by Justin
The Grove Church – Hattiesburg, MS
2:29 am in Daily Life by Justin
Today the church (GroveChurch.com) that I am a member of officially launched. It was so exciting to see 75 others worshipping God alongside me. I am a greeter whose job is to escort people from the lobby of the church, which was formerly the concession area of a movie theater, to the worship center area. I saw many new faces as well as some who have been with us since we started are “Preview Services” a few months ago. I think what has got their attention is the church’s simple focus on connecting people to God, to others, and to service. Some churches don’t do that, many churches do, but the great thing about The Grove Church of Hattiesburg, MS is that it has a plan to move people along to connect to each these goals.
The Plan
When I felt God’s leadership telling me to become part of The Grove Church as a member, the first thing I noticed was that membership meant something. If I was going to become a member, I would go through a class where we would discuss salvation through Jesus Christ, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the beliefs of the church, the church’s Southern Baptist support, and the strategic plan of the church to reach the city and world. This was such an awesome idea to me. Can you imagine how effective a church could be if all of its members were on the same page?
Part of the plan for building disciples at The Grove Church is that salvation and membership to the church is just to be seen as reaching the first base. You are expected to move on to the bases of maturity (Christian living), ministry (serving others), and then come to home plate by supporting missions (sharing Jesus with others). By sharing Jesus with others, you then lead your friends and family to salvation through Jesus and they can round the bases themselves! What a plan! What a church! I can’t wait to see all that will happen when a church that welcomes everyone truly
Children’s Ministry
Part of the church’s plan is to plant seeds of the love of God in children’s hearts. My girlfriend, Emily, helps in the nursery. She teaches the kids preschool through kindergarten three essentials: God made me, God loves me, and Jesus wants to be my friend forever. The workers who man the children’s church love on the kids in grades 1 through 6. They dig deeper into the Bible using multimedia to help memorize Bible verses, discover what God has to say, learn about the gift of salvation offered through Jesus, and how to live as a Christian.
The Worship
God is already using The Bridge in mighty ways to help his people worship Him. The Bridge is the church’s band lead by Music Pastor Jay Murphy. They play contemporary Christian music so that the believer’s can praise God and the unbeliever can relate to what is going on. Only Christians can really worship God, because they are the ones who know God through a relationship through Jesus Christ. Having contemporary music, though, helps the unbeliever to see that God is living in the 21st century. I believe that God is using many types of music around the world. I am excited to see what He will do with our praise band.
The Student Ministry
It is nice as a college student to have a shelter to run to on Wednesdays (Tuesdays for youth) after stressful days of work and class. Britt, our student and missions pastor, is doing an awesome job of helping us take the Bible and use it to show us how we can walk with Jesus today. It’s not about what you can do some day way out there when you get older. It’s about finding peace and sharing it with those around you. It’s basically an open dialogue where we can discuss matters of faith.
I don’t know if you live in the Hattiesburg, MS area, but if you do then come on by. We have our worship service for an easy hour starting at 10:30 am on Sunday. There is a children’s services going on at the same time for preschool up to 6th grade. Youth have a special Bible study just for them at 7 pm on Tuesday while College/Career and adults both have their own studies at 7 pm. I’d love to see you there!
- Justin
Are you really living?
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I was trying to figure out if a “greater” was like an “elder” or a “divine,” then I realized you meant “greeter.”
Haha, thanks. The typo has been corrected.
I know you believe that what your bible tells you is absolutely true. But, don’t you think it’s a good idea to let children make up their minds in the first years of schooling before you go telling them what to believe?
armchairantichrist, we all teach children what we believe is important to them. Us teaching them Christian principles won’t make them a Christian. To be a Christian, they must have a personal saving relationship with Christ and no matter what I say, that is between them and God when they get older. And the little ones just get some basics: God made me, God loves me, and Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
Well you can try to teach them morality without the use of the term “God”. And later if you feel that they can’t learn it without invoking God then there might be some rationality behind it. But, just openly stating religious things as if they are absolutely true seems to me to be just be straight indoctrination. They should be taught basic “logic” and “rational thinking” before being introduced to religion because the concept of God would be too much for children to understand when even many adults do not have a clue what God is.
Jesus said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Since I am a Christian, I must follow this command. If you want Christians to stop, you will have to show that our faith is invalid rather than just trying us to change our opinion on how to teach children because we follow Christ. I am open to discussing my faith and its validity. By the way, my sister has grown up in the church and has asked some rather skeptical questions. This is encouraged by me.
No, I don’t have any problem with Christians teaching their beliefs to people with the proper mental faculties. But, I find teaching these things to children when they are too young to understand them to be very wrong. If you like skeptical questions you would probably get more if you only began to teach them the Christian beliefs after they entered middle school.
P.S. When I mean Christian beliefs, I mean things like the virgin birth, resurrection of Jesus, God’s creation of the world etc. I don’t mean basic morality and other principles to live by.