Our Church

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The pioneers who started Big Springs Baptist Church arrived in the spring of 1869. One of the first, if not the first Sunday after their arrival, Peter A. Ring gathered about him the new settlers and conducted religious services in an old vacant log house on lower Union Creek. The Big Spring Baptist Church was organized early in July in 1869 on the Ring homestead. The name Big Springs came from the springs constituting the permanent source of the east branch of Union Creek that designated this settlement. Peter A. Ring formally became the first pastor in 1872. The first church building built in 1874 was set in open country chosen far enough from the towns to form a center of its own. This location has been part of the ministry of Big Springs Baptist Church to the area rural communities.

After a time of dissension regarding the Sunday or Saturday worship, members left the church to form a Seventh Day Adventist Church. The result of revival meetings the church membership expanded such that the church began a building project which remains as part of the current building in 1893. At the time of the 25th anniversary of the church Rev. Swartz concluded with this statement, “With regards to the future we wish and pray that the ‘candleholder’ will stand in its room and that the light will shine from the hills of Big Springs until ‘the Lord comes.’”  Spiritual growth and mission work have been an important part of the life of Big Springs Baptist Church.  This is shown in the opening of the mission at Alcester and organization of the Alcester Baptist Church through funding of the building and 31 charter members of the new church in 1907.

The spiritual growth and ministry of the church continued to the present day with many instrumental pastors and leaders providing guidance and inspiring the work in the rural communities of the area around Big Springs Baptist Church. Church building additions occurred in 1920, 1965 and most recently in 2001. The church was able to purchase the original church building back from the township and place it on the current grounds where it is used for Christmas services and activities in the summer. The church property includes a parsonage, built in 1915, the “Annex” used for youth activities which originally was the Big Spring store and post office and a ballfield. A recent addition of a playground for young ones indicates the desire to be a church where families gather to worship and share their lives in the Big Springs community.

Big Springs has sponsored youth and adult mission trips to the inner city of Chicago, Pine Ridge reservation, Samaritans Purse for hurricane relief in Houston, Belize, Peru, Philippines, Ukraine, Haiti and Costa Rica among others.
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The Swedish roots of the pioneers that settled the area continue with the annual Swedish supper of the “over 55” group and the early Christmas morning celebration as a church family of “Julotta.” Except for a few members who are descendants of those original pioneers continuing on their family farm, the church now is a diverse group of members from primarily the Alcester, South Dakota, Beresford, South Dakota, Hawarden, Iowa, and Akron, Iowa, communities.  Today, Big Springs Baptist Church continues to fulfill her mission of glorifying God through growing mature disciples of Jesus Christ in our community and around world. 
 

1. ​The Word of God
   We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
2. The Trinity
   We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons, that these are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence and redemption.
3. God the Father
   We believe in God, the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of all people, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
4. Jesus Christ
   We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal visible return to earth.
5. The Holy Spirit
   We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide.
6. Regeneration
   We believe that all people are sinners by nature and by choice and are, therefore, under condemnation. We believe that those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
7. The Church 
   We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, work and fellowship. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.
8. Christian Conduct
   We believe that Christians should live for the glory of God and the well-being of others; that their conduct should be blameless before the world; that they should be faithful stewards of their possessions; and that they should seek to realize for themselves and others the full stature of maturity in Christ.
9. The Ordinances
   We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water into the name of the triune God. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
10. Religious Liberty
    We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that therefore Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other.
11. Church Cooperation
    We believe that local churches can best promote the cause of Jesus Christ by cooperating with one another in a denominational organization. Such an organization, whether it is the Conference or a district conference, exists and functions by the will of the churches. Cooperation in a conference is voluntary and may be terminated at any time. Churches may likewise cooperate with interdenominational fellowships on a voluntary independent basis.
12. The Last Things
    We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.

Adopted by the Baptist General Conference in 1951, reaffirmed in 1990 and amended in 1997.