Christ Covenant Community Church Hendersonville NC Reformed Baptist Church

Our Purpose:  To display the infinite beauty of God in all things by exalting the supremacy of Christ for the joy of all nations.

What does this mean?  We have experienced God’s love, beauty, mercy and perfect goodness very richly, most of all through the forgiveness he extends to us through Jesus.  We want to live in such a way that everyone can see God’s qualities displayed, so that more and more people can experience His wonderful love, beginning in Hendersonville and spreading around the world!

What does this look like?  We work together to understand God through His word, and to honor Him by putting it into practice in our lives.  When we meet together, we praise God for His mercy and goodness.  We pray with each other and for each other, sharing our joys and struggles.  Since Jesus has taken the punishment for our sins, we seek to grow in holiness, living as He did.  Because God has shown us so much love, we strive to pour out His love to each other in practical ways, living out the family of God.  We also work to bless our community by serving those in need and bringing others the Good News they need to hear.

 For a more specific and formal explanation of our mission, vision and characteristics, you can continue reading here.  What we would most enjoy, however, is if you would come and visit us sometime soon!

Our Mission: We exist to glorify God by proclaiming the Word of God and evangelizing the nations, by discipling and educating the children of God, by promoting fellowship among the people of God, by developing service and ministry as the body of Christ, and by organizing worship for the Lord Jesus Christ that our joy may be full.

Our Vision: To be a healthy historic Southern Baptist church in the spirit and tradition of the founders of our denomination while continually conforming to the image of Christ by the Word of God.

Since Christ Covenant Community Church exists to glorify God by enjoying Him forever, we will fulfill this mission by:

• Proclaiming the whole counsel of God’s written Word (Acts 20:27)
• Evangelizing the unreached peoples of the world (Romans 10:14-15)
• Discipling believers in the historic Christian faith (Jude 3)
• Educating disciples in biblical and theological studies ( 1 Tim.3:15)
• Defending the Christian worldview from secular attack ( 1 Pet. 3:15)
• Serving the community with compassion and humility (Jn. 13:35)
• Ministering to all burdened and suffering neighbors (Lk. 4:18)
• Fellowshipping with all true Christian Brethren (1 Cor. 10:16-17)
• Worshipping the only living and true Triune God (Jn. 4:24)
• Delighting in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ! (Phil.3:7-11)

Our Distinctives:

• God-centered Theology and In-depth Bible Study (Acts 17:11)
• Christ-centered Expositional Preaching and Teaching (2 Tim 4:2)
• Nouthetic Counseling established in the Sufficiency of Scripture (Col 3:16)Covenantal Emphasis of Redemptive History as Revealed in Scripture (Heb 8:8-13)
• Unity and Order through a Structured Constitution (1 Cor 14:40)
• Accountability through a Confession, Covenant, and Loving Discipline (Matt 18:15-20)
• Scripturally-Regulated Worship of the Triune God with Joyful Reverence (Lev 10:1-3)
• Congregational Polity Led by a Plurality of Local Elders with Parity (1 Pet 5:1-3)
•  Loving and Compassionate Fellowship to Edify Burdened Members (1 Thess. 2:7-8)
• Non-Manipulative, Spirit-Dependent Evangelism (Acts 13:48)
• Global Missions in Joyful Obedience to the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20)

We also believe in maintaining unity with God’s covenant people throughout redemptive history by identifying with the one, holy, universal, and apostolic church preserved throughout all ages.

We agree with the Protestant Reformers that the marks of a true Christian church must include, first, the sound and faithful preaching of God’s written Word, second, the proper administration of the two holy ordinances instituted by Christ (Christian baptism and The Lord’s Supper), and third, the consistent exercise of biblical church discipline.

We affirm “the five solas” of the Protestant Reformation as essential to our identity and foundational for our church: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fida (Faith Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be the Glory).

Everyone is eagerly welcomed to our services, since the family of God is not limited by race, color, income or personal history. We are eager that our congregation would reflect the cultural diversity that we see in the book of Revelations, where people of every language and nation worship God in unity. We also offer God’s love to those of any background; there is no sin or lifestyle that God cannot forgive and redeem.

Week to week, we have all kinds of people in our small congregation, and we seek to show love to all. Some grew up in the faith, while most came to Christ as adults. Every member is another example of the truth that God can save anyone, no matter how “messed up” they are.

We are not perfect, and we don’t pretend to be, but God’s perfection is the goal we are striving towards together.

Come as you are. We welcome you to join us as we seek God together.

Our goal is that every service brings honor to God by helping people to see Him more clearly and praise Him with more depth, reverence and joy.

To do this, we blend both ancient and modern elements, always trying to keep the service fresh and sincere. We often adjust the order of service to avoid stale routine, but we always look to the Bible as our guide.

Our Sunday services usually contain the following elements; click on each one to learn more:

• Call To Worship
• Prayer
• Singing
• Scripture Reading
• Sermon
• Communion
• Corporate Confessions and Readings
• Community Dinner After Service

Call to Worship

One of the members reads a passage of scripture intended to inspire, encourage and remind us to worship. Sometimes there is also a verbal response from the congregation. The call is different each week, pointing our minds and hearts towards the Creator.

Prayer

Since the goal of our service is to draw closer to God, we honor Him frequently in prayer. We ask Him to reveal Himself through His word as it is read and preached. We ask Him to send the Holy Spirit in power to renew our hearts, elevating our souls as we worship. We plead with Him on behalf of the problems of the world, that He would show His mercy, love and justice, and that he would prepare and send out His church to accomplish His work.

A variety of members pray during the service, prayers worshiping God for who He is, thanking Him for what He has done, repenting of and confessing our sins, and asking Him to act mightily in our lives and around the world.

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Singing

We enjoy praising God through a variety of traditional hymns and modern worship songs. The goal of singing is to honor God and elevate our spirits towards Him, adoring who He is and what He does. We refer to this here as singing, rather than worship, because we believe that every element of the service is worship–prayers, singing, preaching, reading and communion.

Believing that our focus must be on praising God rather than pleasing our own tastes, we focus more on the content of the songs than on the musical style. All of our songs are chosen with the philosophy that a good song lifts our emotions towards God first by the truth of the lyrics, and then by the melodies and music.

Our musicians use piano, guitars and percussion to lead the congregation in singing.

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Scripture Reading

Because we believe that God speaks to us through His word, we make Bible reading a prominent part of our services. A variety of members take turns week to week, usually reading one chapter of the Old Testament. Sometimes we read it with some commentary and explanation, striving to understand the whole of God’s word as it applies to our lives. Other times we just read the text without comment and ask God that His Spirit would give us understanding and help us apply it.

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Sermon

Each week in our service, the sermon is a significant part of our worship. The teaching elder reads a passage from the Bible and explains it thoroughly, but the sermon is not a lecture. The sermon is a time of instructing our minds by the truth, and applying that truth to our hearts and lives. The sermon teaches what a passage means within the context of the whole Bible, and through the work of God’s Spirit, it does three basic things:

• Shows us our need for God, because we can’t save or change ourselves
• Brings us to Christ, who cleanses us of sin and sends His Spirit to change us
• Teaches us how to live as we should, loving God and loving others

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Communion

In some ways, celebrating the Lord’s Supper is the centerpiece, or culmination, of our service. We celebrate this beautiful sacrament each week, using it as a time of reflection, repentance, healing and restoration. None of us are worthy to take the bread and wine, yet Jesus invited us to it. In these elements we see the righteous judgement of God meet the mercy of God; we are broken, and we are healed.

In the bread we see the broken body of Christ, bearing the penalty of sin so that we don’t have to. In the wine, we see Jesus’ blood that was shed to create a new covenant–a new promise–that we will be made new and live forever with Him in paradise. Rather than just merely observing and remembering, we eat the bread, dipped in the wine, to participate more fully in what Jesus did for us.

Because we believe that this celebration is a solemn and weighty privilege, we ask that each one seriously examine his or her conscience before participating. It is only for those who recognize their absolute need of God and rely on Christ for salvation.

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Corporate Confessions and Readings

Each week we read aloud together various texts. This is much more than empty ritual or dry recital; this is another aspect of worship, another way to express our faith in community. Together, we make prayers of repentance in this way. We also read from historic creeds, confessions and catechisms together.

As we speak out these truths, we seek to do so with conviction and enthusiasm, reminding ourselves and each other of the solemn, glorious and joyful truths that we believe.

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Community Dinner

Each week we share a meal together after the morning service. This is a sweet and joyful time when we build deep, genuine relationships and share our lives. Even this is a form of worship, as we live out God’s command to love one another, care for one another, encourage one another, and so on.

We ask everyone who attends regularly to contribute to this meal by bringing a dish to share with others. Of course, cleaning up is also a community project!

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