Special Services

Baptism

We at First on Fifth are deeply Baptist, which by that we mean that we honor the historic Baptist principles that guided our foremothers and fathers more than 400 years ago toward a free, uncoerced, personal experience of faith. At the heart of that Baptist identity is the practice of believer’s baptism, which is, as our friend and Baptist historian Bill Leonard would say, “an outward sign of an invisible grace.” We ask each person seeking baptism to say with their own lips “who is Lord?” It is a wonder of gift and grace for each to declare, uncoerced and

Baptism at First on Fifth is a communal practice, bearing witness within the womb of community to what has happened in an individual’s heart with Jesus. Their response to the gospel bears right and responsibility, and we celebrate what God has done through baptism.

Should you have a desire to talk more about baptism, please contact Emily Hull McGee.

Ordination

It’s always been a mark of church health when members and friends hear the call of God in and through a church, and ask a church to bless that call. We at First on Fifth are delighted to partner together with anyone who is hearing God’s call to ministry. Through a deliberate process of discernment, one outcome of that particular call might be a call to ordination. Ordination is an ancient ritual – within our Baptist history, dating all the way back to the earliest of us in 1609! – and widely viewed among churches like ours as an essential witness of the local church to affirm an individual’s sense of God’s calling into the gospel ministry and bless them for the road ahead.

Should you desire to talk more about ordination, please contact Emily Hull McGee.

Read more about our process for ordination.

Process for Ordination

Weddings

“What God joins together, let no one separate.” These words we say upon uniting two lives in a covenant relationship with each other demonstrate the vitality and strength of marriage. In the context of First Baptist Church, we believe that marriage gives space for couples to flourish when bound together by God and this community of faith in Christian marriage.

Read more in the packet information and application below to learn in greater detail and description of what a wedding ceremony at First Baptist Church looks like, as you consider having this most important ritual in our sacred space. As soaring and grand as our Sanctuary is, it is the intimate moments of covenant and grace that we celebrate in a wedding ceremony. We are glad you thought of us for this holy time in your life!

Should you have interest in inquiring about having your wedding at First on Fifth, please contact David Williamson.

Read more about our wedding policies and pay any fees below.

Wedding PoliciesPay Wedding Fees

Funerals

Walking with our members through all the changing seasons of life means that we do so all the way to the end. One of the most sacred practices of our church life is that of celebrating a life well-lived and lifting the whole community in song, scripture, word, and presence with the gift of the communion of saints with which to grieve, remember, and hope. Funeral and memorial services seek to offer an intimate witness of the beloved one’s life, all wrapped within the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in whom we have life everlasting.

Should you desire to talk more about our funeral services, please contact David Williamson.

Celebration of Life Planning Guide