Shepherd each other to maturity in Christ

Maturing in Christ begins with being a part of His body, the Church (Eph. 4:15-16). Membership in a church is an intentional commitment of every individual member to serve and love the whole and a reciprocal commitment of the whole church to love and serve each individual. It’s mutual belonging and love on mission together. Our membership process involves completing three sessions where we cover our mission, our church covenant, and our statement of faith, followed by a membership interview with a pastor, and baptism for those who haven’t been baptized as believers yet. To find out more, contact the church office.

Mature and maturing Christians worship! In fact, we’re commanded to never neglect gathering with other Christians to encourage one another and stir one another up to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25). Our public worship gatherings feature fellowship, singing, prayer, and Bible preaching and teaching. We meet at THEARC at 10am. Then, since worship is not limited to what we do a couple of hours on Sunday, we scatter from our gathering to worship God in all of life!

“Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). We get our very life from the word of God. So, we meet on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Thursdays of each month at 6:30pm at the Anacostia Public Library where we discuss God’s word one verse and paragraph at a time. A Zoom option is also currently available, to register please click here.

Growth in being like Jesus. That’s the goal of our small groups. We choose smaller communities of intentional friendship and teaching so that we might see Jesus Christ formed more fully in one another. We have groups for young married couples, people living in the same neighborhood, and groups just for men or women. To learn more about when groups are meeting and what they’re studying, contact Ashley Davenport.

Some of our discipleship is particular to who God has made us to be as women. So in keeping with Titus 2:1, 3-5, our pastors meet monthly with the older women of the church to encourage and equip them to teach younger women. Many of our older women instruct, counsel, and mentor younger women in the faith by practicing hospitality, leading small groups, and simply building friendships. Additionally, the women of the church gather quarterly for fellowship, prayer and teaching, and annually for a women's retreat. For information on upcoming fellowship opportunities, contact the church office.

The Bible gives the church a pretty clear goal for maturing men: “teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled” (Titus 2:1-2, 6). As men, we need encouragement and help from each other to grow this way. So we host men’s small groups throughout the week and men’s fellowship opportunities about once monthly. For information on upcoming fellowship opportunities, contact the church office.