I’m New
Members wear no name but Christian. Yet we do not claim to have attained to everything this name represents. We recognize our weakness, but rely upon His strength. We are a divine-human fellowship. Our humanity is subject to error, but our divine Head judges, chastens and redeems us, and sends us out to help establish His Kingdom upon the earth by serving others and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom.
We are not an organic part of any denomination, though we recognize a special closeness to other churches of Christ. We are, however, free to study, teach and work as our conscience directed by the Bible leads us. We deplore the division in the church today and pray for the time when all professed Christians may confess their sins and find a new and deeper unity in Christ, that the death of our Lord may completely break down all our walls, and the world will believe that God sent him.
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 listening. Our giving is liberal, symbolic of the dedication of all that we have and are. The entire worship program is planned, but not rigid.
Entrance into this assembly is by baptism or transfer of membership. Those not Christians are taught to believe in Christ with their whole heart, to repent of their sins, to confess their faith in Jesus and to be baptized into union with Him for the forgiveness of their sins and the reception of the Holy Spirit. Since believers alone are baptized, we do not practice infant baptism. And as baptism instituted by Jesus and practiced by the early church was immersion, we follow that practice today. Thus baptism truly symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as this becomes to the penitent believer his burial of the former sinful self and resurrection to new life in Christ.
We do not exist 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. We pray the Father for more workers here that we may serve Him better and His children more.
Our marching orders are the Lord’s world-wide commission. Christ is our only creed and the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice. Our hope is the building of His world-wide kingdom and the resurrection of the dead. Our message is “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5