First Baptist Church of Lawrence, Kansas

Welcome! We hope that this gives you an idea of who we are and where we are going as we journey together through the Christian faith.

Our mission statement at FBC is simple: “To love God, love others as self, and serve the world.”

As we work together to accomplish that mission, we find ourselves practicing four primary tasks:

We welcome. Welcome is the foundation of who we are as church. We welcome all who enter our doors as family. We welcome the presence of God’s Spirit working through our worship, work and wonder. When you come to First Baptist, our deepest hope and joy is that you will enter as guests, but leave as members or our family – God’s family.

We worship. Our worship is primarily a response to God’s grace and faithfulness. Our worship reminds us of the profound need for Sabbath from our daily routines. We listen for God’s spirit together as we sing, pray and learn together. We understand that our worship does not end at noon on Sunday, but extends to all we do as we live a life seeking to follow Christ and live in God’s Spirit.

We work. When we talk of work, we mean many things. We are working together as church to be the presence of Christ in our worlds. We believe it takes hard work and effort to be church: to be in relationship with one another and seek God’s will together. Part of our response is to do God’s work – by taking care of our building, by serving our local community and giving and serving to missions projects around the United States and the world. We commit ourselves to the difficult but life-giving work of being and doing Life Together.

We wonder. Feeling wonder at God’s grace and faithfulness marks all we do, in our welcome, worship and work. We embrace the mystery of God’s work in our world and throughout history. We gather together to wonder together about the questions of our faith. At First Baptist, we welcome questions and uncertainties, understanding that often faith rests in discovering further questions than finding concrete answers. We invite the myriad ways that God is at work in each of us – through our creativity, intellect, relationships.

If this sounds like the kind of church community you’d like to visit and potentially call home, the kind of place you could be church, and understand your individual calling and purpose, we’d love to have you! We have been following Christ in the community of Lawrence for over 150 years, and we’d love for you to join us on that journey as we grow and change and participate in that tradition together.

Rev. Matthew Sturtevant, Senior Pastor