Our Vision
The Center Church family seeks to display the good news of Jesus Christ in every part of life. Missional Communities are at the heart of who we are at Center Church. These are small groups of people committed to growing in the gospel, living life in community, and sharing the gospel together on mission. We want a better Brenham not a 'bigger' or 'better' church event. Our aim is to serve alongside existing like-minded churches and spend our lives making a better Brenham in Jesus' name.
Our Strategy
God has designed discipleship to find its home and strength in the local church. Mission flows from the church and results in the church. At Center Church, we want to see disciples making disciples, churches planting churches, and the establishment of strategic partnerships with like-minded churches for the advancement of the Gospel.
Our Structure
We GATHER to encounter the presence and glory of God through the Gospel, and we SCATTER to spread the presence and glory of God through the Gospel.
WHEN WE GATHER, OUR WORSHIP INVOLVES...
1) Biblical Expository Preaching - Preaching is central to our Gatherings. The Bible sets the agenda. This is not necessarily a line by line teaching through the Bible so much as letting the main idea of the text determine the main idea of the sermon. This may mean we preach through a book of the Bible or occasionally preach over a topic such as 'Marriage & Parenting' or 'Financial Stewardship' that involves looking at what the Bible has to say about these issues.
2) Passionate Worship - We want to have our Gatherings be shaped by the Gospel as much as possible. This means each week we have a Call to Worship that reflects the Gospel Narrative of Creation - Fall - Redemption - Restoration. We sing loud upbeat, joyful songs as well as somber, reflective laments. In the midst of these movements, we sing, pray, and read scripture - often together out loud as a unified community speaking the Gospel to one another.
3) Observing the Ordinances - Baptism & Communion are the two ordinances given to the church in which we are to participate. Every week we partake in the Lord's Supper and throughout the year we celebrate the baptism of individuals who have received new life through Christ Jesus.
4) Generous Giving - We worship a generous God who gives us grace upon grace. We also seek to be a generous people who give our finances, time, energy, and other resources for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God through supporting our local church, our city, and church planting efforts elsewhere.
WHEN WE SCATTER, OUR WORSHIP INVOLVES…
1) Missional Communities - A Missional Community is more than a small group (but not less than one). Our Missional Communities gather weekly to apply the sermons and seek to live life in Biblical community that challenges and encourages each person to grow in following Jesus. These groups are about more than existing primarily for ourselves and instead seek to engage the lost as part of our mission.
2) Missional Living - God has called us to be witnesses to the greatness of the Gospel and to make disciples who make disciples. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, everywhere we go is now our mission field. Our schools, jobs, neighborhoods, restaurants, stores...are all avenues for us to reach the lost with the grace found in Jesus Christ. We seek to intentionally build relationships with lost friends who we long to see come to Christ.
3) Cultural Engagement - Not only are we stewards of the Gospel message, but God has placed us in our city to be a blessing to the city itself. We are passionate about seeing Gospel Renewal in the areas of society such as arts, education, government, social services, healthcare, and family. We believe there is no such thing as a ‘secular/sacred’ divide. Jesus is Lord over all, and we want to see his glory displayed through the engagement of culture-specific issues approached with Gospel truth & love.