Articles

Trust, Savor, and Be Satisfied

06/09/08

Rachel Joy

In the midst of our busy lives and the expectations of our various roles, as women and men, we have lost the discipline and art of trusting the Savior. The more hectic our lives become, the less time that we have to spend with Christ, reading His Word and praying. The more distant we get from Jesus the more difficult our sin make it to trust Him More...

Sharing Christ at Christmas

12/03/07

Amanda Shelton

My passion is seeing children love and trust Jesus and the best people to introduce a child to Christ are his or her parents. I asked a mother of 3 children between the ages of 3 and 10 what her greatest deterrent was in sharing the gospel with her family. She replied that she simply didn’t know the language to use in order to present the gospel in a way that her children could understand. I have found that is the case for most parents. Most parents aren’t able to sit down and give significant time and thought to how to share the gospel in language their children understand. Most parents don’t have the chance to think of creative ways to talk about Jesus. Since I do, I wrote out a gospel presentation for children. More...

Communion at Providence

11/26/07

Barry Keldie

I would like to take a couple of minutes and explain why we recently stopped taking communion each week to close our services. From the inception of Providence Church we have gathered together to sing to Jesus (worship), hear about Jesus (preaching) and then join Jesus by partaking of communion. We quickly found that our practice of communion distinguished us as a church. Few had ever been to a church that called husbands to pray over their wives before partaking of the elements each week. For many of us this weekly practice acted as the birthplace of familial spirituality. I can’t keep count of how many men prayed with their wives for the first time sitting in one of our services and I count this as one of the richest blessings I have ever received in ministry. So why would we ever stop such a beautiful and fruitful practice? More...

Seasons

11/12/07

Barry Keldie

In an attempt to unify our “voice” we have instituted “seasons” here at Providence. These seasons will help concentrate our efforts in a particular area of ministry and hopefully unify our prayers, talents and efforts. Each season will begin and end with a Covenant & Communion Service in which we will pray, set goals and thank God for his faithfulness. More...

Talking With Your Children About God

11/01/07

Amanda Shelton

One of my greatest passions and desires in my ministry to the children here at Providence is preparing and equipping teachers and parents to talk with their children about God. From infancy through preschool and into elementary, children can begin hearing, understanding and retaining fundamental truths of the Scriptures. Everything we do in the preschool we do with a view to that end. Our games, songs, crafts, and of course stories and memory verses serve to lay a foundation that highlights the truth and worth of Christ. More...

Small Groups in the Bible

08/13/07

Trevor Joy

The Biblical basis for small groups is very strong. There are plenty of accounts in the Bible of them existing in the early church (Acts 2:46, 12:12, 20:8, 20:20; Rom. 16:4-5; I Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:5; Philemon 2). And many Biblical commands given to the church seem to require them. These especially include commands for Christians to minister to one another (Heb. 3:13, 10:24-25; Gal. 6:2; Col. 3:16; James 5:16; I Peter 4:8-9; Eph. 4:32). The very "one anotherness" of these commands necessitates Christian fellowship contexts small enough for our ministry to one another to be truly mutual. Combining this strong Biblical basis -- with our own experiences in the effectiveness of small group ministry -- gives a very strong rationale for us to pursue small groups. More...