About us

Welcome again to our website.  HBBC is a vibrant Haitian church serving God and God’s people in Somerville, Massachusetts.  We are located two blocks from the Davis Square red line station and about three miles from the Boston city line.  At HBBC you will come to discover how great God really is to those who truly love Him, and how gracious and merciful He is to those who humble themselves before Him and remain faithful to Him.  We have learned to know Him in every detail of our lives.  As John put it: ‘We have seen His glory…’ (John 1:14).
If we have come so far with Him, it is by faith and faith alone.  It is said in Romans 1:17: ‘The just shall live by faith’.  And in Hebrews 11:6: ‘And without faith it is impossible to please Him”  If you are looking for a spiritual family with whom to share your faith and you have not found one yet, you are welcome to join us and be a part of a great history.  The rest of our website will tell you more about us.

OUR HISTORY

The Holy Bible Baptist Church (HBBC) is a vibrant, faith-filled, and Christ-centered community.  From the humblest and tiniest of beginnings, we are today a dynamic and growing congregation.  We know that we have not finished our spiritual journey.  We yearn to do more and we hunger to do more.

On July 1, 1985, Rev. Dieudonné Raymond and Sister Claire Rose decided to seek God’s wisdom in prayer for some difficult matters. They prayed for forty days.  To believers, a period of forty days is symbolic and sacred.  It is a time of yearning and seeking, a time of testing and learning to wait on God. It is a time to pray without ceasing.  At the end of the forty days, they did not get the answers they expected.  However, they were convinced that a new mission work was to be planted in the Boston area, although Rev. Raymond’s plan was to pursue his seminary education before he could pastor a church.  Six months later, along with Mrs. Yolene Raymond, the Pastor’s wife, sister Denise Louidor and his son Luc, sister Gretch Horatius, little Diny Raymond and Eunice Belacy and many more, they, by the grace of God, gave birth to what we call today: The Holy Bible Baptist Church.

On February 16, 1986, they started that journey very small with merely seventeen worshipers in total.  They met in the living room of Pastor Raymond’s Cambridge apartment.  Though small in number, they were a faithful, devoted, and ardent congregation, holding two services on Sunday and meeting during the week for Bible study and prayer.  However, they were able to meet in the Pastor’s apartment for only three months.

On May 19, 1986, Rev. Raymond received a formal notice from his landlord, ordering him to cease having church services in his apartment or else face eviction.  Pastor Raymond and his congregation began a period of intense prayer that week asking the Lord to show him the way. And He did. On Friday of that same week, the Lord put in his heart to go knocking at the door of the New England Baptist Church in Medford Square. Gladly and without hesitation, they opened their doors on Sunday May 25, 1986 to the fledgling congregation, sharing her space of worship with themfor the next nine years.  Rev. Thomas Michael will forever be remembered in the HBBC’s history.

On the 3rd Sunday of September 1986, the Holy Bible Baptist Church was formally constituted as an incorporated institution.  On that day, they began their journey as a pilgrim people, en route together to fulfill the mission to spread the good news of the Gospel and God’s goodness to all mankind.

The Church grew rapidly during the early 1990s.  In October 1989 the first choir was established with thirty members strong.  In May 1990, the HBBC Women’s Association was established.  In November 1992, the HBBC Youth Association was founded and, in December of that year, the Men’s Association was established.

By late 1994, the original congregation of 17 members had grown to 120 members and it was clear that it was again time to seek a larger worship space.  At that time, St. Paul Evangelical Church of Somerville was building a new church in Lexington and needed a suitable buyer for their old premises.  On March 8, 1995, the sale of St. Paul Evangelical Church was finalized and the Holy Bible Baptist Church acquired the property.  Once again the congregation moved, this time to 45 College Avenue in Somerville.
The move to Somerville proved to be a very blessed one for the Church where it has fostered tremendous growth to the point where HBBC had to hold two services on Sunday morning since 2004.  By 2009, the congregation had grown to about 500 members and is still growing.  Now the place has become significantly too small to accommodate HBBC’s expanding membership.
Throughout her history, the Holy Bible Baptist Church has remembered the significant periods of its spiritual journey.  Each year, the third week in September is set aside as the Anniversary Week, commemorating the incorporation of the Church.  Also each year, from July 1 to August 9, this spiritual community joins together for forty days of prayer to commemorate the 1986 founding of the Church.  During that time, the church comes before the Lord with all kinds of prayers and requests (Eph.6:18) followed by thanksgivings and praise for all the things He has done and He is going to do.

OUR FAITH

The Scriptures

We believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the written Word of God, and the supreme and sole authority of Christian faith and practice. The Scriptures were originally given through the Holy Spirit by plenary verbal inspiration, infallibly true and free of errors.

The Nature of God

We believe the only true and living God is a triune God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, the Creator and Ruler of all things. The Lord Jesus-Christ is the Son of God, equally divine and eternal with the Father, and is also the Son of Man, truly human but without sin. The Holy Spirit is a person, one with Father and Son in the Godhead, whose work is to glorify God in Christ, convicting men of sin and regenerating those who believe in Him.

The Nature of Man

We believe all things were created and are sustained by God; man in particular was created for the purpose of mutual love and fellowship between him and his Creator. The account of creation in Genesis is a true and historical record which reveals that man came from direct creation of God and not by any process of evolution. Though created in the image of God, man willfully sinned against God, bringing sin and death into the world.

The Work of Christ

We believe the Eternal Son became flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of the Virgin Mary by miraculous conception. He lived a sinless human life, perfectly fulfilling the divine law, and then offered himself as a sacrifice for the sin of every man. He died on the Cross, shedding his precious blood, in full substitution and atonement for the sin of all men everywhere. He was buried, and on the third day He arose bodily from the dead, alive forevermore. He later ascended bodily into heaven where, at the right hand of the Father, He now continually intercedes on behalf of those who put their trust in Him.

Salvation

We believe man is utterly unable to save himself from the power or penalty of sin. Each man must be saved wholly on the basis of the work Christ has done in dying for our sins and rising for our justification. This salvation is attained by simple faith in Jesus-Christ as Son of God and personal Savior and is received instantly. Salvation thus includes deliverance from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin in one’s life and ultimately from the presence of sin in heaven with God.

The Church

We believe in ultimate sense that the Church of Christ is composed of all who have been saved and will be with Him in heaven. Each local church should be organized for the purpose of effective witness to the unsaved; for baptizing, teaching, exhorting, and edifying those who are saved; for Christian fellowship among the brethren; and for united praise and worship of God through song, testimony, prayer, and frequent observance of the Lord’s Supper as ordained by Christ.

The Promised Return of Christ

We believe in the imminent return of the Lord Jesus-Christ. We cannot know the date of His coming; but every Christian should live in earnest expectation of His coming at any time. When He comes in the air, all believers both living and dead will be caught up to meet Him, receiving their resurrection bodies, and will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, not for salvation but for rewards. The coming of Christ will also be associated with a period of judgment and great tribulation on the earth, in which the wrath of God will be poured out on unsaved men because of their rejection of God and His Christ.

The Last Things

We believe, following the millennium, the unsaved dead will be raised, judged according to their works, and separated forever from God in the lake of fire. Satan will also be consigned forever to the lake of fire.

OUR VISION

That we may serve and serve always to the praise of His glory and His glory alone (Eph.1:12).

OUR MISSION

• To proclaim the name and the glory and the love of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ through true worship and praise;
• To teach and to preach the Word of God in season and out of season for the perfecting of the saints and the edification of the body of Christ;
• To bring the good news of salvation to the lost so that they may come to repentance and be saved;
• To make every effort to practice love, mercy, forgiveness, unity of the Spirit and understanding toward one another as Jesus commands us.

Service Hours

SUNDAY: WORSHIP SERVICES: 10:30AM AND 6:30PM – SUNDAY SCHOOL: 9:00AM
TUESDAY: PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY: 6:30PM
WEDNESDAY: HOME PRAYER SERVICE: 7:00PM
THURSDAY: EVANGELISM

Upcoming Events
31 Decembre:Service d'action de grace
1er Janvier:Jeune de Priere (6am-6pm)