What Should A Church Be?
At Redeemer Bible Church, we want to be the kind of church that does the following things:
- We will seek to live lives of holiness and war against personal sin. When we sin, we will confess it to God, and when necessary, others.
- We will regularly attend services and take communion.
- We will use our spiritual gifts for the edification of the body.
- We will pray for one another.
- We will contribute our time and treasure to the support the Lord’s ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
- We will do good to one another out of a sincere Christian love for our brothers and sisters.
- We will provoke each other to love and good works.
- We will serve one another and show each other hospitality.
- We will speak the truth to one another in love.
- We will bear one another’s burdens.
- We will defer to one another, not imposing legalism on a brother’s freedom, nor stumbling a brother’s conscience.
- We reject all divisiveness and will earnestly strive for true peace and unity with all other members.
- We will attempt to resolve problems with one another in a Biblical manner.
- We will pray for and respect the Elders of the Church, and submit to the decisions of the Elders of the Church that comport with the Scriptures.
What Should a Church Do?
Our Elders also make a commitment:
- The Elders acknowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ will require an accounting of our service and we therefore covenant to provide good governance in keeping with the Scriptures, that we will rightly divide the Word of Truth, that we will protect the Lord’s flock, that we will give careful, Scriptural, and prayerful oversight to all matters brought before us, setting an example to the Members in fulfilling our responsibilities, and lovingly shepherding the Members towards spiritual maturity.
To that end, we are committed to the Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.
- Expository Preaching. We believe that sermons should ordinarily take the main point of a passage of Scripture and show how it applies to our lives today.
- Biblical Theology. We are committed to true theology as articulated in our Teaching Statement.
- The Gospel. We are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that man is to repent and believe the Gospel - that Jesus is God the Son in human flesh, who died for us, who rose again, and
- Conversion. We believe that as the Holy Spirit draws us and enables us, we repent from our lives of sin and false sources of hope. Thus, the Holy Spirit regenerates and gives spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead.
- Evangelism. We believe that each believer is individually called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ's deity, death, and resurrection to unbelievers.
- Membership. We believe that God intends for believers to join and be meaningfully involved with a local church regularly attending and serving in that church. We believe church members should follow the leadership of the church insofar as that leadership follows the Word of God.
- Discipline. We are committed to foster spiritual growth and holy living through the church's regular teaching ministry, members' informal interactions encouraging one another, and where necessary, by obeying the Bible's commands about formally correcting unrepentant sin among our members.
- Discipleship. We are committed to help each member grow towards greater Christlikeness through the ministries of the local church and as we walk together in life.
- Leadership. We believe the head of the Church is Jesus Christ who mediates His rule through His word. We believe that a plurality of Godly, Biblically qualified men should implement God's Word and shepherd the local church under the greater leadership of Jesus.
