About Us
Hi! Let me introduce myself . . .
How would you finish this sentence in a conversation with someone you just met?
If you look across the Internet, you will find many thousands of church websites writing a page like this, a page “about us,” hoping to introduce themselves to you for the first time. Hoping that you will continue to learn more about them, and even visit them.
In a normal conversation, what would you expect to hear from us?
We think three things are standard in introductions: our name, where we are from, and what we do. Like this: “Hi! I’m Mary, from Spring Hill, FL. I’m a mom to 3 boys and receptionist at a local insurance company.” This is the type of information that might help us connect in an effective way, and this is what we hope will happen if you read the next page or so. Let us introduce ourselves, so that we can connect in a way that helps us all.
First things first. We are the Mariner church of Christ. The first name tells you where we gather, on a main street running through Spring Hill, FL. Like in the Bible, which describes “churches” in Jerusalem, Galatia, and Ephesus, we are a local group of people who come together as a “congregation” (1 Cor 16:1). The last part of our name comes from the Bible. The word “church” translates the Greek word (ekklesia) for assembly or congregation in the Bible, where such congregations are called “churches of Christ” (Rom 16:16).
So, we are people, not a building. And the fact that we use a Biblical name does not make us good people, but it does tell you a little more about us. We are not interested in being a group that is formed by people, and then divides based on human opinions (these are sometimes called “denominations”). So, we are not a denomination . . . nor a social club, a recreation center, a welfare society, nor a political action committee. You would not join us to share your hobby interests or to have a party. We hope you will join us, like the apostle Paul oined the Jerusalem church in Acts 9:26-28, because you have learned about Jesus, what to learn more, and even live for him.
Speaking of where we come from, our name shows you that we claim to come from Jesus Christ. We are not followers of a church; we are followers of Jesus and we come from his description of the church. In Matthew 16:13-20 we read that Jesus planned to build his church on a rock, which in this context means the confession of Peter that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God (v. 16, 20). Jesus is also saying that the church is also built on the foundation of the apostles, who like Peter reveal the will of God in heaven (v. 19) so that people can overcome death, aka Hell/Hades (v. 18). Elsewhere, in Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus describes a future in which his followers will be able to bring their disagreements to the church, which seeks overcome sin in the life of its members and to reconcile people to each other and to God. Even more directly, Jesus commands that his disciples will be known by the fact that they love each other as he has loved them (John 13:34). Love is more than an emotion and inner state of life, but something that is shown, and seen, and something we are known by because we come from Jesus.
We know we come from Jesus because everything we do and say comes from his apostles. And we know this because we model ourselves after the positive examples of the first churches in the New Testament, especially the church at Jerusalem in Acts 2. What we see there is that they received the teachings of the apostles, which resulted in repentance, belief, and baptism (Acts 2:38-42). What is more, like Jesus taught in the gospels, the believers supported each other’s’ souls through spiritual fellowship, in worship and the Lord Supper (Acts 2:42), also at times admonishing and warning each other by the punishment could come upon sin (Acts 5:11). Thirdly, the early Christians followed Jesus and the apostles in loving acts towards each other that shared physical blessings and cared for bodily needs, by charitable gifts and presence in everyday gatherings and meals (Acts 2:44-46).
What do we do?
We seek to get back to the original church, restoring in our congregation what we read about in the New Testament. This means we seek to be just "Christians” as the disciples were first called in Acts 11:26. Beyond names, we seek to follow the beliefs and practices of the original churches, including our sharing of a common faith across independent congregations that are overseen by autonomous (“self-governing”) groups of elders, when possible (Acts 14:23).
We seek just to follow the facts of the Bible, without putting our own spin on it. This is often a simple matter of taking the Lord’s Supper every Sunday (1 Cor 11:23) or behaving appropriately during worship services (e.g., 1 Cor 14:33). These simple acts of obedience are part of a more complex and awesome revelation of God’s will in the Scripture that we seek to understand and practice increasingly through weekly study and worship and other service (Eph 3:10).
Finally, we are trying to follow the real Jesus, whose life is a pattern for us individually, and who left us a pattern of beliefs and actions to put into practice in the church (1 Cor 4:17; 1 Thess 2:24; 1 Col 1:18). In all these efforts, we seek to submit to Jesus, who is our head, and by whose grace we are what we are (Col 1:18).
What we are doing is trying to be authentic Christians -- really following the real Jesus by getting back to the original church as revealed in the Scripture. That is who we are. We are still learning and trying to live His way. Won’t you join us next Sunday so that we can meet you?