Mission & Doctrinal Statement

Mission Statement


Baptist University of Florida shall operate within the confines of a Christian worldview to promote, provide for, operate and control a program of education and training for Christian leaders through awarding certificates and associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees in a co-educational post secondary setting.

To fulfill its mission, the college seeks to develop those qualities in students that contribute to effective ministry. In the area of personal growth, we seek to foster a desire for knowledge; develop cultural awareness by introducing students to a wide range of knowledge; nurture the ability to acquire, evaluate, assimilate, and use information; and promote personal and social maturity.

For spiritual growth, we provide the resources for gaining biblical and religious data; we also assist students in learning and living the Christian life. In terms of professional growth, students are enabled to gain the credentials that enhance opportunities for ministry, and they learn to master a specialized body of knowledge.

At the same time, we encourage positive attitudes toward ministry and foster both an awareness of and a loyalty to the Southern Baptist heritage.

 

Doctrinal Statement


I     The Bible is the divinely inspired and revealed Word of God.

II     God is the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

III     Jesus is the Christ, the eternal Son of the living God, the Savior of men, born of a virgin, equal with the Father in every divine perfection, and the Lord of every Christian.  The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, rose again the third day, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, where he now sits in heaven as our Mediator.  The return of the Lord Jesus Christ will be visible and personal.  He has taught us to live in readiness to meet Him. 

IV     The Holy Spirit is a person, equal with the Father and the Son in every divine perfection, who convicts of sin, regenerates, enlightens, endues for service, comforts, and guides believers.

V     All have sinned, and therefore, are in need of salvation.

VI     Salvation is by grace alone, is free to all who, through repentance and faith, surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ.  All who have been born again are eternally secure and will persevere to the end.

VII     Salvation precedes Scriptural baptism and church membership.  Christ personally instituted the church, which He commissioned to make disciples of all nations, to baptize believers, and to teach them to do all things that He had commanded.  There are only two Scriptural ordinances: believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

VIII     There are only two classes in God’s sight:  saved and lost.  The saved shall live eternally in conscious blessedness in heaven; the unsaved in conscious punishment in hell forever.

IX     We hold these distinctive Baptist principles: “the absolute Lordship of Christ,” “the supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures,” “the competency of the individual soul,” “the necessity of regeneration for church membership,” “the complete separation of church and state,” and “the autonomy of the local church.”