The Maplewood church of Christ
MaplewoodCoC is located on the west side of Cahokia Heights, Illinois.
Our sister congregation, the Centreville Church of Christ, is located on the east side of Cahokia Heights, Illinois.
United, we serve and minister the city of Cahokia Heights (the communities of Allorton, Cahokia, and Centreville).
The Maplewood Church of Christ is part of the Body of Christ using the facilities, talents, and abilities given by the grace of God to be used for one another. That is, to provoke each other to good works. We are a new creation -- created for good works. The Church Jesus created is the spiritual foundation (the Rock) that we are being built together as the Church.
What is the Church?
The "New Testament" is all about Jesus, the Christ and Him crucified: fulfillment of prophesies; the manefestation of God's love and salvation of mankind; and the enjoyment of the blessings of God's covenant with Noah and His promise to Abraham - fulfilled just for us, His Church.
- The Church the body of Christ. Each in Christ are members - one to another -- to love, serve, and encourage.
- History, prophecies of Jesus and the Church, and doctrines of the Apostles -- the Word -- can be experienced from the Bible. Direction and guidance for our daily walk as children of God nurture our spirits as we strive to be Holy as He is Holy.
- The Church is ONE because Jesus is one:
- Our worship to God is reflects both Spirit and Truth (John 4:24); it is to praise the Lord lifting His name above all others. In doing so - we are unified, encouraged, and uplifted together as the one body (the Church), all in Christ -- alone. Therefore, we strive to keep as much of the world out of our lives and worship as possible - especially those elements that would lead us to dependency on the flesh rather than on the Spirit. Therefore, anything that is to be added to or in support of our worship together must be scrutinized in the wisdom of God to insure our worship is pure and holy, reflecting the unity of the mind, soul, and strength in spirit and in truth.
- The Lord’s Supper (or, Communion) is observed each first day of the week. Luke gives us an example of this in his letter to Theophilus, Acts 20:7. Paul also writes about the Lord's supper in his letter in I Corinthians 11:23-29. Paul wrote again about the importance of the Lord's supper as he gives comparison to those deceived into believing they could be combine the things of this world with that of and in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:14-22).
- Work for the Lord is done through various ministries we support to share the Gospel of Christ: to do benevolent, to support the local work overseen by the Maplewood congregation of the Church and to be good stewards of the facilities God entrusted us with. To do this, a collection (or, contribution) is taken each week to provide Christians the opportunity to give in support of this work. Giving is separate from the Lord's Supper. We also give of our time, talents, and abilities as we recognize and teach that all we are and have was given to us by the grace of God.
- Teaching is part of the Church. It is from the Bible. Based on the Biblical teachings of Apostles as taught to them by Jesus. We are instructed to continue in the Apostles doctines as read in the Acts of the Apostles 2:42.
- Prayer is part of the Church. Prayers include those of thanksgiving and requests for guidance, support, and for each other including those have special spiritual and physical needs.
- Singing is from the heart, our spirit. Our singing is acapella. That is, voice only without the use/accompaniment of manmade insutruments. We are to seperated from the world - so, why depend or use anything of the world unless necessary and -- it is not necessary; Romans 12:1-8; Colossians 3:1-4. While we do use some supporting items (the building, songbooks, audio/visual, etc.) - we try not to become dependent upon them should any one item be removed or not available. Peter was able to sing in prison - we should be able to sing anywhere.
- Jesus, the Christ, the only son of God, became the founder and perfecter of our faith and salvation (Hebrews 2:5-18 and Hebrews 12:1-2). He is the only head of the Church. While the body (the Church) has us as many members, each member participates in the Church with the abilities and talents given to us by God as Paul explains in his letter, Romans 12:1-8. As we grow in our faith and trust in God, our abilities and talents develope in each of us so that they can/will be used in service towards each other.
Jesus taught the Apostles directly through His teachings and by examples in living, in speaking with people, in living Godly lives, and in the Message of the New Covenant. The following are examples found in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles showing us how we become one in Christ:
- The day of Pentecost: Acts 2:5-47
- Philip in Samaria: Acts 8:4-13
- Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch: Acts 8:26-39
- Saul's (Paul) conversion and baptism: Acts 9:1-22
- Peter and Cornelius and family: Acts 10:1-48
- Paul and Lydia and family: Acts 16:11-15
- Paul and Silas and the Philippian jailer and family: Acts 16:16-34
- Paul, Silas and Timothy and Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, his household, and many Corinthians: Acts 18:7-11
- Paul with some disciples in Ephesus: Acts 19:1-7
- Paul tells of his story of conversion and being baptized to fellow Hebrews: Acts 22:1-21
Paul explains the Promise of Faith and how it works in our lives today for us to become one in Christ: Romans 4:13 thru 6:11.
We are taught that we either in the world or in Christ, either under the power of sin and death or under of the power of love and eternal life: Romans 5:12 to 6:14.
Paul explains how we put on Christ and how we become one in Christ: Galations 3:23-29 (vs 27) to 4:7.
So - what "part" of the New Testament Church do you think we should leave out? If God provided all things for us to accept by Faith - why would anyone pick and choose? As God is ONE - so is His Church: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all...: Ephesians 3:14 to 4:1-7.
