Visitors are always welcome at all of our assemblies, but we realize that visiting a congregation for the first time can be an intimidating experience. Allow us, therefore, to introduce ourselves.
The Christians who make up the Melrose Drive church are a diverse group of people, from all walks of life, who sincerely want to follow God. We identify ourselves as simply Christians because we believe this is how the followers of Jesus in the New Testament would have identified themselves (Acts 11:26; 26:28). This identity comes from a deeply rooted determination to follow the teachings of Christ and the inspired writers of the New Testament and to avoid all religious affiliations and creeds of men (1 Peter 4:11).
Each of us became Christians by obeying the same form of doctrine the men and women of the New Testament did (Romans 6:17). After carefully considering the words of the Bible concerning Jesus, we came to believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God. We confessed that belief before others and upon repenting of our past sins, yielded our lives to Him by being baptized in His name for the remission of sins (Matthew 7:21-28; 10:32-33; Mark 16:15-16; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-4; Acts 8:34-39). Each Christian here recognizes that they have been saved by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-10; Colossians 2:12-13; Titus 2:11-14). It is God’s grace and love toward us that compels us to live our lives in a Christ-like manner.
Also, just like the early Christians, we joined ourselves to a local church of God’s people (Acts 11:26; Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 11:16). A local congregation that is totally autonomous from other congregations and guided by the Bible alone. This congregation is guided by the leadership of a plurality of godly men in the congregation called elders (also called shepherds, bishops, or pastors) (Acts 14:23; 20:17, 28; 1 Timothy 3:1-7) and served by special servants of the church called deacons (Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:8-13).
As a church belonging to Jesus Christ and bearing His holy name, we take our collective work and worship very seriously (John 4:24; 1 Corinthians 14:40).
We make our appeal to the Lord’s words in what we do in our worship services. Each Sunday we assemble to partake of the Lord’s Supper, commemorating His death, just as the early disciples did (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). On this day, each member makes a contribution to the Lord’s work (1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9:7), but we never solicit a contribution from our visitors. We also gather on this day and on Wednesday evening so that we might hear, learn and encourage one another in the word of God (Hebrews 10:24-25) and to pray with and for one another. We also lift our voices together in the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for the instructing of one another and the praise of our God (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16).
In our work together as a church, we simply follow the approved biblical pattern of the New Testament churches. First, through challenging instruction in the teachings of the Bible, we seek to train every disciple of Christ that they may progress toward spiritual maturity and full usefulness in the service of God (Ephesians 4:11-16). Second, we provide for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ locally and aid in supporting faithful preachers in other places around the world (2 Corinthians 8:14; Philippians 4:14-16; 2 Corinthians 11:8). Third, we care for the needs of poor Christians (Acts 4:34-35; 11:29-30). All the funds used to carry out these works are obtained by the free will offering of the members of this congregation.
We look forward to meeting you!