We’re about being Christians the way Christians used to be.
Christianity has changed a lot over the years. What people think of when they hear the word is not exactly what people thought of when the church of our Lord first started popping up around the world. People are to blame: People who would rather do things their way than God’s way have pushed and pushed for things to be done in the name of Christ that the Man Himself (and His Apostles) never taught. At North Heights, we just want to be Christians. We don’t want to be hyphenated, watered-down, Christians; we just want to be Christains. Don’t call us “Church of Christers.” Just call us Christians; that’s the name that was good enough for the Lord’s first people and the name is still good enough today.
We’re about applying Jesus’ teaching to the modern world.
Even though Christianity is two-thousand years old, the lessons we learn from Jesus are still applicable today. Even though Jesus was a Jew who lived on the other side of the world, in a culture very different from our own, the example He left us is still worthy to be followed. That’s what we want to do. At North Heights, we want to take the lessons of Jesus and His inspired Apostles, and fit our modern lives around them. We want to make sense of this very turbulent world and the only way to do that is to listen to our Master and trust that He knows what’s best for us.
We’re about trusting the Bible as God’s Word.
We believe the Bible. We believe the Old Testament tells the story of how God worked His plan to save man through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We believe God inspired thirty-nine books in the Old Testament, which record the history of God’s nation, His relationship with them, the poems and odes they wrote to His glory, the words of wisdom they followed, and the prophetic writings that counseled them and pointed them to the coming-Savior. We also believe the New Testament tells the story of how God accomplished His plan to save man through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We believe God inspired twenty-seven books in the New Testament, which record the history of Jesus’ birth, ministry, and passion on the cross, as well as the beginning of the Christian movement, important letters to Christians to guide them through the religion’s early struggles, and a word of prophesy promising that God is in control, that the Devil is defeated, and that Jesus reigns forevermore!
We’re about praying together.
Yes, Jesus is our King and our King is invincible, but Christians—the people of the King—struggle. We slip and stumble. We sometimes feel overwhelmed by the world around us. It’s not easy being a Christian and we need help. North Heights is a loving, caring, praying family. We are always looking for an opportunity to wrap our arms around someone and lift them up to God. When a new family says they want to worship with us and serve Batesville under our shepherds, you can be sure our shepherds will surround them and pray for them. When a brother or sister steps up and says they’re in trouble, they’ve made a mistake, they don’t know what to do, you can be sure they will be swarmed by loving arms, with a family of Christians ready to pray for them to help them in every way possible. A church that prays together, grows together, and NHCOC is a church that prays together. Come grow with us!
We’re about being covered in the blood of Christ.
Simply put, we can’t do it alone. The Apostle Paul says that everyone has sinned and everyone comes short of God’s glory. Without Jesus we’d all be doomed, but with Jesus there is hope. Our Lord died on the cross, shedding His perfect and precious blood to buy our pardon and unlock the shackles of sin that Satan had locked around us. What do we do now? Is there a prayer we have to say? Are there some magic words to utter? Do we have to pay some membership fee to access the salvation of Jesus? No, no, no. What we need is His life-giving blood, His soul-saving blood, His sin-washing blood. According to Paul, when we reenact Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we put our sins to death, bury them in a proverbial grave, and rise to walk a new life in Jesus (Romans 6:1-4). We touch the blood through repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38), at which point Jesus washes our sins away (Acts 22:16). After that, we’re a new creation of God, called to walk faithful in Him. And when we stumble and fall and succumb to the temptation to sin, we don’t give up or fret that we’re doomed; no, we repent again and trust in the blood to keep us cleansed (1 John 1:7). At North Heights, we don’t tell our people that they have the power, that they can earn it, deserve it, or make it happen. We tell people they need Jesus and that if they will trust and obey the Master, He will save them by the power of His blood.
We’re about serving.
My Master said He didn’t come to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28). As Christians that’s our call as well: We are sent to serve. Our mission is to shine the light of Christ, to bring the lost to Jesus. If we shut our doors, failed to help our community, and only served ourselves, what good would we be? We wouldn’t deserve to wear Christ’s name. That’s not North Heights. We are a church of CHRIST, and that means we will do as He did. We feed the hungry, clothe the needy, and visit the downtrodden. We do it, not to receive praise of men, but because it’s the least we can do in the name of the One who did everything for us.
That’s what we’re all about, but don’t take our word for it.
Come see for yourself!