The existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre once said, "Everything has been figured out, except how to live."  While that statement is thought-provoking, we have come to believe he was wrong on both counts!  We believe there is all sorts of stuff we don't know about life and this wonderful planet.  But in spite of our enormous ignorance, in spite of what some depressed French philosopher said years ago, we think people can know almost exactly how we're all supposed to live.  We believe Jesus Christ taught us pretty clearly...

This life is not supposed to be as confusing as some would have us believe.  If we actually live as Jesus taught us to live, most of life is pretty obvious.  We think our Christian faith must not only make some sort of sense of this world, it must drive every aspect of how we live in this world.  And so here at Ely Baptist Church, we hope to do more than "figure out" lots of useful, dead doctrine and maintain polite, boring religion.  We long to discover more and more wonderful truths in the Bible that will help us learn how to live better, happier, more helpful and productive lives both now and for eternity!  As our church motto declares, we genuinely long "to know Him and make Him known!"  And we would be thrilled to have you join us in this pursuit!

And now for the doctrine stuff...

Sometimes long, crabby doctrinal statements seem more interested in separating us from others than helping us learn how to live as Jesus Christ did.   We think that's tragic!  We think Jesus would have hated that!  Thankfully, while we do have some stuffy, religious words in our statement (sorry about that!), we confidently believe our Baptist General Conference Affirmation of Faith is not interested in separating people.  We hope it is a truthful flag around which many diverse Christians can gather.  We believe our affirmation is a useful, simple and balanced way of explaining our core Christian beliefs.  We hope you will think so too!

We would love to have you join us here at EBC.  Come for a quick weekend vacation, come spend a few months enjoying one of Ely's four, fun-filled seasons or come for a lifetime.  It is decision you won't regret!

Doctrinal stuff can sometimes be confusing, so if you have any questions at all about any of this, please give Pastor Hanson a call or drop us a note at any time.  We're happy to help.