Welcome!

We see our church as a spiritual “family” committed to Jesus Christ and one another. We desire for you to feel connected here and hope our website will help. We hope you can find the information you are looking for, but we also would love to talk with you by phone, or in person, if you have more questions.

Our Vision: Transform the Heart…Transform the Home…Transform the World

Our Values: Christ-like qualities and priorities we strive for in the church and home as we seek to fulfill our mission.

Our Mission: Building mature followers of Jesus through the Church and home.

Baptism is a public declaration of your faith in Christ and your decision to live for him. This is a defining moment in your relationship with Christ, and the Church, symbolizing you are a new creation.

We believe baptism is:

• Taught by Christ as a sign of commitment to believe and follow Him – Matthew 28:19-20
• A sign of “repentance”, which means to change your mind and actions away from sin and toward Jesus – Acts 2:38
• Best experienced by total “immersion” under the water as a symbol of dying to sin and being resurrected into spirit life – Romans 6:1-6
• An outward symbol of internal faith; not necessary for salvation – Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 3:18-21

Click HERE for more information on baptism.

Join Pastor Stan Hinshaw for a small group experience designed to help you know who we are, what we value, and how we see ourselves participating in God’s mission. We want you to know how you can connect with us and join us in this adventure. This class also clarifies how we view membership at First Friends and provides you with what you need join our church family.

The next scheduled dates for Belong in 2018 are February 3, April 28, and September 29. This class will be Saturdays from 9:00 am to 11:30 am in room E-102. Childcare will be available during these classes. (You are only required to attend one of the classes.)

Call the church or email Nancy Petroff at npetroff@firstfriends.org to let us know you are coming!

We value worship by glorifying God in thought, word, action, and song.

Scripture: Psalm 86:12; Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 3:16-17

We value people with unconditional love demonstrated through authentic conversation, sacrificial service, and genuine compassion.

Scripture: John 13:34-35; 1 Thessalonians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 4:8

We value the transformational Grace displayed through our prayerful commitment to help people be restored to the Father, healed in spirit, soul and body, and reconciled to one another.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:23

We value biblical living through applied truth from scripture revealed through the Holy Spirit and lived out in a lifestyle of spiritual growth and discipleship.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 1:22

We value generosity and scriptural stewardship expressed in the generous giving of our finances, time and talents.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8-9

We value missions through outward focus on community impact in Stark County as our foundation for reaching our global community.

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20; Acts1:8

Worship is declaring God’s “worth” and is an integral part of everything we do at First Friends. Our Sunday morning worship services are designed to connect us with God in meaningful musical worship, prayer, giving, and practical biblical teaching. Each service time has a slightly different worship atmosphere but the message is the same for all services.

This service provides a more reflective and contemplative musical worship and prayer experience in addition to the message.

Nursery and Children’s Sunday School is available.

Youth Group is available.

Adult Connect Groups are available.

Join us between the two services for coffee, snacks, and fellowship.

This service also provides a celebratory worship experience designed for families to experience worship together.

Elementary age children are then invited to participate in a separate children’s church experience. Preschoolers have their own worship experience in our nursery area.

Adult Connect Groups are available.

We believe in one eternal, unchanging, personal God; perfect in holiness, wisdom, love, power, and justice; creator and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. He exists as one divine being and yet as a trinity of three distinct persons, identical, inseparable, and equal in divinity, power and eternity.

Scripture: Genesis 1:1; 26,27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:18-19; John 1:14; 6:27, 45-46, Acts 5:3-4, 2 Corinthians 2:13; 10:11, Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 5:20, 2 Peter 1:21

Jesus Christ is God revealed in human form as His Son. We believe in His conception by the Holy Spirit, virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, teachings, and that He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on the cross. He rose from the dead on the third day to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to heaven and will return again to earth to reign as Lord and King.

Scripture: Matthew 1:22-23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5; 14:10-30; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 1:3-4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14; Titus 2:13, Hebrews 4:14-15)

The Holy Spirit lives in the soul of every believer from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. He supplies conviction of sin, regeneration, sanctification, and the believer’s assurance. He produces in believers with both the “fruit of the Spirit”, and the gifts of the Spirit, so that they may grow in character and mission in the world.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13; 14:16-17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 3:16; 6:19-20, Ephesians 1:13; 5:1; Galatians 5:18, 22-25

We believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, without error in all that it affirms, and is the only infallible rule of faith and living. It is fully authoritative and trustworthy, fully sufficient for all believers now and always, and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scripture, must ever be its true interpreter.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105, 160; 12:16; Proverbs 30:5; Hebrews 1:1-2; John 5:39

We believe that God created man and woman in His own image, in order to glorify himself and enjoy His fellowship forever. Adam and Eve fell from this original state by a voluntary act of disobedience, thus suffering the immediate loss of a perfect relationship with God and making self the center of their lives. By this act, they suffered spiritual death, and sin entered the world and death by sin, so that death passed upon all.

Scripture: Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; 59:1-2; Romans 3:23; 6:23

We believe God the Father sent Jesus the Son to reconcile mankind to a relationship with himself. In response to repentance from sin, God pardons them from past sins and declares them righteous, by the atoning death of Christ. We believe that salvation is a free gift from God given to any person who puts their faith in Jesus Christ, accepting Him as Lord and Savior.

Scripture: Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; 59:1-2; Romans 3:23

The “Church” is the people of God united on mission who happen to meet in a building. Believers are united together in what the Bible calls the “Body of Christ,” of which Jesus is the head. Its purposes are to make disciples of all nations by its witness to the grace and love of God and to live as a loving community who build up one another in the grace and knowledge of God.

Scripture: Romans 12:5; I Corinthians 12:12-28; Ephesians 3:6, 4:11-16, 5:23

We believe that Heaven and Hell are both real places for human beings to exist after death and that every human being will exist for eternity either in God’s presence or separated from Him. We believe that the Biblical descriptions of Heaven and Hell are meant to give us a basic, and metaphorical, understanding of these places, but the main issue is that God has made a way for everyone to spend eternity with Him through faith in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:11; Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 2:9, 2 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25:31-34, 41,46; Revelation 21:3-5; Revelation 22:5

The Friends Church began more than three hundred years ago in England under the leadership of George Fox, a man who experienced a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and spent his life sharing this experience with others. Those early Friends (often called “Quakers”) made great contributions to the spiritual and social needs around the world, giving themselves to prison and mental institution reforms, religious freedom, Christian education, fighting slavery, and more.

Canton First Friends Church is one of 90 churches in the Evangelical Friends Churches -Eastern Region. We also partner with other Evangelical Friends Churches in North America, and worldwide, in the mission of making disciples of all nations.

For more information on the Friends Denomination visit the Evangelical Friends Easter Region (EFCER) website.