Berea Baptist
Berea to Authenticate PT ministry
By God’s grace PT has planted a church that will model expository preaching, structured Bible teaching, and a relational application of God’s Word. 
We want to demonstrate that teaching the Bible message brings God’s mind and intention, unleashing spiritual potential to bear fruit that will last.Such a local church will also be home to PT, giving it identity and a qualified impetus to train other handlers of the Bible message in this region. The primary need is that we want to see a biblical church in message and practice as an end in itself. Auxiliary to that, is the realization of instructors who practice what they transfer to other pastors through PT, tested and approved in a church family setting, as of paramount importance. By God’s grace, we desire to deliver to others what we ourselves are doing at local church level. We want Berea to be a practical demonstration of what we teach other pastors. In our society, we can only pass on what we do, not just what we speak.
Berea for Bible Exposition
A local church family with a necessarily high view of God, diligently handling his word in an expository manner and willing to encourage similar values among those who desire to follow such an authentic ministry is what spurs us in this vision. It is true that there are some seasoned preachers in Uganda, but not many among them have sought the expository path in their teaching and preaching ministry. Even the preachers who perceive Bible exposition as the reliable way of bringing the Bible message seem to lack sufficient motivation, skills and a ‘secure’ context in which to pursue it. By God’s grace, Berea is to pioneer Bible exposition as the genuine trend of bringing God’s mind to bear on society and contemporary issues. With similar congregations, Berea will enjoin their voices and demonstration in echoing such priorities for teaching and preaching the Bible message.
Berea for the “Berean” character
The “Berea” preference is more than a church name to us; it is a desired character to be identified with and to mark this church. Acts 17:11 brings to us the essence of the Bereans as “more fair (or noble)-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness (or great eagerness), and searched (or examined) the Scriptures daily to find out (to see)whether these things were so (true).
We know through church history, that the most influential false doctrines that have ever threatened the church have always been those that masquerade as orthodox, employing the familiar language of Scripture, but skewing the truth. Thus, we acknowledge that using the language of biblical Christianity is not the same as being biblical. To us then at Berea, it is extremely important to examine claims that sound biblical with the utmost care – like the Bereans, who were praised by the historian Luke because they subjected even the apostle Paul’s inspired and infallible message to the careful scrutiny of the Old Testament - to see “whether those things were so”.
Berea for Healthy Skepticism
As a Bible-driven local church, we yearn and envisage that Berea Baptist Church members will have a healthy skepticism regarding any teaching, unlike some among John’s congregations who were too open minded to anyone claiming a new teaching regarding the faith (1 John 4:1). And indeed all Christians ought to be like the Bereans who, as students of the Word, examined the Scriptures to determine truth and error.
We are convinced that in a world of no absolutes, God’s Word stands as absolute truth to be known and applied in every area of life. Scripture is the very foundation upon which the church is built and comprises not only the content of the message that the church proclaims but also the methods by which the church should operate. The implications of 2 Tim 3:16-17 are astounding, for it asserts that the Word of God is sufficient for all areas of life and ministry. And a ministry that believes in the sufficiency of Scripture will do everything possible to bring the Word to bear on the lives of the congregation. The sufficiency of Scripture demands our obedience and our belief. It demands our affections, our faith, and our understanding.
Berea for social contact without due contamination
It is true that some churches have convinced themselves that program, style, and catchy campaigns are more compelling or powerful than ministry centered on traditional preaching and teaching. We at Berea think that a church is not a corporation in need of a fresh message, a new promotional strategy, or different direction. The Bible is far from being silent on the course churches should follow, or the disaster that results from veering off that course. God has purposed that his church draw a life of blessing, stability, and power from being Scripture-driven.
Our desire and prayer is to see Berea Baptist Church correct mistakes in contemporary ministry that are human-centered in worship and faith expression. Marketing strategies and salesmanship have taken center stage in local church ministry, church image replacing life substance. The pressure to increase and maintain numbers in the local church has greatly affected the message in modern times. By God’s grace, Berea will seek to swim through these social-cultural trends without compromising biblical tenets for authentic ministry.
Berea for Apostolic Priorities
By God’s grace, the Berea ministry leadership tenet will be drawn and practiced along the apostolic priorities as seen in the earlier stages of the New Testament church (Acts 6). In the practice that followed their ministry principle: 4“we will give our attention to prayer and ministry of the Word”, we get to see that 7“the Word of God spread (outreach), the number of disciples increased rapidly (quantitative growth), people became obedient to the faith (qualitative growth in that they responded to the commands of the gospel; to believe is to obey God; faith itself is obedience; but faith also produces obedience (Eph. 2:8-10; James 2:14-26).
Berea is Evangelical with a Baptist persuasion
We are Protestant Christians who accept the basic tenets of the 16th-century Reformation - justification by grace through faith, the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures, and the priesthood of the believers. Berea Baptist Church is evangelical in belief and practice, echoing among others, three main elements in the biblical Gospel call:
(1) A presentation of the facts of the gospel for a new birth as the way of salvation
(2) An invitation to Jesus Christ in confession, repentance and faith.
(3) A promise of God’s forgiveness and eternal life for those who trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross.
Berea is a member of the Kampala Baptist Association under Registration Number 848 with the Baptist Union of Uganda (BUU) – a conglomeration of about 1,200 Baptist local churches in Uganda.
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