Vision: On Dec. 19, 2000 The Holy Spirit gave Charles (Chuck) Skeen a vision of the local church at Lampasas, Texas. He saw 16 small groups of about 20 – 40 folks gathered together in the park meeting in fellowship, communion, and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to him saying “This is My church and I am returning all of My church to its intended Way.” So Brother Chuck started searching the Scriptures for ‘The Way’ that the Spirit was speaking of to him. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles is the ‘genesis’ of the church as laid out by the Lord Jesus in His gospels. The Letters or Epistles that make up the majority of the New Testament concern the LIFE, Government, and Ministries the Lord has ordained for the church in this age. It is from this premise that we establish our foundation for the life and work of the church.
There are others who have joined us in this work and ministry and life of our local church establishment with much the same type of vision. Please feel free to inquire of any one of us as to this vision.
We believe and understand that the Lord Jesus Christ has established His Church based on a mission He has ordained that mission for us as revealed in Scripture and by the Holy Spirit. We also understand that the body/church is one and it is to this end that we press on to His mark for us.
Definition of the Church: the ‘called out ones’, the ‘assembly’ of the body of believers’ universal who are joined by their revelation and confession that Jesus is the Son and Christ of God our Father. (Matt. 16: 13- 19; Jn.13: 6-7; Eph. 1:23; 4:1-6; Col.1: 18; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20; 1 Peter 2: 4-10)
Definition of the church(es): the body of believers who belong to the universal body of Christ but reside in one physical location as determined by the Word of God make up the local church. (Acts 13:1; Letters to the Churches in Rev.; Heb. 10:25)
We advocate the formation of small home groups as witnessed in Acts 2:46 and the letters to the churches in the Epistles. These small groups of believers are better equipped to carry out the mission & ministry of the Life of the churches in their communities by alleviating the burden to maintain buildings and such. This allows the members of the local church to allocate the money & resources of the church on the real building of Jesus – the people of God. (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 14; Eph. 4:11-16)
Mission: The mission of the Church and churches is the same. Our first and foremost function is to win the souls of men to the salvation of Jesus Christ. We have received this commission from the Lord Jesus Himself and are enabled by God Holy Spirit to carry it out. (Lk. 4:18-19; Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15-18; Acts 1:8; 2:38-39)
Our second job is to love one another as He has loved us and to build up the Church /churches of Jesus Christ. (Jn. 13:1-10,12-17; 15: 9-17; 1 Cor. chs. 12-14; Gal. 5:22-25; Eph 4:11-16) We carry out this second part of the mission by treating one other as the Word of God commands - by meeting the needs of each other. (Matt. 26:31-40; Acts 2:43-47; 2 Cor. 9:6-15)
Our third job is to instruct each other in the Word of God to enable our growth and fruitfulness and to encourage each member to operate in his/her gifting to build up the body of Christ. We do this by founding and establishing ourselves personally and jointly on the basic doctrines of Christ as taught by the Apostles. (Acts 2: 42; 15: 23-29; Heb. 6:1-2) We are also to keep order in and among the believers as modeled in the Bible (Matt. 18: 15- 20 & the Letters to Cor.) by allowing the Holy Spirit to appoint and maintain the churches, (Acts 14: 21-24; 1 Tim. 5:22; 1 Peter 5:2-5) and to pray for one another. (Gal. 6:2 &10; Jms. 5:13-19)
Our mission is to win men to the kingdom of God by salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, to encourage them to meet together to pray, study, preach and practice the Gospel of Jesus Christ as empowered by God Holy Spirit.
Basic Doctrines of the Church(es): The word doctrine is defined as teachings of a particular group of disciples. We are Christians and so we advocate the doctrine of that is taught by Jesus and preached by His Apostles.
The basic doctrine for the church(es) can be found in Heb. 6:1-2. They are:
1. Repentance from dead works,
2. Faith in God,
3. Baptisms (yes plural- there is more than one),
4. The laying on of hands (for multiple purposes),
5. The resurrection of the dead,
6. And eternal judgment.
We believe that all further truth and doctrine and it’s revelation to the churches is built upon this foundation. We also believe that God Holy Spirit is restoring the Truth to the churches in terms of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the five-fold ministry to the body of Christ. We believe that the teaching of this doctrine to the churches will bring about the Church prepared in spirit & truth & holiness for the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
STATEMENT OF FAITH
HOME
TESTIMONY
Prophecy - What Is It Anyway?
WORDS ON FIRE
NEW MILLENNIUM CHURCHING
TREE OF LIFE MINISTRIES CATALOGUE
