About us
In 1992, a group of faithful Christians began to look toward the horizon and dream of a church that would represent their core beliefs and values. It was from that dream that a different kind of baptist church, Horizon Baptist Fellowship, was born and has continued to minister to Chattooga County ever since.
Our story
New Baptist congregations are born out of various causes, concerns, and circumstances. On July 12, 1992, Horizon was begun by a group that met with a concern for traditional Baptist beliefs and values, which they saw eroding around them in Baptist life. In that same year, other Baptists around the country were expressing the same concerns and formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). On August 8, 1992, they asked Dr. Cecil Sherman, then coordinator of the National Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, to meet with them and give advice regarding the direction they might take to organize and affiliate.
Meeting at various places around Chattooga County over the next couple of years, Horizon began to take shape. Groundbreaking for the church facility began on April 14, 1996 and the facility was dedicated on October 13, 1996 thanks to help from like minded churches around the state. Throughout our history, we have had four pastors; Dr. Steven Sheeley 1992-1993, Dr. Roger MacDonald 1993-2010, Dr. Jerry Mahan 2010-2013, and Rev. John Harris from 2015-2023. Dr. John Wyatt is the current interim pastor as we search for our next full time pastor.
Our core beliefs
Bible Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation that the Bible, under the Lordship of Christ, must be central in the life of the individual and church and that Christians, with the best and most scholarly tools of inquiry, are both free and obligated to study and obey the Scripture.
Soul Freedom is the historic affirmation of the inalienable right and responsibility of every person to deal with God without the imposition of creed, the interference of clergy, or the intervention of civil government.
Church Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation that local churches are free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whom they perceive as gifted for ministry, male or female, and to participate in the larger body of Christ, of whose unity and mission Baptists are proudly a part.
Religious Freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation of freedom OF religion, freedom FOR religion, and freedom FROM religion insisting that Caesar is not Christ and Christ is not Caesar.
Our purpose
We exist to:
Worship Christ
- by being a worshiping fellowship, experiencing an awareness of God and responding in obedience to Christ's leadership.
Form Together
- by helping people experience a growing knowledge of God, the Bible, contemporary Christianity and Christian missions. by being a dynamic spiritual body empowered by the Holy Spirit to share Christ with as many people as possible in our church, community and throughout the world.
Create Beloved Community
- by being a church that ministers unselfishly to persons in the community and the world in Jesus' name
- by experiencing an increasingly meaningful fellowship with God and fellow believers.
- to be a church whose purpose is to be Christ-like in our daily living by emphasizing total commitment of life, personality and possessions to the Lordship of Christ.
