First Baptist Greensboro seeks to be a church that reflects the breadth of God’s love and the wideness of God’s embrace. Our church is enriched when we join together with all of God’s children — affirming all in the fullness of identity, background and status. “All are welcome,” our church sign states. To that broad commitment, we also recognize the importance of adding particular clarity.

We recognize the ways in which LGBTQ+ persons have been excluded and marginalized in our society, and we lament the role that churches have played in such exclusion. For this reason, we want to be clear about our church’s convictions, giving clarity and celebration of First Baptist’s welcome and affirmation of all people. While this has been true in practical ways, we want to state it clearly.

Because we are a Baptist church and not governed by any denominations entity, we make this statement as an individual congregation. With the unanimous approval of our Deacons in January 2025, First Baptist joyfully declared:

“We believe that our church is more faithful to God’s calling when we include and celebrate all people. We therefore affirm and welcome people of all sexualities and gender identities to participate fully in the life and leadership of our community of faith, including the sacred practices of baptism, communion, marriage, ministry and ordination.”

We recognize the many churches, communities of faith, organizations, and other Baptist congregations that have long expressed this commitment, and will continue to find ways to join with them in advocating for God’s inclusive and affirming love.

We believe this commitment reflects the work of the Holy Spirit and faithful reading of Christian scripture. As a way of providing further resource for our congregation, we will be holding a special elective class during the Sunday School hour, March 16 and 23, with Dr. Mary Foskett of Wake Forest University leading us in a study on the Bible and inclusion.