WHO ARE WE?

This congregation is a group of people drawn together by a common faith in Jesus Christ for worship and service. It is a free fellowship, in that only those are members of it who choose to be. Its members wear no name but that of Christian. Yet we do not claim to have attained to everything this name represents.

We are a free, independent, self-governing congregation under Christ alone as Head, with no denominational affiliation or earthly headquarters, though we recognize a particular closeness to other Churches of Christ. We are free to study, teach, and work as our conscience, directed by the Bible leads us. We deplore the denominational divisions of today and pray for the time when all professed Christians shall divest themselves of all humanly devised barriers and come into the unity of the faith that is in Christ.

We carry on our work and worship as we understand the Scriptures to teach. According to apostolic precedent, we celebrate the Lord's Supper each Lord's day. Our music is the praise of our lips without mechanical accompaniment. Our prayers, largely spontaneous, are intended for power, and not just as a part of the program. The proclamation of the word of God is given a prominent place, for we believe that in Christian worship God always speaks, and that we must be attuned to hear.

Our giving is liberal and proportionate, symbolic of the dedication of all that we have and are. The entire worship program is planned, but not rigid.

Acceptance into the congregation is by baptism or by transfer of membership of a baptized believer from another congregation. Those not Christians are taught to believe in Jesus Christ with the whole heart, to repent of their sins, confess their faith in the Lord, and be buried with Christ in baptism for the remission of their sins, just as men were taught to do in New Testament times. Baptizing believers alone, we do not practice infant baptism. And, as baptism instituted by Jesus and practiced by the early Church was immersion, symbolizing both the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and the death of the believer of self and sin, his burial of the old man, and his resurrection to new life, that is our practice also.

We do not exist merely for selfish purposes, but to follow Him who came to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. To the extent we can, we help in mission work and benevolence.

Our marching orders are the Lord's worldwide commission. Our hope is His everlasting Kingdom and the resurrection of the dead. Our message is "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2)