What to expect when you visit the Oak Grove Church of Christ:

Often people are hesitant to visit an unfamiliar worship assembly. We want you to feel comfortable and welcome at all of our assemblies. Here is what you can expect when you visit us:

The Oak Grove Church of Christ aims to worship God in spirit and truth

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• Communion: On every Sunday we assemble to observe the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

 

• Collection for the saints: In our Sunday assembly, our members will give as they have been prospered to meet the needs of the church in teaching and benevolence. Our guests are neither asked nor expected to participate (1 Corinthians 16:1, 2).

 

• Prayer: At every assembly, we will express our thanksgiving to God, ask for His blessings, and ask for the Lord’s healing power to touch the lives of those on our prayer list (1 Timothy 2:8, Acts 2:42; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).

 

• Singing: You will find us joining together in enthusiastic congregational singing. We use a piano and sound tracks from time to time as a support to our singing. We sing to praise God and exhort one another, not for entertainment (Ephesians 5:19).

 

• Preaching and teaching: Accurate and relevant Bible teaching is an important element of our assemblies. We believe that we should have Scriptural authority for everything that we do as Christians, and as a church. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, and it is all that we use to determine our practices and beliefs (Titus 2:1-2; 2 Timothy 4:2-5).

The Mission of the Oak Grove Church of Christ

The New Testament church is a divine organization and it has a divine mission or work to do. This work is easily found in the New Testament scriptures. The work of the church is primarily spiritual in saving the souls of mankind. This work involves evangelism, edification, and benevolence (Ephesians 4:12).

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• Evangelism: The scriptures teach that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1Tim. 3: 15). Therefore, it is the church’s responsibility to take the truth, the word of God to those who are lost. For example, the church at Thessalonica sounded out the word of the Lord (1 Thess. 1:8), the church at Philippi supported the apostle Paul to preach the gospel (Phil. 4:15-16). The word of God is able to save one’s soul (Jas. 1:21). Paul wrote that the gospel was the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). This is the pattern that New Testament churches must follow today.

 

• Edification: Also, the work of the church is to edify itself in love (Eph. 4:16). We are to encourage one another and build ourselves up in the most holy faith (Heb. 10: 24-25). This is accomplished in various ways such as to study to be approved by God (2 Tim. 2: 15), growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18), continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine (Acts 2: 42), and having fervent love for one another (1 Pet. 4:8-9).

 

• Benevolence: This is also a work of the church. The early church took care of its own needy. This pattern is found in such verses as (Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:34-35; Acts 6: 1-3; Acts 11:27-30; Rom. 15:25-26; 1 Cor.16:1-2; 2 Cor. 8 and 9; and 1 Tim. 5:3-16). The church of the New Testament is self sufficient to do the work that God has assigned to it.

 

• The New Testament Church is autonomous in organization: The divine organization is found in Phil. 1:1. The local church is composed of saints, deacons, elders, and evangelists with Christ as its head (Eph. 5:23). This is the only organization known to the New Testament churches. There is no arrangement that is larger or smaller than the local congregation. Each New Testament congregation is independent and autonomous of all other congregations. These are some identifying marks of the church that Jesus built that we find in the New Testament. For any church to be identified as the Lord’s church it should have these features.