Who
is the Douglass Hills church of Christ?
The Christians who make up the Douglass Hills church are people from all
walks of life who sincerely want to follow God.
When asked about who we are religiously, we customarily answer that we are
Christians, disciples of Jesus. We respond this way because that is the answer
the followers of Jesus in the New Testament would have given (Acts 11:26;
26:28).
The identity we feel as simply Christians comes from a determination to follow
the teachings of Christ as found in the New Testament and to avoid the religious
parties and creeds that have arisen. We are convinced that the only way to
truly follow Jesus is to stay securely within what He and His apostles taught
and practiced as revealed in the Scriptures (1 Peter 4:11).
We have each become Christians by the simple process of doing what men and
women in the New Testament did to become disciples. We have believed and
confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and, repenting of our
past sins, have yielded our lives to Him by being baptized in His name for
the remission of sins (Mark 16:15-16; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16;
Romans 6:3-4; Acts 8:34-39).
Just like the early Christians, we have joined ourselves together as a local
church of Christ, and of God (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 11:16), under
the leadership of godly men in the congregation called elders (also called
bishops or pastors) (Acts 14:23; 20:17, 28; 1 Timothy 3:1-7) and served by
special servants of the church called deacons (Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy
3:8-13).
As a church belonging to Jesus Christ,we are guided in what we do by the
Lord’s word. On Sunday, the day when the Lord was raised from the dead,
we assemble to eat the Lord’s Supper in memory of His death (Acts 2:42;
20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). On this day, we come together to hear, learn
and encourage one another in the word of God (Hebrews 10:24-25) and to worship
and praise God in spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:18-19). It is our purpose
to be known as His disciples by the love we have for each other (John 13:34-35)
and by the obedient and reverential love we have for Him and our Father (John
14:15; 1 John 5:3).
As individual Christians, we feel the need to live a life that is Christ-like—in
our families, at our work place, and in all of life’s daily experiences
(Colossians 3). In our work together as a church, we simply follow the approved
biblical pattern of the New Testament churches which occupied themselves
in: 1) training every disciple to spiritual maturity and to full usefulness
in the service of God (Ephesians 4:11-16) through the teaching of God and
vital worship together, 2) preaching the gospel locally and sending out and
supporting preachers in other places of the world (1 Corinthians 8:14; Philippians
4:14-16; 2 Corinthians 11:8), and 3) caring for the needs of poor Christians
(Acts 4:34-35; 11:29-30). All the money that the church needs to carry out
its work is obtained by the free will giving of the members in a collection
taken each Sunday (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
Visitors are welcome at each worship service and Bible study sessions. Come
and be with us. We think you will find a friendly congregation dedicated
to following the examples and teachings of Christ in the New Testament.
