The Fuquay-Varina church of Christ aspires to simple, Bible-based Christianity. This objective applies to its public worship, its work, its organization, its culture, and its understanding of what it means to be a Christian.
Biblically Focused
We believe in the infallible word of God (2 Timothy 3:16), and this is our starting place. We seek to answer every question that pertains to “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) from a biblical perspective. We are not interested in honoring religious traditions that have developed since biblical times, but always attempt to go back to the principles and precedents of the New Testament. Nor do we claim for ourselves any immunity to the pull of tradition, but try continually to examine our own character, teachings, and practices in the light of scripture. From the days of King Josiah, who restored observance of the forgotten “book of the law” (2 Kings 22: 8-13) to Christ’s own warning to those whose worship was “vain … teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15:9), we believe that God has always expected those who serve Him to be “people of the book.” Such we humbly strive to be.
Worshiping in Spirit and in Truth
We assemble together three times per week. Two of these gatherings - Sunday evening and Wednesday evening - are used primarily for Bible study purposes. Our main weekly worship assembly occurs on Sunday mornings. At this time, we meet to memorialize Christ’s death by taking the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted communion on the night before His death, and first-century churches observed it under apostolic guidance (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor.11). Visitors will also find us singing hymns of praise to God and admonition to one another, praying, and studying the Bible. We even raise our funds according to biblical precedent (1 Cor.16:1ff).
These monies are collected by free-will offerings of our members (never solicited from our visitors) and fund our collective work. This work is limited to evangelism, edification, and benevolence, since these activities are supported with New Testament precedent. We believe it our duty to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), and we seek to do so with love and tact (Col.4:6). Funds are also used for the spiritual edification of our members, and for benevolence to needy Christians.
Organized According to
the New Testament Pattern
Our organization also follows the simple pattern found in scripture. The congregation is composed of “saints … overseers, and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). Overseers (also called shepherds or elders) lead our church according to the biblical model of humble shepherd-leadership (1 Peter 5: 2,3). Their decision-making on behalf of the congregation is guided by scripture and prayerful deliberation over how to best promote the cause of Christ in our time and place. As leaders of an autonomous congregation unaffiliated with any denominational organization or network of churches, they are accountable only to the Lord’s directives and the needs of the local flock.
Living Like Jesus
Though we are certainly not perfect, we do pursue the character traits taught by Jesus and His apostles. The result of this quest is a “culture” that, we earnestly hope, follows the examples of those New Testament churches receiving guidance from the apostles. First, we try to lead lives that are truly God-centered. When Jesus was asked which commandment in the scriptures of His day was the foremost of all, He responded, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). The commandment Jesus identified as second in importance informs many of the other aspects of the church culture to which we aspire: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Hence, we emphasize kindness (Colossians 3:12), hospitality (1 Peter 4: 8,9), selfless service (Matthew 20: 25-28), and humility (Philippians 2:4ff).
Saved by God's Grace
Of course, the primary way one expresses love for Christ is to keep His commandments (John 14:21), and that begins with becoming a Christian. The religious world is distressingly divided over the question, “What must I do to be saved?” but the New Testament provides numerous examples and much teaching on this question. Believing, as the Psalmist said, that “the sum of God’s word is truth” (Psalm 119:160), we seek to answer it by consulting all biblical instruction on the topic of salvation. The most basic truth is that God’s grace makes the salvation of sinful human beings possible. We cannot earn our salvation by our own righteousness (Romans 3:10). Indeed, in our raw, sinful state we “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and are “dead” (Ephesians 2:1). The “good news” is that God has laid our iniquity upon Christ, whose love for us led Him - “as a lamb that is led to the slaughter” - to sacrifice Himself for of our sins (See Isaiah 53).
If God’s part in our salvation is grace, then humanity’s part is genuine, biblically defined faith (John 3:16: Ephesians 2:8). Real faith is not mere mental assent to message of the gospel; it involves a level of trust that leads one to comply or obey: “Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:17).
What are the actions that accompany faith - that express faith - when one accepts Christ? The apostle Paul echoed the words of Jesus when he wrote, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:9; Matthew 10:32).
Repentance: the resolution to leave sin and follow Jesus - is also part of the New Testament pattern of conversion, and therefore also necessary for salvation (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38).
Finally, in biblical history subsequent to Jesus’ crucifixion, every recorded conversion involved baptism - immersion in water for the remission of sins. Jesus had taught this in His own “great commission” prior to His ascension into heaven (Mark 16: 15,16). The book of Acts, a history of the spread of the gospel, shows that people so diverse as a Jewish multitude in the temple (Acts 2:38), an Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:36), an Italian soldier named Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48), a jailor in the Macedonian town of Philippi (Acts 16:30-34), and even the notorious persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus (Acts 22:16), all were “baptized into Christ” and thereby “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Faith, confession, repentance, and baptism - each of these is part of the biblically approved response to the message of the gospel.
All of the above conclusions, we believe, derive from the pages of scripture. If you are intrigued, or even if you disagree, visit or contact us. You will find us, like the Bereans of old, “examining the scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). We are certainly not infallible, but we believe the word of the Lord is. We are seeking people who share our desire to seek the Lord.
