Our main purpose in worship is to contemplate and celebrate the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Our gatherings focus on hearing from God and responding to him. We know the Lord through his Word, and so we come together corporately to pursue him through reading, preaching, singing, praying, and “seeing” the truth of the Scripture. As his Holy Spirit leads us in understanding and pondering the seriousness of our sin, we are also reminded of what a great Savior we have in Jesus and the joy of living for his kingdom in the fellowship of other believers. As we affirm our faith together, our hearts are strengthened to serve him throughout the week.
Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ from a preacher, the preaching of God’s Word is at the center of our congregation’s corporate gathering (Romans 10:14, 17). Our preaching is expository in that our pastor seek to proclaim faithfully the intended meaning of the Scriptures. In order to expound the whole counsel of God, the main diet of our pulpit is expository series through entire Bible books, alternating between testaments, genres, authors, and themes (Acts 20:27; 2 Timothy 3:16–4:2). This allows God, himself, to set the agenda for our church.
We seek to select songs & hymns that are Christ-centered and biblically rich (Colossians 3:16). We believe there are many songs from various times in history that both honor God and build up the Church. With this in mind, you can expect to sing a mixture of songs both new and old. Whatever form the music takes, we want our worship to help you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).
We publicly devote ourselves to prayer as an expression of our dependence on the Lord. We praise God for who he is (Psalm 29:2), confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:9), offer thanks to God for all of the blessings he gives us (Psalm 107:1), make requests of him (Matthew 7:7–11), and intercede with him on behalf of others (Philippians 4:6). We seek to pray not only for the needs of our church, but also for the needs of other churches in the area. We pray for our county and its officials, our state, our country, and even other countries around the world (1 Timothy 2:1–4). Since Christ ransomed peoples from all over the globe, we seek to be global Christians. Therefore, we desire that our prayers reflect this conviction.
We believe giving is an act of worship whereby we give out of the abundance of what God has given us. We do not expect visitors to give and we never pressure anyone to give. But we want to provide an opportunity for everyone to receive joy in the act of giving (Acts 20:35).
You will find a variety of attire at SGBC. Some like to dress up in their “Sunday best”, others prefer casual outfits. We recognize the weather seems to always be changing in north-central Indiana, so please dress in what is most comfortable to you. As long as you are wearing clothes, we are happy. The only encouragement in attire is that it is modest and appropriate. We want to care for one another by not dressing in a distracting way, so that we can hear from God’s Word unhindered (1 Peter 3:3–4).
SGBC loves children of all ages. Our hope is that your young ones will participate in singing, praying, and learning right along with the rest of us.
We do, offer children’s classes for all ages during the 9:00 AM Sunday School hour and children’s church during the 10:30 AM Morning Service. Providing a safe environment for children to learn about God is our top priority. Most of the children’s ministry volunteers are moms and dads themselves, who want to see their own children learn & grow in their understanding of Jesus. All workers follow strict guidelines to ensure safety is our top priority!
If you do not feel comfortable sending your child to children’s ministry, please feel free to keep your child in the service with you. Activity bags are available for your child to enjoy during the service.
Fill in the blank with whatever you fear would make you unwelcome: divorced, single parent, broke, recovering addict, atheist, skeptic, etc. Whether you grew up in church, have never been to church, consider yourself a follower of Jesus, or just have questions, we’d love for you to attend.