In April 2010, God called Christ Alone Church into being in order that He might fashion a new creation. Today, as a member congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church we continue to seek faithfulness to God’s call for us. At Christ Alone Church, we offer two tracks: Membership and Leadership.
Membership at Christ Alone is based on three criteria: faith, commitment, and obedience. The Session, which has responsibility for the entire life and ministry of the congregation, has established a membership course, using topics from Rev. Dr. Joel Beeke’s, A Faithful Church Member. We’ll touch on receiving Christ’s word, our union with Christ’s person, being connected to Christ’s people, serving others in Christ, and growing into Christ’s image, as an introduction to our faith and practice at Christ Alone Church. Each class session is very important in learning about our church. Committed attendance will help in equipping and empowering you to live an active Christian life as part of our fellowship.
Our five week membership class is ordinarily held in the spring.
At Christ Alone, healthy spiritual leadership is a priority. Without Biblically qualified, mature spiritual leadership we will not grow as a congregation in our walk with God. Elders (Teaching and Ruling) are representatives of Christ and His agenda, not individuals and their personal agendas. The office of Elder is a high calling and is not appropriate for all members.
Likewise, the office of Deacon as set forth in Scripture is one of compassion, concern for needs, and of serving others. Therefore, the first duty of the Deacon is sympathy and service. Historically, to this office has been given the duty of being the Church’s instrument for the ministry of compassion. God gives each one of us special gifts to be used in building up the Church.
Not everyone is called to be a preacher, an evangelist, and teacher, an elder, a deacon, and so on. In the EPC, all Elders (Teaching and Ruling) must receive and adopt the Westminster Confession. Note that this is a higher standard than for membership. Candidates for Ruling Elder will be required to study the Westminster Confession. The EPC also provides an excellent Leadership Training Manual that will be used. Finally, Ruling Elders must show that they understand the spiritual nature of the office and that they are called by God.
Our fifteen week leadership class for the offices of Ruling Elder and Deacon is ordinarily held in the fall.