Who We Are

Durham Memorial Baptist Church has been seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the East Durham community since 1853. We believe Christ's life, death, and resurrection is God's plan to redeem and restore the world, and we are dedicated to being a part of His mission here in Durham and among the nations.

Durham Memorial Baptist Church is a gospel-formed community united in Christ’s mission.

Established in 1853

Our Core Pursuits

Our Core Pursuits define how we live out God's mission together as a community of faith. These pursuits express and shape our priorities as a church.

CHRIST-CENTERED CORPORATE WORSHIP

The goal of our gatherings is to glorify God by exalting Jesus Christ. We seek to unite around the gospel and rely on God’s Word as our authority for all matters of faith and practice. We practice expository preaching, regular observance of church ordinances (Baptism and Lord’s Supper), corporate reading and singing, dependent prayer, and warm hospitality.

MEANINGFUL CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

We seek to maintain a baptized, regenerate church membership. We have a robust membership process in which each member commits to the responsibilities and privileges in our church covenant. As brothers and sisters united in Christ, we desire to care for one another in large and small groups, to submit to our leaders out of reverence for Christ, and to steward our gifts and resources for the good of the church and the advancement of his kingdom. We are also committed to restorative church discipline according to Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5.

GOSPEL-CENTERED DISCIPLESHIP

We seek to teach and equip one another with the gospel of Jesus of Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit uses the gospel to give us the power and the pattern to live the Christian life. We seek to bring the truth of the gospel to bear on our lives so we can grow in our faith, deepen our fellowship, and strengthen our ministry.

BIBLICAL COMMUNITY

We are committed to treating one another as family, living life together and challenging one another to grow as disciples of Christ in the household of God. As a covenant gospel community, we seek by God’s grace to bear one another’s burdens, meet one another’s needs, and invest in one another’s spiritual maturity—regardless of any apparent or real differences that may tend toward division. We seek to be a church where every demographic in our community can belong (age, ethnicity, nationality, economic status, etc). We desire to display God’s love and care for others in a way that is respectful and dignified.

GOSPEL-DRIVEN MINISTRY AND MISSION

We seek to be kingdom-minded through evangelism and outreach in our community, looking for opportunities to serve the poor and vulnerable in society. We prioritize ministry partnerships that enable us to participate in local and global missions, church planting, and local church revitalization.

What We Believe

  • There is only one true and living God, who is the Creator of all things. He exists eternally in three Persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

    (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 | Matthew 28:19 | 2 Corinthians 13:14)

  • The Bible is God’s written revelation of himself to humanity, divinely given through human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is entirely trustworthy, sufficient, and authoritative for matters of life and faith.

    (Isaiah 55:10–11 | 2 Timothy 3:14–17 | 2 Peter 1:19–21)

  • God created human beings in his image. They are the crowning work of his creation, made to live in communion with him. Even in their fallen state, every person deserves love, dignity, and respect regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, class, disability, or character.

    (Genesis 1:26–27; 9:6 | Acts 17:26–28 | James 3:9)

  • Because of humankind’s fall into sin, all human beings are born with a corrupt nature disposed towards sin and unable to please God. Once capable of moral action, all people disobey God willfully. God’s just judgment on sin is both physical and spiritual death, thus creating the need for redemption and reconciliation with God. Because of the corruption of sin, human beings are unable and unwilling to do anything to secure their salvation.

    (Jeremiah 17:9 | Romans 3:23; 5:12–21; 8:7–8 | Ephesians 2:1–10)

  • Jesus is fully God and fully human. According to the plan and promise of God, he was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as a substitute for humanity, and rose from the dead. As the risen Lord, he ascended into heaven, where he is seated at the Father’s right hand, ruling and reigning, and will one day return.

    (Acts 2:36 | Philippians 2:5–11 | Colossians 1:15–20; 2:9 | 2 Corinthians 5:21)

  • Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man. No other religion, belief, or person can reconcile God and man. He alone can provide forgiveness and eternal salvation.

    (John 14:5–7 | Acts 4:11–12 | 1 Timothy 2:5–6)

  • Salvation comes only by being united to Christ through faith in him as a person hears and believes the gospel. When people repent and trust Christ alone, they receive forgiveness for their sins, reconciliation with God, and eternal life. This salvation is instantaneous and accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is wholly of God by grace based on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection—not based on human works.

    (Romans 4:13–25 | Ephesians 2:4–10)

  • When a person repents and believes in Christ, they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and secured by him forever. He likewise continues the work of redemption in the life of every believer, forming them into the image of Christ as they submit every area of their lives to Christ’s lordship (e.g., character, family, vocation, ambition, gender, sexuality, habits, relationships, time, possessions, etc.)

    (John 14:15–21; 16:4b–15 | Romans 8:9 | 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 | Ephesians 1:13–14)

  • The Holy Spirit immediately joins all people who put their faith in Jesus Christ in one united spiritual body, the Church, of which Christ is the head. Christians are meant to follow Christ with and among his people in local Churches, which are visible expressions of his invisible, universal body.

    (Acts 2:42–47 | 1 Corinthians 12:12–31 | Ephesians 1:22–23; 4:1–6)

  • God will bring the world to its appropriate end in His own time and in His own way. Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth at that time. Christ will judge both the saved and the unsaved. Those who belong to Christ will receive a glorified body and dwell forever with the Lord. Those who have not trusted in Christ will receive God’s full and just judgment against their sin forever.

    (Acts 1:11 | 1 Corinthians 15:12–28 | 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 | Titus 2:11–14 | Revelation 20:11–15)

As a church in partnership with the entities of the Southern Baptist Convention, we affirm the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 as our statement of faith.