us in order to make a new contract between God and
his people.

We value religious toleration and freedom. Many Baptist have died in order to separate church
and state.