We agree with celebration! The practice of the church for 2,000 years has been to joyously meet and share with each other! We have hope! Our prayer is that you will find the Spirit of Jesus Christ at work "...so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." (Acts 3:19)

We teach and preach the Bible. The goal of all our teaching is allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the application of His Word to our lives, so our hearts can be changed and we can become more like Jesus Christ. The word of God is living and active, and has relevance to our lives today! (Hebrews 4:12)

When we meet together, we expect the family to encourage one another, to laugh and cry with one another, to bear with and to grow and support one another. We tend towards less formality and more genuineness and authenticity.

Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that the purpose of leaders is to equip the saints for works of service. You can expect our leaders to help identify your unique spiritual gifting and then challenge and equip you to actively use that gift in service to the Lord.

Leaders are charged with watching out for the people they are accountable for just as a shepherd takes care of the sheep in his flock. Our leadership takes personal responsibility and concern for strengthening the weak, healing the sick, binding up the injured, bringing back the strays and searching for the lost (Ezekiel 34:4). Our leaders are committed to not ruling harshly or brutally, but in love through servant leadership.

You are expected to actively participate in helping to accomplish the mission of the Central: To Bring In, Build Up and Send Out as we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; love others; and love each other.

The New Testament encourages believers to gather together in order to provoke each other to love and good deeds, and to encourage each other. Our Praise Gathering on Sunday morning has the specific purpose of providing an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit is free to work in our hearts, where the Bible is taught and applied to our life, and where we remember the sacrifice of Jesus through the Lord’s Supper.

We are serious about our belief that the Word of God is sufficient. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, and that comes through knowing and living His Word. We provide many opportunities on Sunday morning for adult Bible study, a fully-graded children’s Bible study time, and weekly men’s and women’s Bible studies.

Our Small Group Ministry, called 2:42 Home Fellowship Groups (based on Acts 2:42), is just as vital in the life and health of the congregation as the Sunday morning Praise Gathering. These groups meet all over the area during the week for fellowship, prayer and study. Our 2:42 Groups are where connection happens, relationship is built, needs become known, and ministry takes place. This is the primary method our leadership uses for shepherding the congregation.

Our life as Christ-followers is not a spectator event that is observed from a distance. God has given us different gifts for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ. We don’t all have the same function, just as all parts of the body don’t have the same purpose. Our leadership will encourage you to discover your spiritual gifts and put them into practice. We are not a heavily programmed church, which allows us to begin new ministries when the Lord brings new ideas to the surface and the people with the proper gifting are able to carry out those ministries.

One of the last instructions Jesus gave his followers is found in Matthew 28:19-20. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are instructed to go, to make followers, to baptize them, and to teach them everything that Jesus commanded. These are the marching orders for the church, and everyone has responsibility in carrying out this commission.

Before Jesus, worship was reserved for certain places and times, and this pattern has carried over into the church. The New Testament instruction for worship, however, is not bound by time and place (Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 3:14-17, Ephesians 5:18-20). We are admonished to live a life of worship and praise through our attitude and actions by presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, conforming more and more to the image of Christ. Worship is a lifestyle, not a ritual.

Because the Bible clearly teaches that all we have is from God, we are expected to be a good steward of all our possessions (2 Corinthians 8:1-5, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Luke 12:34). Giving to His work is only a part of our responsibility in stewardship. The Lord is concerned about how we use our time, our talents and our resources.

The leadership at Central encourages families to strive to live free of consumer debt. Central has a ministry called Jubilee to develop wise stewardship practices and help families get free of debt (Romans 13:8). We teach Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University to encourage families to live debt-free.

A good measure of over-extension in personal finances is:

1) Are you giving at least a tenth of your income (Malachi 3:10)
2) Are you providing for your family (1 Timothy 5:8)
3) Do you have enough left over to help others in need (James 2:15-16)

If you are deficient in any of these areas, then you are probably not practicing good stewardship principles.