Pastor's Welcome

Dear Friend,

I would cordially like to welcome you to the website of the First Presbyterian Church of Gulfport, Mississippi. Thank you for taking the time to visit our site. Please allow me a few minutes to introduce you to who we are and to why we exist. If you would like more information, please click here to contact us and request a copy of our new Welcome Brochure, or ask to speak to one of the members of our church staff.

At FPC Gulfport, we believe that we exist to glorify God by seeking to know Him and to live and proclaim His Word in the world.

Quite simply, this means that we seek to be:

  1. Worshiping God with all our soul, because God is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23), and who will love Him with all their heart, all their mind, and all their strength, and with everything that they have (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
  2. Worshiping God with all our life, because every area of life is to be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Christians are to live in all things and at all times for the glory of God, whether they eat or drink or whatever they do (1 Corinthians 10:31).  They are to view all of life through the spectacles of Scripture and allow what it says to inform everything they do.
  3. Gospel Motivated, because Christians are constrained by the love of Christ, who gave Himself up for them, forgiving them of all their sins and gloriously freeing them from all their guilt.  For this reason, they are no longer to live for themselves but for Him who died for them (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
  4. Theologically Reformed, because we believe that the distinctives of the Reformed faith are nothing more or less than Biblical Christianity.  These distinctives can be summarized in the ?5 solas? of the Reformation, which teach that salvation is to be found: sola fide (by faith alone, and not by our own works), sola gratia (by grace alone, and not by human merit), solo Christo (by Christ alone, and not by any other way?not by priests, churches, or saints), sola Scriptura (in Scripture alone, and not in any other book or human tradition), and soli Deo gloria (to the glory of God alone, and not partially to God and partially to ourselves).
  5. Outreach and Mercy Ministry Oriented, because Christians have a responsibility to engage the culture around them and to bring the truth of the good news (Gospel) of the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus to all people without exception.  They are to do this not by lording it over others but by showing forth the love and compassion of Christ for a world that is, as it were, like sheep without a shepherd (1 Peter 5:3; Matthew 9:36; 1 Corinthians 13).
  6. Missions Minded, because Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth and has commanded us as His followers to make disciples of all nations by going to them, teaching them, and helping them to organize into churches (Matthew 28:18-20), and because God has promised that He would have a people for Himself from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9).

This will be implemented by way of the following ministry emphases, which are to be put into practice primarily by the elders of the church:

 

  1. Preach and teach the Word.
  2. Love the people of the congregation.
  3. Pray and encourage prayer.
  4. Develop and equip leaders.
  5. Encourage commitment to the Great Commission.
  6. Promote family worship.
  7. Live consistently with our calling as elders (i.e., 1 Timothy 3; Titus 1).
  8. Foster authentic community within the congregation.

If you have specific questions about what we believe, we would invite you to click here or to contact us directly by email or phone.  We welcome you to join us for Sunday school and for worship on Sunday mornings at our new church facility located at the SE corner of Highway 605 and O'Neal Road in Gulfport. See "Sundays at FPC" for more information and "Contact us" for directions.

 

 

Guy M. Richard, Ph.D.  

Senior Minister