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.
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.
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.
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.is, laoreet vitae ex ullamcorper.
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.
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.
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.
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.