Maybe you have questions about Church @ the Rockhouse, such as:

Where is it?

Who goes there?

What is Sunday service like and what kind of music do they play?

What group or denomination is it a part of?

We  try to answer all of these questions, and are happy to answer any other questions you might have.  Let us know if there's something you want to ask.

Now, we have a question for YOU:

What is “church”?

When you use the word, or hear the word “church,” what comes to your mind?

In our experience, the word “church” often comes with a lot of baggage and emotions.  Some have had wonderful experiences being part of churches, finding love, acceptance, and sense of community.  Many find that they have been challenged in a positive way to grow spiritually, seek God and study the Bible.  Others have had a negative experience with being a part of one or more churches where they’ve felt judged, seen people in the church behave hypocritically, or feel the church as a whole is not much different than the rest of society in regards to materialism, family and marital problems or other social ills.

To be honest, we often use the word “church” to mean a few different things.  For instance, Church @ the Rockhouse refers to what takes place on Sunday morning.  A lot of what happens on Sunday mornings resembles what you may have experienced in other churches.  We generally spend time in song, giving God praise and submitting ourselves to Him in worship together, as one body.  We celebrate communion each week, remembering the sacrifice of Jesus, through which we are able to be reconciled to God.  We are encouraged and challenged as someone teaches each week (usually Mike) from the Bible.

However, we don’t believe that what happens on Sunday morning sums up the whole meaning and purpose of the church.  “Where have you seen God at work this week” is a question regularly asked on Sunday mornings.  This is because we believe that we have a mission and a purpose as followers of Christ that reaches far beyond the walls of any building.   We desire for Sunday to be a place where people who have seen God at work all week can come and share how amazing our God is.  Where people can be challenged by one another to seek where God is moving and calling us to come alongside, and where people who are questioning or don’t know God can see and hear firsthand how God is at work and how Jesus changes everything.

In reality, the church isn't a building or a meeting.  It is people.  People who are living their lives in relationship with God and with others.  A large part of how we think of church comes from how we’ve experienced people within the church relating to one another.  This is hugely important.  The image we have in scripture is one of a body, where all parts must be recognized and functioning in order for the body to truly be healthy.  This means that while we all have our own saving relationship with the God of the universe through Jesus, following Jesus is not merely an individual endeavor.  Learning how to seek God together, how to best encourage one another, and how to love and serve others in the name of Jesus together doesn’t “just happen” very often.  It comes from investing time in relationships and being real with other people.   That’s why CORD communities (taken from Ecclesiastes 4:12) are another point of emphasis in what we do.  They are smaller groups of people committed to learning how to grow and seek God and what he has for them together. (Please see this page to learn more about CORDs)

The church, God’s people, incorporates the whole body of Christ, and we challenge you to seek to understand the church this way.  It includes people from all nations, cultures and ethnicities, people with all sorts of different understandings of, and experiences with community and family, people with differing personalities and interests—all at different stages in their journey of becoming more like Jesus.  As such, when we come together, we often gather with people who may look, sound and do things differently than ourselves.  So, if you’ve ever questioned whether you’d fit in, the answer is Yes!