Why Fundamental?

Legacy Baptist Church is a fundamental church. We believe the Scriptures teach that the New Testament local church is to defend the Christian faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3) in light of an ever-increasing religious apostasy and degenerating society (2 Tim. 3:1-14).

Why do we call ourselves 'fundamentalists', and what do we mean by the term? Consider the following definition given by the World Congress of Fundamentalists in 1976.

A Fundamentalist is a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who:

  • Maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally inspired Bible.
  • Believes that whatever the Bible says is so.
  • Judges all things by the Bible, and is judged only by the Bible.
  • Affirms the foundational truths of the historic Christian Faith: The doctrine of the Trinity; the incarnation; virgin birth; substitutionary atonement; bodily resurrection and glorious ascension; the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; the new birth through regeneration by the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of the saints to eternal life; the resurrection of the ungodly to final judgment and eternal death; the fellowship of the saints, who are the body of Christ.
  • Practices fidelity to that Faith and endeavors to preach it to every creature.
  • Exposes and separates from all ecclesiastical denial of that Faith, compromise with error, and apostasy from the Truth.
  • Earnestly contends for the Faith once delivered.

Legacy Baptist Church, therefore, practices Biblical separation from such ecclesiastical movements as:

New Evangelicalism

New evangelicalism is the movement created by those who left fundamentalism in the 1950’s over the issue of Biblical separation. It claimed the right to infiltrate modernists and apostates in order to win them to Christ. In more recent times, it has emphasized in the area of Christian ethics a libertine philosophy it refers to as “Christian liberty”. A primary difference between fundamentalism and evangelicalism is the issue of Biblical separation; therefore, we would practice separation against evangelical ministers and ministries.

Charismatic movement

The charismatic movement is ecumenical and emphasizes “experience” at the expense of absolute written truth. The movement misinterprets and misapplies the passages that address the event of Pentecost, the Baptism of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and the cessation of divine revelation. Many of the charismatic and third wave ministers teach doctrines that are clearly heretical.

Ecumenical movement

The ecumenical movement is a present day attempt to unite all denominations into organized tolerance regardless of doctrinal differences; in fact, absolute doctrine is described as “divisive” and consequently, a deterrent to this desire for unity.It disregards the clear teaching of Scripture regarding separation from ministers and ministries that advance unbiblical teaching (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Rom. 16:17-18; Psa. 1:1-3; 2 John 9-10).


And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

- 2 Corinthians 6:16-17