Regarding a church organized according to principals of the New Testament, a First Amendment Church, the church body of Fellowship Baptist Church, a local New Testament church, believes that: 1. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God the Son, commissioned His assembly, His local church and each member thereof, as executor of His will (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8);  2. The Lord Jesus Christ, through the New Testament church doctrine, defines a church as a spiritual organism (See, e.g., Ephesians 4, 1  Corinthians 12, Romans 12, 1 Peter 2:4-20), and gives the principles for organization, operation, purpose, doctrine, calling,  and promise of a church which is built by Him and which is under Him alone; 3. Each local church, and each member of each local church, is a steward of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1), one mystery of the church (Ephesians 3); 4.  God ordained local, autonomous, New Testament churches to be spiritual entities subject to and controlled by the Lord Jesus Christ, according to His word  (Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 4); 5. God gave churches spiritual, heavenly, and eternal powers, within jurisdictional boundaries which He set out; ​6. God instructs all members of His churches, first, to love Him with hearts, soul, minds and strength; and second to love their neighbor as themselves and to be ideal temporal citizens who will honor civil and criminal laws which conform with second table of the Ten Commandments (those commandments which deal with man 's relationship to man) (see, e.g., Romans 13: 8-14); ​7. Members of a church who commit a crime  or encroach upon the life, liberty, or property of others are not exempt from temporal jurisdiction of the God-ordained earthy civil government wherein they reside. God gave civil government the authority to punish and/or require restitution by evil doers. According to the Holy King James Bible, Gentile civil governments (all civil governments except Israel) are not to establish a religion (combine with a church or religion) and exercise  thereby authority over, with, or under the church. Civil government has no God-given authority over New Testament/ First Amendment churches. Nor are churches to exercise authority over, under, or with civil government. Some churches, contrary to the  principles of the New Testament, and contrary to the First Amendment and corresponding state constitutional provisions, willingly submit themselves to civil government by incorporating, by obtaining  Internal Revenue Code § 501(C)(3) or § 508(c)(1)(A) status or by becoming legal entities of various kinds and by various means. State non- profit incorporation law permits church incorporation; but also grants freedom of religion and conscience to those churches and believers who choose to be under Jesus Christ and Him alone. God gave civil government jurisdiction over temporal, worldly, fleshly matter. God gave New  Testament churches jurisdiction over eternal, heavenly, spiritual matters; ​8. The earmarks of a New Testament church include: 1) Its Head and Founder- CHRIST. He is the lawgiver; the Church is only the executive, (Matthew 16:18; Colossians 1:18.) 2) Its only rule of faith and practice- THE BIBLE. (2 Timothy 3:15-17.) 3) Its name-"CHURCH','CHURCHES." (Matthew 16:18; Revelations 22:16.)  4) Its polity- CONGREGATIONAL- all members equal. (Matthew 20:24-28; Matthew 23: 5-12.) 5) Its members- only saved people. (Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Peter 2:5.) 6) Its ordinances- BELIEVER'S BAPTISM, FOLLOWED BY THE LORD'S SUPPER.(Matthew 28:19-20.)   7) Its officers- PASTORS AND DEACONS. (1 Timothy 3:1-16.) 8) Its work- Glorifying God, witnessing unto Christ to those in the world (Acts 1:8), baptizing them into the local    church (with a baptism that meets all the requirements of God's word), teaching them "to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you"(discipling them) (Matthew 28:16-20.) 9) Its financial plan- Gifts to God by the members of the church tp be used for God-ordained purposes as laid out in the Bible. For example, "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:14.)    10) Its weapons of warfare- spiritual not carnal.  (2 Corinthians 10:4; Ephesians 6:10-20.)  11) Its independence- Separation of Church and State. (See, e.g., Matthew 22:21.) 9. A New Testament church is to have a pure relationship the Lord Jesus Christ only and that union with any other entity is spiritual fornication; 10. A New Testament church united with the Lord Jesus Christ only cannot act legally in any way, since doing so would require the church to be a  temporal, worldly, fleshly entity united with and under the authority of civil government for many purposes, as opposed to an eternal, heavenly,  spiritual, entity subject to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone.