06.06.06
HYDE PARK BAPTIST CHURCH- In it for the ‘long-haul’.
For any church that has been around for many years, change is common. Churches change locations, pastors, names, themes, and sometimes theology. Hyde Park Baptist Church in Cincinnati Ohio, has seen many changes during our long history. Since this is our 216th anniversary of our church, we recognize our many changes. I have lost count of how many different pastors we have had, we are in our 4th different location, our 5th different building, but still we are the same church. Our emphasis has changed many times over the years. We began in 1790 as a solidly calvinistic body of believers. During the late 1800’s and 1900’s the emphasis turned to a social gospel common to the American Baptist Convention. Fortunately, during the past several years we have returned to the emphasis of the Word of God. We acknowledge and find comfort in the authority of scripture. We trust God’s sovereign hand as He guides all things according to His will. We share our faith in Christ with others, trusting that many will respond to God’s invitation to salvation. It is a great time to be part of this local fellowship where we can be nurtured and loved in the Word of God, and built up and encouraged by our co-believers in Christ! What is keeping us going? It is loving and living the precious Word- the Bible. Psalm 1 describes the person who is strengthened by the Word, but I believe that it also applies to churches. “Our delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on His Law we meditate day and night. We will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields our fruit in season and whose leaf does not prosper. Whatever we do will prosper.”
Yes, I have applied these verses to our church, and to any church which is built upon and sustained by the living, powerful Word of God. We do not know what will transpire in the coming days and years, but we do know that our trust will not fail us, for we trust the unfailing word of the unfailing God. I hope you are trusting in Him also, and encourage you to commit yourself to being strengthened for life by daily refreshing yourself in the river of living water!
If you find yourself in Cincinnati, please look us up and join us in our Worship of our Lord and Savior- Jesus Christ!
