welcome!
We are a close-knit family of Bible believers. We love Jesus and one another!
There is much confusion about religion in today’s world with so many different churches teaching many different things. At Riverview church of Christ you will find people who believe the Bible is a reliable and sufficient guide in every area of life, and who are striving love one another as Jesus loved us.
Our work is to preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2). Trusting God, we know the results of preaching the Word will make disciples of Christ (Mathew 28:19-20). As disciples of Christ, we minister to our local community, and exemplify the life and love of Jesus, all while teaching others to do so also (2 Timothy 2:2). Below you will find more details.
The Bible
Our plea and aim is very simple. We strive to speak where the Bible speaks, keep silent where the Bible is silent, doing Bible things in Bible ways, and calling Bible things by Bible names. In short, the Bible is our sole authority and tool for what we do, and what we are to know and teach in this life (2 Timothy 3:17-17).
This Life
Everything we need to know about this life is given in the Bible. The Bible teaches us how to live in harmony with ourselves, our fellowman, and with God, the Father. More than that, the Bible teaches us how to conquer those things in our lives that cause us harm. All of this is summed up in the teaching of the grace of God that was delivered to all mankind (Titus 2: 11-14).
Doctrine
Here, you will find simple concise Bible teaching. We follow no creed contrived by men. Our aim is to cut through all of the religious confusion by going all the way back to the pure source of teaching from God, the Bible. We strive constantly to make sure what we practice and teach is from God and not mixed with any tradition of man at all.
Worship
Out God commands and wants us to worship him formally (John 4:24). In our worship service, we have a memorial service in which we partake of unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine. We partake of this memorial weekly to memorialize the death of Jesus till He comes again (1 Corinthians 11:26). We also offer a time for members of the Riverview church of Christ to give a portion of their blessings back to God in the form of a freewill offering (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8). We pray to God our Father by the authority of Jesus, his Son and our Savior (Matthew 6:5-15; Colossians 3:17). We also sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs making the melody in our hearts (Ephesians 5:19; Hebrews 13:15). It is of utmost importance to offer God praise that He finds acceptable. We try our best to make sure to keep with what we read in His Word, the Bible.
Organization
Our organization is simple. Each congregation of the churches of Christ function autonomously, just like you read about in the Bible. There is no authority on earth higher than that of the local congregation. Individual congregations follow the higher authority, the Bible.
On the congregational level, the leadership is a group of elders ordained by the authority of God’s Word. Each elder has to meet stringent requirements set forth by God in His Word (Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-16). Above the multiplicity of elders, referred to as the eldership, there is no higher authority in the local congregation.
There are special servants on the local level called, Deacons. While they are not in authority as leaders, they do oversee certain tasks in regard to the day to day operation of the local congregation. They, as well, have stringent requirements in order to be ordained to their office (1 Timothy 8:-13).
In lieu of men qualified to be elders, individuals of the congregation submit to the authority of the congregation as a whole (Ephesians 5:21).
How are we different?
We are different from what is commonly known or accepted as “Christendom.” If all groups of people claiming to be Christian were stamped out and eradicated from the world, in one thousand years a person could find a Bible, read it and follow it, a congregation of the church of Christ would then be in the world again and it would look like and function identical to the way the Riverview church of Christ functions. No denomination claiming to be Christian can make this claim.
Often our answer to the question above is, well, we can not speak for any other congregation but ours. The Riverview church of Christ is different because we are not organized like the denominations found in this world. We worship differently. Our values are Bible based holding to God’s teaching and shunning man’s teaching. We simply want to go back to the pure source and be Christians only as the Bible commands.