We are the Hill Street Church of Christ and we would like to share with you who we are and what we believe. Our understanding of ourselves and the truth about God is always imperfect, and it is to Jesus that we point you and not to ourselves. We all are on a journey of discovery. However, here are some of our beliefs and how we came to believe them.
Our Beliefs
We believe in God the Creator
of the earth, the heavens and the universe. We believe in the Father, in Jesus Christ,
His only Son, our Lord and Savior and in the Holy Spirit.
We believe Jesus was conceived
of the Holy Spirit, born of Mary, a virgin. We believe He was betrayed by some
of the Jews, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
On the third day He arose again, defeating death.
He ascended into heaven and
sits at the right hand of God the Father, and He will come again to take those
who love and trust Him, to be with Him for all of eternity, and to judge the
living and the dead.
We believe in The Holy
Spirit, the church universal, the communion of God’s people, the forgiveness of
sins, the resurrection of the body, and everlasting life.
One of the first things you will notice is that our singing is entirely congregational and we do not use instruments. We do so because of our convictions about worship. First, we believe that worship is to involve the participation of the whole church as much as possible. Second, worship honors the historical traditions of our past, including the Restoration tradition of unaccompanied singing and the tradition of the Christian church for the first several centuries of Christian worship. It is a tradition we honor, believe in, and love. We hope you will come to love it too. We believe that God works through songwriters in every age to provide us with worshipful and thoughtful songs, and we attempt to blend traditional and contemporary hymns to the glory of God.
Our History
We are a Church of Christ. We base our name off of Paul’s writing in Romans 16:16, “The churches of Christ greet you.” What we mean is we are a church that belongs solely to Jesus Christ. We want to own no other name but Christ's, and, as much as possible, to be like the early church in organization, teaching, faith, and zeal.
While realizing that any attempt to become a church belonging to Christ will involve imperfection and human struggle, it is our earnest desire to be as close to the church Christ built as we can. We do not claim perfect understanding of the Bible, but we do long to be a church that belongs to Christ and is maturing in Him in every way. We, like other Churches of Christ, have no denominational organization which we are accountable to. We have elders, deacons, and ministers to lead us; but we believe all Christians are called to be ministers of Jesus according to their spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit
The proclaiming of the good news of the gospel of Christ is an element of our worship. Preaching is an opportunity to proclaim Jesus through the Old and New Testament texts. The primary objective of preaching is instructional and also experiential. Our classes provide in-depth examination and instruction in Scripture. The objective of preaching is to help you hear and apply the word of God to your life.
We believe that every Christian is given abilities and gifts by God for ministry. Ministry may include traditional services such as leadership, preaching, teaching children, serving the sick, or hospitality. Ministries also may be non-traditional and build upon the passion and interests God has given you. Ministry is done in every context in which the Christians find themselves, from the office to home to church. It is our desire to serve God and serve others in the ministry God has given us for service in the church and the world.
Our Worship
We seek to praise a glorify God with our worship. We believe that God is present in our worship and eagerly anticipates our praises. Our worship, though thoughtfully planned, is intentionally simple. It is not our goal to entertain, but it is our goal to fully give ourselves in body, mind, and heart to worship God. Our worship will consist of prayers to God, an offering, the reading of Scripture, praise through singing, and the Lord's Supper.
Supper
Each Sunday we share in the Lord's Supper. Jesus instituted this meal with His disciples on the night of His arrest as part of the Passover meal. Taking of the unleavened bread and "fruit of the vine" in remembrance of our Lord is His command and gift to us. In eating the Lord’s Supper regularly, we have an opportunity for communion with our Lord and one another, an opportunity for reflection and an opportunity to remember the death of Jesus Christ for us until He returns
The process of conversion to Christ is the beginning point of your Christian journey. We believe salvation is by the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Once you trust Him, you will confess Jesus as Lord. We believe that baptism is the central event by which we demonstrate our trust, participate in the death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, and contact His saving power. The gift of The Holy Spirit is given at baptism. Following New Testament, we practice adult immersion baptism only. Baptism is the beginning point of a journey of discipleship whereby we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ as we strive to be more like Him.