This article first appeared in our weekly newsletter in 2019.  I’ve updated it for 2024.

I had a good question posed to me this week. “What makes your church different than any other church?”

I want to answer it carefully, for I never really like to compare our church to other churches. Other churches are our teammates. They’re on the same side, working for the same Lord.  We all have different strengths and characteristics, but we’re working together.  We’re not in competition with each other. 

Still, though, it’s a good question, and I’ll try to answer it the best I can. “What makes our church different?”

We worship God and we teach the Bible—like other churches.  We sing Christian songs and listen to preaching—like other churches.  We have small group Bible classes—like other churches.  We have programs and potlucks and fun and we do work together—like other churches.

But, for us, it doesn’t stop there.  We very purposely work hard to put the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus into practice every week.

We offer brown bags to hungry people four days every week—no questions asked.

We have a monthly free food distribution on the first Wednesday of every month.

We house and feed the homeless every week in our IHELP ministry.

We offer free medical care and medicines every Monday!

We offer a free basketball league to children and we teach them about Christ and about life while we coach for two seasons every year.

We offer a Free Community Fall Festival every year—and to us “free” means that all the food, candy, and games are completely free.

We’ve been to the Navajo Indian Reservation and to the Island of Dominica to partner with churches in need.  

We help start new churches in other areas and have allowed our buildings to be used for other churches.

We give away a large percentage of our income to mission causes.

Maybe we’re not as trendy as other churches. Maybe our neighborhood is a little poorer than those in the newest suburbs.  Maybe our buildings are not as new as some churches, for we put more money into ministry than into décor.  Maybe our pastor isn’t as young as he used to be.   Maybe be we are not as big as the many megachurches in America.

Our strength is that we don’t just say we love God, we love people, and we follow Jesus.  We put it into practice in our own neighborhood every week of the year.  It’s who we are and what we do.   We’re not a perfect church (there has never been one), but we live an authentic Christianity to the best of our ability in our own neighborhood.

So we invite you to join with us in worship and service to God.  And by that I don’t just mean “come to our church this Sunday,” though that is part of my invitation.  I mean come and worship with us and then serve with us in one of our authentic Jesus ministries!

We love God. We love people. We follow Jesus. Every day!