Presentation
Those who meet on Sunday mornings in the chapel at 230 avenue Saint-Exupéry in Toulouse, or during the week in the various house groups, to pray, listen to the Gospel, share their faith and everyday experiences, experience God’s presence and encourage each other, are men and women like any others, living their faith despite their fragility and weaknesses.
We still have a lot to learn from Jesus’ example ! But we are all constantly living in God’s forgiveness and grace, for which his only Son gave his life on the Cross. This forgiveness constantly calls us to forgive one another, and this grace enables us to be gracious to one another, always.
Together, we form a church that sees itself as a “family of God”. Forming a church means choosing solidarity between men and women from all walks of life who want to be disciples of Jesus. We recognise each other as brothers and sisters, not because we agree on everything, but because we are equal before the love of God who gives us life.
Although we are French and French-speaking, our church is open to people from other countries and cultures.
As part of the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches in France, we are not a church without other churches, and even less against other churches. We seek unity and collaboration, without denying disagreements. Sometimes we assert our particular convictions, but for us, the walls of denominations do not reach to heaven. God saves by grace, not because we are right. So we cooperate with all those who love Jesus Christ and confess his name.
We are Protestants first and foremost through our attachment to the Bible. For us, it is the only authority that declares the truth of God’s love for the world. The Bible is our most precious possession. We read it in faith, with humility, but without rejecting the approaches of the intellect and the questioning of contemporary culture.
As Protestants, we also emphasise that salvation is a gift from God, not a reward for merit. God’s gratuitous generosity always overflows our failures. We are also Protestant in our commitment to dialogue, and in the fact that we favour the Holy Scriptures over the traditions of the Church. For this reason, the Fédération des Eglises Baptistes en France is a member of the Fédération Protestante de France.
In the family of Protestantism, we are evangelical in our conviction that we are not born Christians, but become them through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. This fundamental encounter, also called “conversion”, is the starting point for a renewed life.
What we have in common with other evangelicals is the desire and commitment to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to our contemporaries. For this reason, the Fédération des Eglises Baptistes en France is a member of the C.N.E.F (Conseil National des Evangéliques de France).
We also await his return to save our suffering world and establish his eternal reign of justice and peace. We have hope !
We are Baptists in that we only baptise people who, through baptism, wish to express their faith in Jesus Christ and become part of his Church.
Our community recognises the need for every believer :
- To be constantly renewed and guided by the Holy Spirit: “be filled with the Spirit” Ephesians 5: 18
- To put at the service of others the “gifts of Grace” (charisms) that the Holy Spirit distributes as he wishes in the Christian community (Romans 12: 4-8; 1 Corinthians 12-14; 1 Peter 4: 10) with a view to the common edification.
