Is Servant's Heart Fellowship a denominational church?
Initially, Servant's Heart Fellowship was planted as a Baptist church, but a more
accurate description of us now is non-denominational. This simply means that
our current membership includes former Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and many
others, all worshiping together as a church family. Where you came from is
significantly less important to us than where you’re headed! At Servant's Heart
Fellowship, all Christians are welcome to join our fellowship as we humbly and
passionately follow Christ.
We enjoy variety and unity at the same time here at Servant's Heart Fellowship because
our unity comes from a strong commitment to what really counts - glorifying God and
enjoying Him forever - and not from trying to fit people into categories. We
consider church traditions, worship music styles, and even denominational loyalties to
be matters of personal preference that are not essential to experiencing genuine fellowship
or ministry. Genuine fellowship is experienced around the Cross.
What kind of doctrine does Servant's Heart Fellowship believe?
This is a great question! Sound doctrine is very important to us and just because
our church has such a variety in membership does not mean our beliefs are somehow patched
together or unclear. Servant's Heart Fellowship is first and foremost an evangelical
church, which means our theology is biblically based, Christ-centered, and rests entirely
upon the finished work of Christ at the cross for our salvation. Our doctrine is
essentially reformed with a healthy emphasis upon the Holy Spirit's empowerment to serve
in ministry. Our church's Doctrinal Essentials is available here at our website.
If you have a specific theological question in mind, please feel free to contact our
pastor.
Is Servant's Heart Fellowship a Charismatic church?
The term "Charismatic" is often difficult to define. If that question means: Does
Servant's Heart Fellowship believe in an empowerment of the Holy Spirit for ministry and
that all of the spiritual gifts are available today? Then the answer is: Yes. We
do have that in common with Charismatic or Pentecostal churches, and we share the same core
value that all churches should have a vibrant expectancy that the Holy Spirit is active today.
Our goal at Servant's Heart Fellowship is to encourage all believers to be empowered by
the Spirit for ministry (Acts 1:8), filled with the Holy Spirit continually (Ephesians 5:18)
and to use His gifts to build up the church (1 Corinthians 14:26).
Why doesn't Servant's Heart Fellowship offer a lot of programs?
Another important question! Servant's Heart Fellowship desires to grow healthy homes; therefore
we purposefully keep programs (adult or child) to a minimum because we so strongly believe that
families need to spend more quality time together. Programs can be valuable, but
(we believe) there should never be so many that a family is constantly forced to choose between
enjoying family time and attending another progr am. We'll never start a program just to
say, "We have programs here". The ones that we do have (Youth BASIC, prayer meeting, small
groups) are intentional and designed to encourage discipleship.
Why does your worship sometimes include Scripture readings?
We have come to value many expressions of worship here at Servant's Heart Fellowship, including
meaningful church traditions. Even though we’re considered a contemporary church (because
we usually sing contemporary songs, use a praise team instead of a choir, and casual dress is
welcome), the content of our worship is much more important to us than our particular worship
style. It is our desire that our worship service always brings glory to God by causing
our attention to be fixed upon Him and not us.
Our use of spontaneous Scripture readings (usually a passage from the Psalms) during our worship
meeting is a simple reminder of why we have gathered: To worship God and hear His Word.
While this may be unfamiliar to some, public reading of the Scriptures can still be found in
many traditional churches and has been a common practice ever since the days of the early
church (1 Timothy 4:13).
Why do you meet for worship in a high school?
The answer to this question really has two parts:
First, our church has met in a few different places, and even rented a 'church building' several
years ago for a while. However, we already own some property and are in the process of
raising funds to build a worship and ministry center on it. By meeting in the high school
we are able to cut costs and save funds instead of spending additional money on renting another
building.
Second, it isn't just any high school that we are meeting in, but it's Northern Nash Senior High
School. This is significant because our church property is located directly across the
street from the side entrance to this school (on Northern Nash Road). Therefore, our
decision to meet here is intentional, as we desire to worship in the same neighborhood of our
future facility. Our next move will be onto our property when we build our ministry and
worship center.
Got a Question? Contact our paster, Dan Rolfe
Church office: (252) 972-9954
E-mail address:
shf@embarqmail.com