What Does It Mean to Simply Be Christians?

As the Southgate Church of Christ, we are a group of people who simply want to be just Christians. Our desire is not to be another church denomination, but an independent body of believers who follow the Bible in faith and practice.

INDEPENDENT--we are independent of any denominational structure. We are not bound by any denominational creeds, written traditions, or regional/national organization. We want to be undenominational! We are completely independent and autonomous in terms of our doctrine, practice, and church government. We do have a group of men who are our spiritual guides and leaders. These men are called elders, bishops (overseers), or pastors (shepherds). These men are all members of our congregation and have been chosen by us based upon the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. They guide us as a church body, and they are responsible to God for our spiritual lives.

BIBLE BASED--we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God which tells us how to live and also how to conduct our life as a Church (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We also believe there is only one way to unify all the many different divisions among those seeking to honor Jesus Christ as Lord: use the Bible for our only guide for church life, doctrine, and personal salvation as we reach out to our world in culturally relevant ways.

LORDSHIP FOCUSED--we believe the purpose of every human being in our world is to honor Jesus as their Lord and Savior and to worship our Holy Father in Spirit and truth. We strive to worship and honor Him by assembling together to offer songs and words of praise to Him, encourage our fellow Christians, and give of our financial blessings to share with those in need and to accomplish the work of God in our world. Even more than wanting to honor him with just our words, we want to be fashioned and molded to be like Him, to walk in His light. Our hope and prayer is that each day finds us a little more like Him, and that in all we say and do we honor Him who has so richly blessed us.

PEOPLE CENTERED--For a church to belong to Jesus, it must care about people. His ministry was fashioned by God's redemptive love to save the people of this world (John 3:16) Jesus died on the cross to bring salvation to all kinds of people (1 John 2:2). The Holy Spirit was promised as a gift to all who responded obediently to the call of God (Acts 2:38-39). Christians are to do good deeds for all people, Christians and non-Christians (Galatians 6:10). We try to practice these principles through the various ministries of the church and through our personal lives.

MISSION MINDED--The Southgate church of Christ has always been actively involved in mission efforts both in the Licking County area and throughout the world. In addition to our own local efforts, members of our church have a heart for and are actively involved in various ministries to the Caribbean, Scotland and Canada as well as many states within the continental United States. The purpose of the church of Jesus has always been to reach the lost of every nation, language, and culture with the message of salvation. We want to do our part in this great task, whether it takes us across the street or around the world.