2014 – Conference Theme: “Contending for the Faith”
Resolution on Conference Theme: Contending for the Faith
Whereas we are the unworthy recipients by grace alone of the faith once delivered to the saints, that body of doctrine founded on the inerrant, authoritative, all-sufficient, God-breathed Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the common confession of all true believers and the propositional divine truth upon which our common salvation is firmly established (Jude 3);
And whereas the faith is a gracious trust, which we must pass on to generations that follow us by guarding it from the corruption of “profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith” (1 Tim. 6:20-21);
And whereas it is our desire that churches be established in the faith, increasing in number as God gives the increase (Acts 16:5), and that the souls of God’s people would be confirmed and exhorted to continue in the faith, for it is through much tribulation that we should enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22);
And whereas we live in a day when the faith has come under fierce attack from the kingdom of darkness through unbelief, false teaching, open rebellion, seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4:1), the influence of men who, like Elymas the sorcerer, seek to turn people away from the faith (Acts 13:8), or who, like Jannes and Jambres, resist the truth with corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith (2 Tim. 3:8);
And whereas, in the face of these attacks, multitudes from the side of truth have compromised the faith, refusing to earnestly contend for it, choosing rather to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, with respect of persons (James 2:1), and unwilling to suffer in the patience of the saints, while keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12);
Therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America, gathered in our Annual Conference in Gettysburg, PA, June 17-19, 2014, determine to heed Scripture’s command to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3); that we confidently confess that if some do not believe, their unbelief shall never make the faith of God of none effect (Rom. 3:3); and that, living by the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20) and striving together for the faith of the gospel (Phil. 1:27), we determine to follow the example of the apostle Paul, who fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:7), and to heed his encouraging charge: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).