And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47
From Scripture, we can see that a local church gathers for three primary purposes:
- Biblical worship
- Mutual edification
- Partnership in the gospel
We want these three purposes to define the focus of our ministry as a church.
Biblical Worship – Glorifying God Together
Since God is supreme in all things, then worship should be the defining feature and the supreme purpose of a local church. We have been redeemed for this purpose – that our hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:12-14). Therefore, the members of our church aim to do everything in a spirit of worship towards God (Acts 2:47; Romans 15:6-7; 1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:17).
But, to worship God in Spirit and truth, a local church must seek to worship God according to His Word. For it is God, and God alone, who defines how we are to worship him. Therefore, when we gather for worship, we intend for the Bible alone to regulate and shape all the elements, content, and forms of our worship. In practical terms, this means that when we gather for worship, we gather to read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible displayed in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:38-39, 42; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Col. 2:11-12; 3:16; Eph. 5:19; 1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2).
Our corporate worship gatherings are the heart of our life together as a church. We meet each Sunday, Lord willing, for our main worship gathering at 10:30am at 4123 Silent Grove Rd. in Springdale, AR.
Mutual Edification – Equipping & Building Each Other Up in Christ
It’s also clear from Scripture that mutual edification is another primary purpose for gathering as a local church. The gifts given to the individual members of a local church, by the Holy Spirit, are given to build up the body as a whole (Rom. 14:19; 1 Cor. 14:12, 26; Eph. 4:12). Furthermore, God intends for the local church to be the means by which his people grow up into maturity and increase in knowledge, love, and holiness (Col. 2:1-6; Eph. 4:11-19; 1 Thess. 5:11). It is also through the ministry of the local church that Christians are trained and equipped to teach and serve others with the gospel.
To that end, we aim to spend time, energy, and resources on ministry efforts that serve to effectively equip and build up our members in the gospel.
We seek to do this in a number of ways:
- Through our main worship gathering – through reading, singing, praying, and preaching we aim to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.
- Through equipping classes (Sunday School) – these classes usually meet at 9:30am on Sunday mornings.
- Through our monthy evening services – about once a month we gather in the evenings to fellowship together, pray together, hear ministry updates, and more.
- Encouraging our members to meet in small groups and in one-to-one discipleship relationships.
- Through a family-integrated approach to discipleship and ministry – we encourage families to disciple one another and for parents to have their young ones (preschool and up) with them in our services.
Gospel Partnership – Serving, Supporting, & Sending
The Great Commission shows us that the partnership in the gospel should be an essential goal of our life and ministry together. Jesus has uniquely commanded and authorized the local church to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the triune God (Matt. 28:18-20). The rest of the New Testament shows us that the gospel must always be of first importance to our life and mission and that we should labor, in love, to partner with other faithful churches, ministries, and Christians for the spread of the gospel (Acts 8:12; 10:42; 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 15:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:20; Rom 1:15-16; Col 1:5-6; 1:28; 4:3; 3 John).
We seek to do this in a number of ways:
- We encourage our members to engage those around them with the gospel as they go about their daily lives at work, school, and in the community. We also encourage our members to serve others and to live in such a way that the truth of the gospel is commended by our lives as followers of Christ.
- Serving cyclists during the biannual Square 2 Square ride on the Razorback Greenway trail (which runs in front of our building).
- We maintain a number of growing gospel partnerships through which we support the work of missions, evangelism, and church planting.
- SBC Cooperative Program
- Individual global missions partners