General Info

Unapologetically Urban On two different occasions in its history, First Baptist Church chose to stay downtown to be a part of the rich cultural landscape that defines urban Oklahoma City. With the rebirth of Bricktown, Downtown, and Midtown the church is in the ideal location to reach across generational, economic, and social boundaries in the name of Christ. Our location and our active engagement in our community and the world lets us proclaim with passion that we are IN THE HEART OF OUR CITY WITH A HEART FOR THE WORLD. Celebratory Thematic Worship Our worship services are probably different from anything you've experienced. All the elements - congregational worship, scripture reading, pastoral message, and choir offering - combine and move us together toward a common theme. Each week is different from the last. Our goal in a service is for the Spirit to speak to each heart so that we are all moved to worship and serve God fully. The music at FBCOKC embraces the best traditions of our past as well as the contemporary music of today. Style is not as important as content. Whether we are singing a familiar hymn or a chorus written in recent days, it is the desire of our ministry that people have a vital encounter with God through worship each time they join us. A Heart for Our Community We are committed to making an impact on the community around us. Our community includes some of the brightest young minds in our state. Our members study at the Oklahoma School of Science and Math. Others are graduate students studying at the OU Health Science Center. Business and government employees working in the heart of the city are among us. Our members live in historic neighborhoods, urban lofts, and places of poverty and social struggle. The ministries at FBCOKC are designed to meaningfully and relevantly impact the whole of the social mosaic that surrounds us. Last year, ministries focused on our community touched thousands as most of our congregation engaged hands-on in the ministries that best reflect their hearts and passions. A Passion for the World In the last 36 months First Baptist family members have served in diverse places like: Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Guatemala, Ghana, India, and Kazakhstan. We understand that the commission to go "ends of the earth" still calls us just at it did the first disciples. A Community for the World in Our Midst The world is moving to Oklahoma City and we see that expressed in the faces of the refugees and immigrants now making the city their home. First Baptist is actively engaged in work among the refugee community and serves as the home of the United Myanmar Baptist Church. We offer a bilingual (Spanish-English ) ministry that is reaching out the growing Hispanic/Latino community. The congregation is also home to an English Language Center offering personal and computer based learning options for those trying to develop their language skills. The first Sunday of each month, the various congregations and ministries come together in a multilingual worship experience. We learn with each other and from each other. We are glad to be an engaged community for the world in our midst. A Commitment to Church Planting In the first long season of its ministry, First Baptist Church was a leader in church planting in Oklahoma. Over the past five years, we have reclaimed our commitment to church planting, serving an integral part in the birth and growth of a Cowboy church in Chickasha, an Emergent congregation in OKC, and a Burmese refugee focused church. We currently host a new church plant focused on the growing downtown population and are assisting in the development of a new Hakha congregation. Our hope is to help start a new congregation every 24 months. A Teaching Church First Baptist serves as a live congregational teaching lab for students who are pursuing their sense of call into congregational ministry. Over the past few years we have hosted student interns from George W. Truett Theological Se