We love to gather often as a church family and we welcome you to join us! Below you’ll see the different ministries and gatherings we have and what to expect.

WHAT TO EXPECT

WORSHIP

Our worship is a mixture of recently written Biblically faithful songs & modern hymns as well as Biblically faithful songs and hymns from the past. Along with doing our best to align worship and sermons thematically each Sunday, our primary structure for song order is to lead God’s people through 4 essential questions; Who is God, What Has He Done, Who Are We In Christ, and What Are We To Do. Every Biblically faithful worship song answers at least one of those four questions primarily and so we structure our worship to take God’s people through a glorious progression of answering each of these 4 questions as we worship together. We sing between 4 and 6 songs and hymns together each week!

SERMONS

The sermons at Oakhill are primarily expository preaching through books of the Bible verse by verse or thought by thought depending on the length of the passage. A couple times a year we will have a multi-week topical series in order to address something relevant to our church family as the Holy Spirit leads us. When necessary we will also have stand alone sermons to address pressing issues in our context or culture. Finally, we love to hear from our missionaries and partners in ministry and will make space for God to speak to us through them.

COMMUNION

We partake in the Lord’s Supper together on the first Sunday of each month. Our elements are crackers and juice to represent the body of Christ broken and the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of our sins. The elements are symbolic but the time of remembrance is a very spiritually reverent and vital part of our lives in Christ.

KIDS

We love our children and desire that they understand that their part in the body of Christ is just as important as anyone’s. While the toddlers typically go downstairs to kid’s church at the beginning of our gathering, the older children stay with us through our time of worship, then go downstairs to learn God’s Word through enthusiastic, qualified, and background checked children’s ministry volunteers. However, on the first Sunday of each month throughout the year, the older children stay upstairs with us for the whole service so they can participate in communion and hear the sermon. We call these first Sunday’s “Family & Communion Sundays”. On the other Sundays of the month when the older kids go downstairs, the primary curriculum we use to disciple them in is the Answers in Genesis curriculum. Our aim is not only to disciple the kids in the truth of God’s Word, but more importantly, to give parents the tools and support they need to disciple their children in the truth of God’s Word.

We currently have 3 spaces where our children grow in their faith and knowledge of Jesus on Sunday mornings. Note each room has age overlap so you can find the best fit for your child.

“SEEDLINGS” is 0-3 years old

“SPROUTS” is 3-6 years old

“ROOTED” is K-6th grade

 WHAT TO EXPECT

FOOD

Our Gospel Communities gather in the homes of those within each group who have enough space to host. Each GC meets twice a month on a specified day and time (for example: the 1st and 3rd Wednesday each month). Every time we gather we share a full meal potluck style so each household attending has an opportunity to bring a delicious gift to share with the others. Often the GC rotates through different meal themes each time they gather.

FELLOWSHIP

This time of sharing food and enjoying fellowship around tables imitates the way Christ and His disciples lived out a large part of their ministry, in homes sitting around tables and living in light of the Good News! In this way we truly see one another, love and bless one another as brothers and sisters, and just enjoy Christ in and through one another.

FAITH

After we finish eating we gather in a living room setting for deeper spiritual formation. Though each week may look slightly different, this formative time together may include singing praise, prayer, sharing testimonies, and some type of Biblically sound, Gospel-rich discussion. So a GC may choose to go through a book of the Bible together over several weeks or months, or perhaps some Bible based Christian book or book study/discussion guide. The goal is to grow one another up into the fullness of Christ—to disciple one another. A disciple of Christ is one who, by God’s grace through faith and with the help of the Holy Spirit, is learning to submit every area of life to the love, Lordship, and likeness of Jesus Christ. All of life to the fullness of Christ is our aim and Gospel Communities provide a context that is personal enough and connected enough to truly fellowship and disciple one another.

KIDS

One of the most wonderful aspects of Gospel Communities is that they are built for families to be part of. The kids eat with us, pray with us, and sing with us. When adult discussion time begins, each Gospel Community has appointed/approved adult kid teams (sometimes a teenage helper) that are on a rotating schedule so that the kids can have a time in a separate room in the home to learn about God, do a related activity or craft, and have some free-time to play together. Each GC gathering can bring various challenges such as a kid team member being sick or a child just having a rough time, but we love our kids and we love that they are an essential part of our Gospel Community life together in Christ so we work hard to find solutions and apply good ideas so that our gathering time is a blessing to all.

SHARED LEADERSHIP

Each Gospel Community has a Shared Leadership Team (SLT) of individuals or couples that have gone through GC training or have been discipled in a GC long enough to be able to lead. While there are a number of other responsibilities a GC can choose a point person for, the SLT is primarily responsible for leading the GC as a whole. The beauty of shared leadership is that these responsibilities do not fall on one person or household but a team of individuals/households. They ensure the GC is gathering regularly, is Biblical, is healthy & growing in maturity, that its members are cared for tangibly, and that they are praying for/reaching out/welcoming newcomers. Once a Gospel Community outgrows its space, the SLT along with the Pastor and Elders will oversee the blessing of multiplication (one GC becoming two GCs).

UPWARD, INWARD, OUTWARD

Gospel Communities ultimately provide an excellent context for our church family to obey God’s Word together in every direction we are commanded to. What we learn on Sundays through worship and teaching and what we learn in our alone time and family time with the Lord all flows into Gospel Community life and visa-versa. We are commanded in Scripture to Love God and grow in our knowledge of Christ. We call this metric of faithfulness UPWARD. We are also commanded in Scripture to love one another (those in Christ’s body) and to care for one another’s needs spiritually and physically. We call this metric of faithfulness INWARD. Finally, we are commanded to love the lost by way of compassion and evangelism by showing them and teaching them the grace of God and why they so desperately need Christ. We call this metric of faithfulness OUTWARD. While these metrics of faithfulness are not limited to a small groups ministry like Gospel Communities, GCs provide a prime context for us to live them out and mature in them together. So we encourage all our GCs to think about these words as they regularly evaluate the faithfulness and health of their groups

 WHAT TO EXPECT

Lunch, Fellowship, Joy, Prayer & Praise

GC-SAGE is a branch of our Gospel Communities ministry specifically for Seniors to share a great meal and experience the joy of Christ with one another in this season of life. It typically takes place the leaders home after the church service every 4th Sunday of the month. Be sure to reach out through our CONTACT page for more details so you can join in the good food, laughter, friendship, and prayer & praise that this group enjoys each month together!

WHAT TO EXPECT

PRAYER

When we come together to pray, we keep it pretty simple. We refer to a list of prayer needs from the church as well as spend some time sharing what the Lord is pressing on our hearts that particular week. Then we break into smaller groups and we pray! We believe in the power of God through prayer and we look forward to having you join us as we seek Him for what only He can do. We do not provide childcare for this ministry but if you believe any of your kids are mature enough for deeper time in prayer, bring them with!

FELLOWSHIP

One of the beautiful aspects of prayer is that it unifies God’s people and draws us into deeper relationship with Him and one another. There is a wonderful depth of fellowship, friendship, and encouragement we gain when we seek God together in prayer.

GOD’S POWER

Perhaps the most glorious part of praying together is sharing in the experience of seeing our prayers powerfully answered. Nothing really builds up your faith quite like witnessing God answer your prayers in the way that only He can. The power of God in prayer is very real and as followers of Christ, it is something we need to experience to strengthen our faith and help us not grow weary as we carry out fulfilling the mission of Christ in this life.

 What to Expect

Breakfast

Jesus ate with His first disciples often. As men, we share meals together to build fellowship and camaraderie around one of the good and essential things God created for human life, food!

Bible

Each time we gather as disciples of Christ, we open God’s Word to learn more fully who He is, what He has done, who we are as men in Christ, and how we shall live our lives as men of God for the glory of God. Being a disciple of Christ means submitting every area of our lives to the love, Lordship, and likeness of Jesus and then leading others to do the same. By gathering together over a meal and in His Word we have the opportunity to sharpen one another just as iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17), and to mature one another to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). We do this by opening God’s Word together regularly that we might learn from God directly and so sharpen one another as we submit ourselves to His all-sufficient and authoritative truth.

Brotherhood

There is tremendous blessing in being connected to and invested in other men who are following Christ. The unity and brotherhood we have in Christ is very real and Christ commanded us to maintain and lean into that unity (Ephesians 4:1-16). In John 13:34-35 Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” In and through Christ we have been called and empowered to offer one another strength, courage, camaraderie, wisdom, accountability, and love. No man is an island. We need Christ and we need Christ in and through each other. He has made us brothers, all having the same Father now and for all eternity.

 WHAT TO EXPECT

LEARN

As we fellowship and eat breakfast together, potluck style, we will have a Bible reading and be encouraged in the truths that Scripture presents to us. After a time of spiritual food as well as a delicious meal, we will learn from different ladies in our church. Over the course of the year, each lady will be presenting a different skill or gifting that the Lord has given her and show us how she uses it for His glory. This is a time for us to see how practical life skills can truly be a blessing to the kingdom of God as well as a time for us to get to know our beloved church family better.

LOVE

As we read Scripture and learn together, we want to take these truths and apply them to our lives. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself. It is our goal that as you learn the Word, you grow in your love for God. And as you grow in your love for God that you would also grow in your love for others by serving and giving with the gifts you’ve been given and encouraging them in truth.