Well, it’s complicated…

We are a Baptist church filled with people from various denominational backgrounds. Our beliefs span significant depth and breadth. There might be nothing that every single one of us agrees upon (not gonna lie, we like that). So how about we describe our culture, and some tenets of who we are and how we function, and then we can go from there!

Though our individual theologies differ, you will hear from our sermons and programming that we are undeniably followers of Jesus Christ and believe in the triune nature of God: God the Creator, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

We see the Bible as authoritative, though the extent of its authority varies among us (check out Pastor Andrea’s sermon on the Bible here). We don’t find it to be inerrant, or even infallible, and many of us would describe our relationship with scripture as “complicated.” Nevertheless: we read it. We preach it. We wrestle with it, and reinterpret it. We argue with it. We often disagree with it, and disagree about it. We trust that God is present in all of this, so we aren’t afraid of difficult conversations or deconstructing viewpoints. In fact, we honor them.

As part of our community’s spiritual health, we place a high value on encouraging respectful dialogue and non-judgmental listening. We are encouraged by the words of some attenders who have found Dayspring to be a place of health and a place of healing from experiences of religious trauma. We seek to be theologically hospitable, which is a term used to describe an openness in heart and mind to questions, interpretations, wonderings, and disagreements.

We hold high value for inclusivity. As you can see in our inclusion statement on our home page, we encourage all people to exercise their gifts and callings within and among this church community. We believe the Spirit of God is always present and at work, both in the world and in each of us, and our desire is to participate with that holy work.

Although Dayspring is a Baptist church(see our affiliations here), those in our community come from a variety of denominational backgrounds. You don’t have to be Baptist to belong here. We believe that health is also for organizations (not just individuals), so we work diligently to create and maintain systems of organizational and spiritual health..

We give grace. We value authenticity. We desire community. We practice kindness and generosity.

If you’d like to learn more, we invite you to come and see. Find what you need to know about joining us for Sunday morning worship here.