The Bible Fellowship Church (BFC) denomination is an expanding fellowship of churches united to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Currently, there are about seventy Bible Fellowship Churches. Most of the Bible Fellowship Churches are in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. There are also congregations in Maryland, Florida, New Mexico, and Mexico.
There are about 10,000 BFC worshipers worldwide each Sunday morning. The Bible Fellowship Church is growing through the evangelistic efforts of each local church and through Church Extension Ministries, the BFC church planting organization.
Our Beliefs
- We believe that all people are born sinners. By grace alone, through faith alone, those who believe receive forgiveness of sin based on Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
- We practice believers’ baptism by immersion.
- We hold to a premillennial view of Jesus Christ’s earthly return and reign.
Please see our full doctrinal statement, the Articles of Faith, to find out more.
Our Church Government
- Each BFC church is self-governed by a Board of Elders elected by the congregation. Although autonomous, our churches are not independent.
- Each congregation calls its own pastor(s) with denominational approval. Additional church and ministry staff are chosen by the local church. The denomination has a process for ordination. You can find out more about ordination here.
- Our churches are connected for accountability, fellowship, and collaborative efforts in ministry. All BFC churches hold to the Articles of Faith, Principles of Order, and Biblical Principles for Living. Each year, the pastors and delegates from each congregation join together at BFC Conference to make decisions, hear reports, and encourage one another. You can watch video from past BFC Conferences here. Collaborative ministry efforts include the BFC Board of Missions, Church Extension Ministries, and Victory Valley Camp.
Our History
The Bible Fellowship Church began in 1858 when seven revivalists in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania preached the gospel through enthusiastic, evangelistic prayer meetings. The revivalists held progressive views for their time and the prayer meetings came under the scrutiny of the church conference leaders. Rather than change the style of their outreach ministry, the revivalists broke away from the conference and formed their own denomination.
The denomination became known as the Mennonite Brethren in Christ, Pennsylvania Conference. It grew rapidly throughout the first half of the 1900s. However, by 1959, it was evident that the doctrines, practices, and church government were so different from the Mennonite roots that a name change was necessary to accurately describe the denomination. In 1959, the denomination officially chose the name Bible Fellowship Church.
Since 1959, the denomination has grown and expanded beyond the Lehigh Valley and even beyond the United States into Mexico. We also have a passion for reaching the Spanish-speaking people in the United States. If you’d like more details about our history, please visit the BFC History website.
Throughout our history, we have grown because we are a fellowship of churches that multiply churches. Church Extension Ministries of the Bible Fellowship Church invites you to become a part of this expanding fellowship of churches by attending an existing church plant, through financial giving, or by becoming a church planter.
