About First Baptist Church

We are an intergenerational, American Baptist congregation that seeks to welcome, worship, serve, and learn.

Welcome

We are a people who strive to be friendly and hospitable. Some of our congregation members say that they joined our church because we were the friendliest church they had attended in Lawrence. We have a place for everyone from children to college students to senior adults to young couples to professionals to teenagers. We take seriously God's desire to welcome all people into his kingdom.

Worship

We are a worshipping congregation. We strive to live out what Jesus called the greatest commandment, which the first part is to love God with all that we are. As a result, we take seriously our worship through a traditional musical style of choirs, bell choirs, organ, liturgy, and hymns. Through excellence in music, we hope to engage each other in and introduce the outside world to the wonder and lovingkindness of God.

Serve

Our worship leads us to serve. The second part of the greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. From our worship of God, we learn to love our neighbors in Lawrence, in our nation, and throughout the world. We regularly participate in local programs such as Family Promise and LINK. Also, we support national and international missions work through the central region of the American Baptists. Our service is intergenerational as children have helped with Operation Christmas Child, our youth and college students have traveled across the United States to help with various missions projects, and our adults are actively engaged in the local community.

Learn

Living in a university town like Lawrence, we have become a congregation dedicated to be lifelong learners. Various Sunday School classes, Bible Studies, and other small groups meet regularly to challenge each other to learn and grow. Some focus on practical living while others address theoretical ethical questions. There are classes to challenge the academic and there are classes for the person wanting to understand the basics of Christian life. As American Baptists, we recognize that there are different viewpoints and that it is okay to agree to disagree. In our learning, Christ is our center.