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Note: We encourage you to read the whole article before forming an opinion about who we are and what we do. Our wish is that you would not be repelled by a word that today has negative connotations. But rather that you would understand and appreciate our heritage of Historical Baptists who firmly believed the sovereignty of God in salvation and desired a purely, New Covenant church in faith and practice.
Our Identity
For those who are curious to know who we are, Grace Covenant Church is only our public title, our full title is “Grace Covenant Church - a Primitive Baptist Congregation.” Before August 2011, we were known as "the Gadsden Primitive Baptist Church."
By "Primitive," we do not mean that we handle snakes or that we do not have modern technology, in the 1830's the word meant "Original" (See Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). During that period, the Baptists were divided over issues regarding practice as well as doctrinal issues. Those who held to the original doctrines and practices as the Bible teaches were known as "Primitive Baptists." The Baptists split and the word "primitive" since then become attached to the Old School Baptists; they faced many disagreements and transitions, but they held on and still today are holding to the Doctrines of Grace and the practices of the New Testament. It is a remarkable testimony of God’s preservation of churches that dare to believe and practice the teachings of Scripture.
Why then did we change our name?
The reasons for this are straightforward. In our community, the word "primitive" today often conveys undesirable connotations that, we believe, may hinder the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Common definitions of the word from a variety of disciplines include: "characteristic of an early state, esp in being crude or uncivilized; denoting or relating to a preliterate and non-industrial social system; of, relating to, or resembling an early stage in the evolutionary development of a particular group of organisms; showing the characteristics of primitive painters; untrained, childlike, or naïve" (from www.Dictionary.com) These are, for the most part, ideas we do not want associated with our church or with the gospel of the grace of God.
However, the word “primitive” can still convey to some extent Webster’s idea of “original.” With that in mind, we sincerely wish to retain our identity as true, primitive Baptists. We see ourselves as existing within the stream of faithful Baptist witnesses: the Particular Baptists in England and elsewhere in the seventeenth century; the Philadelphia Baptist Association and like-minded churches in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the faithful Primitive Baptists that have followed in their footsteps. We identify ourselves with them through our official adoption of the 1689 London Baptist Confession as the summary of our faith.
As our new name states, we are still a Primitive Baptist church. In most public displays of our name we use the abbreviated name Grace Covenant Church. We are using that name on signs identifying our congregation and on our web pages, blogs, Facebook, etc.
Knowing that some of you may question the wisdom of the path we have taken, we ask you to understand we have sought to walk a fine line in this matter. On one hand, we wanted to distance ourselves from the negatives associated with a particular word. On the other, we wanted to retain our identity and heritage. How well we have succeeded we leave to your judgment of charity.
It is our wish that you would not be repulsed by what we identify ourselves but that you would fellowship with us, even come and worship with us in the assembly of Original, Historical Baptists.
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Questions:
Do you think this gives a good answer to concerns from both Primitive Baptists and Non-Primitive Baptists?
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Is there anything not expressed that should be added?
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