Who We Are - Open and Welcoming

First Baptist Church of Dayton is a Baptist Church in the heart of downtown Dayton . We are a progressive Baptist church attempting to be the “body of Christ” in a particular location.

Our Denominational Affiliation

First Baptist Church of Dayton belongs to American Baptist Churches U.S.A. ABC USA has headquarters in Valley Forge , PA. FBC Dayton is a member of the ABC Ohio Region and the Dayton Area Baptist Association.

Our Mission Statement

To celebrate God's love as a community of believers in Jesus Christ, through worship, education, fellowship, and outreach to others.

A Statement of Our Purpose, Vision, Strategies, and Values

Our beliefs: We believe the church belongs to God and that the church is best described as the body of Christ. The church is to be the physical presence of Christ in the world. As such, our primary aim is to do God's will. The First Baptist Church seeks to be a community of faith. In addition, we are engaged in an ongoing attempt to be a faithful and obedient community of faith. We believe that the practices of a disciplined community are essential to our calling as a church. Our members are united in the worship of God known in Jesus, the Christ, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The mission of First Baptist Church is to serve God through word and witness; to treat all human beings as sisters and brothers; and to foster responsible stewardship of all God's creation.

The First Baptist Church commits itself to welcoming all persons, celebrating the diversity found in a congregation broadly inclusive of persons from different backgrounds. Members are called to an individual and collective quality of life that leads to personal, spiritual, and social transformation, witnessing to God's saving purposes for all creation. Therefore, the Church pledges itself to Christian education, reflection, ecumenism, and action for peace and justice.

We believe God has called the First Baptist Church to the following:

Our Purpose : To build an open, diverse, welcoming, informed, and inclusive Christian community where non-religious, nominally religious persons, and deeply religious persons become or continue their journey as committed Christians.

Our Vision : To transform lives, to energize our community, to participate in the renewal of our city, and to participate in the renewal of the mainline church by serving as an informed and spiritual creative center.

Our Strategies : The following five areas of ministry constitute the primary means of accomplishing our purpose and vision: Worship (Celebrating through a blended liturgy), Mission (Serving), Evangelism (Inviting), Discipleship (Nurturing), and Fellowship (Relating).

Our first aim is to glorify God in worship; our second is to train, equip, inspire, and mobilize members to live out their faith through missions of service; our third is to introduce people to Jesus Christ; our fourth is to help persons of all ages to become deeply committed Christians through ministries of discipleship; our fifth is to build caring relationships and foster mutual ministry among the church family through authentic Christian fellowship.

Our Values : It is our desire to honor God through our work. To that end, we will do God's work with the qualities we most value: integrity, grace, intelligence, excellence, relevance, authenticity, passion, humility, faith, fortitude, justice, mercy, self-control, hope, inclusivity, commitment, joy, and love.