Quite often today the term “ministry” or “ministries” is reduced to an advertisement of what the church offers to the world. We forget that the primary One with whom we have to do is God. Far too often inquirers are taught to look at the “ministries” of a given church the same way they view a menu at a restaurant. Self-described “seeker-sensitive” churches go so far as to adjust their corporate worship to the ever-shifting tastes of a culture that largely rebels against and rejects God. We now see billboards that actually say: “Life is hard. Church shouldn’t be.”
We take a decidedly different approach. Our ministries are Word- and worship-centered. That is, they focus on the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. We give no thought at all as to how we might entertain. While we believe our people to be both warm and welcoming, the focus of the church’s ministry is the Word and the worship of the One, true, and living God.
Central to both our morning and evening services is the preaching: the exposition and application of the Scriptures. Our pastors work hard at preparing to preach. John Stott once said that “sermonettes make Christianettes” — and we want to avoid that problem.
We emphasize what is known as “consecutive expository preaching.” That means that the weekly sermons are expositions of a book of the Bible. The sermons are considered long by today’s standards (usually about 45 minutes). You can sample this part of our worship by visiting the “Sermons” page of this website. You will find many sermons available to give you a sense of the preaching we offer.
While our primary focus is on the ministries of the Lord’s Day, we have other times to get together. Every couple of months our men and boys meet at church for breakfast. And the women gather weekly for our Ladies’ Coffee. These are times of fellowship and building relationships.
Once a year we meet for our Fall Retreat. This has traditionally been on the last weekend in October and features a Reformation Day (October 31) theme. A guest speaker from one of our sister Reformed Baptist churches is invited and asked to address us on a Reformation theme.
Our ministries may sound pretty mundane by today’s standards and expectations. We, however, wouldn’t have it any other way.
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:21–24)
Please come visit us. We promise not to entertain you. We will, however, endeavor to teach you and to challenge you to live for our crucified, ascended, and enthroned Lord Jesus Christ and to be “salt and light” in the midst of a crooked and perverse culture.