West Ashley Independent Baptist Church has been a part of the West Ashley community for more than twenty-seven years. From our beginning we have been passionate about lifting up the name of Jesus Christ through clear preaching and teaching of the Bible; encouraging and exhorting one another unto love and good works; proclaiming the good news of salvation, that is, the forgiveness of sins and confident assurance of eternal life, by grace through faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We preach the exemplary life of Jesus, His substitutionary death on the cross, His glorious resurrection from the dead, His victorious ascension to the right hand of God, the Father, and His promised return. Our people are joyful and friendly, and the atmosphere of our services is reverent and worshipful. All in all, we are “seeking to present every man perfect (complete) in Christ Jesus.”
OUR CHURCH IS CHARACTERIZED BY:
Organization - independent
Position - conservative, fundamental, evangelical
Authority - the Word of God, the Bible
Purpose - the glory of God
Mission - evangelization of the world with the gospel of Christ
Methods - preaching of the Word of God and prayer
Ambition - to present every man perfect (complete) in Christ Jesus
Commitment - to purity of life and doctrine
Power - the Holy Spirit of God
Motive - the love of God in Christ
Hope - the second coming of Jesus Christ
MINISTRIES
Bible Classes - Each Sunday, graded classes are conducted at 10:00 AM for ages nursery through adults. The purpose of these classes is to educate the church family in the Word of God in an informal and enjoyable setting.
Morning Worship Service - The Sunday service at 11:00 AM is directed to the worship of God. We worship by reading the Bible, praying the Bible, preaching the Bible, singing the Bible, and practicing the Bible (the ordinances). The major portion of this service is given to the exposition of Scripture.
Evening Service - The Sunday evening service at 6:00 PM is a bit more casual than the morning service and is directed toward fellowship and edification. The preaching of the Bible in an expository, doctrinal, or practical message is foremost.
Prayer Meeting - The Wednesday service at 7:00 PM is a prayer service. A devotional message is presented, prayer requests are taken, then the older children and adults form small groups for prayer. The younger children, through fifth grade, have their own time with an organized lesson and story.
The Ladies’ Missionary Prayer Group - Our ladies meet to pray for and serve in support of missions. The ladies meet once each month on a designated Saturday.
Fellowship Times - We believe that Christians can and should enjoy good times of fellowship together. We encourage fellowship through pot luck dinners, after church fellowships, banquets, Sunday school parties, men’s retreats, ladies, luncheons, Christmas parties, and oyster roasts. We want to be good people, having good times, doing good things.
Outreach - The church family is actively engaged in evangelism and ministry in the community. We minister at the county detention center, hold services in local homes for senior citizens, and reach out to the neighborhood in personal evangelism. Our summer vacation Bible school program is open to all children and provides a good time for the youth as they learn profitable things.
FAMILIES
We believe that the family is the first and most basic institution of society. God is the author of families. Our ministry is devoted to assisting and encouraging parents as they build their homes God’s way. Our children are a stewardship entrusted by God to us as parents. As Christian parents, we all need godly wisdom to succeed in raising our children in the fear of the Lord.
MUSIC
Musical communication of God’s Word is a proper and important means of worship and edification for the people of God. When the lyrics and melodies correspond to the revelation and character of God, the benefit of music is enormous. We believe that worldly, pop, rock and some other forms of popular music are inappropriate to communicate the truth and character of God. We, therefore, reject Contemporary Christian Music and Christian Rock and use only those songs and melodies that are unmistakably godly. Simply put, we stick with traditional style psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible, consisting of the sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, was, as originally given, written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; that it is verbally inspired of God; that it is inerrant, sufficient, and eternal, and therefore of supreme and final authority in faith and life.
The policy of West Ashley Independent Baptist Church regarding Bible versions is to use the King James Version in our services. However, we do not hold to a “King James Only” position. We teach the importance of using conservative, literal translations of Scripture. Many modern paraphrase and dynamic equivalency versions, by their free handling of God’s Word in translation, show an inadequate regard for the verbal inspiration of Scripture.
INDEPENDENT BAPTIST
You may be wondering why we have the word “independent” in our church name. The term indicates that we are not organizationally connected to a denomination or association of churches. We are independent. We remain unconnected to preserve our liberty to worship God and follow the Scriptures in keeping with our own conscience before the Lord. In this day when so many churches, even some with the term “Baptist” in their name, take the liberty of departing from the Bible to follow their own ideas, we avoid compromising our conscience before God by remaining organizationally independent. We, however, welcome the fellowship of churches and believers everywhere who remain faithful to Christ and His Word.
