“The family of God at the Whitehall Church of Christ is a fellowship of people who love God and desire to be a place where people gather from all races and backgrounds to worship and praise God.”

We know that you have a lot of choices about where to attend worship. There are many churches and many views of God’s Word. So let us tell you a few things we see as our core doctrines. Questions are welcome.

A Quick Description

To describe us, people might say we are “Fundamentalists.” If the definition of that word means, “One who believes the Bible to be the whole inspired Word of God and able to be used as our guide in life,” then we fit that definition.

We are a Bible-based and Bible-believing congregation. Many would find us to be conservative in our doctrinal views. A phrase used to describe us is that we “speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent.” The Bible is our guide and authority.

We believe in an active God. We know God is alive and well, and so we pray with faith. We seek the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the child of God and aids us in our walk with the Lord. We honor Jesus, who saves us and pleads with the Father on our behalf. We serve a living God, and we are proud to be called His.

The Lord’s Supper & Worship

Our worship services may be different than where you have attended. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a central part of our worship and open to all those who believe in His name. We partake of the communion every Sunday. We privately acknowledge our sins, Christ’s atonement, and our belief in His coming again.

We believe in singing from the heart. God has made us His instruments of worship, and with only our voices, we offer our songs of joy and praise. It is an honor to sing and lift up God together in song. We understand that some people are not used to singing without an instrument, and it may take you a few weeks to adjust. We believe you will find our singing refreshing and fulfilling.

We believe that any money given to the church should be a “free will” offering. We use the money for local work and areas of benevolence. All money given is viewed as a gift to God, and we as a church are simply stewards of His money. We never ask visitors to help financially support our local work. We do ask that you fill out a visitor’s card and place it in the collection plate.

Salvation

We believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ. While a person is saved by faith, it must be a faith that is seen and not just stated. Therefore, repentance and baptism become a part of our salvation. We do not view a child as born in sin, but as safe in God. There will come a time when we all will sin and be in need of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.

When a person makes Jesus the Lord of his life, changes from walking in sin to striving to do right, confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior before others, and is immersed in water, then forgiveness of all sin is given by God and that person becomes His child and part of God’s family and ours. If someone has already done those things and desires to be a part of our church family, we do not ask him or her to repeat them, but to state their desire with the church leadership and to live peaceably among the church family at Whitehall.

The Local Church

We believe the local church is to meet needs. We have children’s ministries. We have small groups for young adults, ladies, and senior citizens. We have group Bible studies and personal home Bible studies. We want to meet your spiritual needs. If you have questions about our beliefs, please ask or set up a time when we can talk with you in your home or ours.

People are sometimes timid about asking questions or inviting people into their home. We understand. We encourage you to examine our website or ask for a Bible course to help you study by yourself at home. We offer several courses through the mail. Our goal is to help you develop a saving relationship with Jesus and live the full life He offers.

We look forward to knowing you better and seeing you in worship.

Churches of Christ

Here are some bullet-points about our common convictions:

Churches of Christ are autonomous. That means each congregation is self-directed and led by a group of men chosen from within the local congregation. No one congregation has authority over another. That is part of what we mean by “non-denominational.”

Churches of Christ, in our fellowship, are acapella. “A Capella” comes from an Italian background and originally meant “according to the chapel style.” That style was singing with the voices only, with no instruments used. We do not use instruments in our worship. It really is a wonderful way of expressing your heart and voice to God. We believe you will find this type of singing refreshing.

Churches of Christ observe weekly communion. The Lord’s Supper, sometimes called Eucharist, is open to all who desire to partake. In our church, we have unleavened crackers for the body of Jesus and individual juice cups for the blood of Jesus. These are passed along the pews in trays where each person can partake if they choose.

Churches of Christ also take up a free will offering for the members to give for the common good and use of the local church. No visitor is ever asked to give money.

Churches of Christ believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God and believe it is the sole authority for knowing God’s will for salvation and our life. We believe the Holy Spirit comes into us upon our repentance, confession and baptism into Christ and aids us in our Christian walk.

You can find out many things on the web about “Churches of Christ,” some of which are true and some of which are false. We encourage you to contact a local congregation where you plan to attend in order to know exactly what that congregation believes.