by Charles Alligood

Years ago I found the following Baptist statement of faith at a public library in Hall County, Georgia. It is a simple, but clear doctrinal statement of Baptist churches in the northeastern Georgia area during that era.

1826 Statement of Faith
Chattahoochee Missionary Baptist Association

We, the Baptist churches of Christ who have been regularly baptized on a profession of faith are convinced by a series of experiences, of the necessity for a combination of churches and of maintaining a correspondence for the purpose of preserving a federal union among churches of the same faith and order, and, as we are convinced that there are a number of Baptist churches which differ from us in faith and practice and that it is impossible to have communion where there is no union, therefore, we think it our duty to set forth briefly and concisely a declaration of the faith and order upon which we are constituted.

First, we believe in one only true and living God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Three in One.

Second, we believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the words of God and the only rules of faith and practice.

Third, we believe in the doctrine of original sin.

Fourth, we believe in man's inability to recover himself from the fallen state he is in by nature, by his own free will and holiness.

Fifth, we believe in the doctrine of election according to the Scriptures.

Sixth, we believe that sinners are justified in the sight of God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seventh, we believe the saints shall persevere in grace and not finally fall away.

Eighth, we believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of the Gospel and that true believers are the only subjects of baptism and that immersion is the mode and that baptized believers are the only proper communicants.

Ninth, we believe in the resurrection of the dead and a general judgment.

Tenth, we believe that the joys of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked will be eternal.