Our sovereign God has been building His Church at Immanuel Baptist.

We are a body comprised of people of all ages and coming from a variety of backgrounds, yet each one having something to contribute as we seek to magnify our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Immanuel's approach to ministry is shaped by our commitment to the doctrines of grace. Our objective can best be summed up as the out-working of the Spirit-given desire to know Christ and to make Him known in the Bloomington-Normal area and around the world. We seek to accomplish this goal according to a biblical model of regular worship of God together, regular times of instruction in the Word of God, regular fellowship and caring for one another, and by consistently living our lives as a witness to Christ and the salvation that He alone can offer.

Pastor Keith Throop

1 Corinthians 1:27-31"God has chosen the foolish things fo the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are might; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which aer not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption -- that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him Glory in the LORD.'"

History

In the fall of 1984 a group of five families began meeting together for Bible study and prayer, seeking God's direction concerning starting a new church in the growing area of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. God progressively and collectively gave them a vision for an evangelical church, which would have a distinctive ministry in reaching men, women, and children for Jesus Christ. The first Sunday morning service was held in a home in February, 1985. From there they moved to Western Avenue Community Center in the spring of 1985. In November of 1989, the former Vale Baptist Church building was purchased to serve as a meeting place for the Immanuel Baptist Church family.

Immanuel's first full time pastor, Scott Harrison, joined the work in the fall of 1985. Keith Throop has served as pastor since 1994. 

Doctrine

The sole basis for our beliefs is in Bible, which is uniquely inspired of God, inerrant in the original autographs, and the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

There is one God, eternally existing in three persons -- the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- each possessing all the attributes of deity. 

Although created in the image of God, all men in their natural state are lost, alienated from God, spiritually dead, in need of God's forgiveness and salvation, and incapable of doing anything to save themselves.

Salvation is only by grace, a free gift of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Those who are born of the Spirit and receive Christ by faith have their sins forgiven, their hearts cleansed, become children of God, and are made new creatures in Christ.

After being born of a virgin, living a sinless life, and dying on the cross for sinners, our Lord Jesus rose from the dead in the same body that was laid to rest in the tomb. The bodies of all believers who die will likewise be raised from the dead, and they will receive an incorruptible body like unto His glorious body. All other men shall be raised unto eternal damnation. 

Christ will come again to earth a second time, personally, bodily, and visibly.

For a more detailed explanation of our doctrine, download our Constitution and Confession below.