Sunday School classes for all ages at 9:30 a.m. Followed by Sunday morning worship service at 10:30 a.m. (usually ends by about 11:50 to noon).
Our church meets in Pantego, Texas, a cute little town bordered by Arlington and Dalworthington Gardens. The building is located just south of Pioneer Parkway (303) and west of Bowen Road at the corner of Graves and Raper Boulevards. (Unfortunate street names, we know. Maybe we should have looked for a Praise Avenue or Salvation Street. Oh well.) There’s parking immediately next to the building and in several of the nearby lots. (Please watch out for any places with “no parking” signs.)
Our building is a former auto service garage and it blends in with the other garages around it, so look for the “Christ Community Church” signs. It’s the most beautiful church you’ve ever seen (said no one ever). But don’t judge the book by its cover; it’s what’s inside that really counts. Christ Community Church is the people, not the building.
Shorts and flip flops? Suit and tie? How ’bout this?: If you won’t judge us by the building we meet in, we won’t judge you by what you wear.
It’s not a fashion show here at CCC, so come as you are. Dress to be comfortable--that’s what we do. Here’s the thing, we know God looks at what’s on the inside, not the outside. We’re worshiping with our hearts, not our wardrobe. And who are we to judge anyway? We have church in a warehouse for Pete’s sake! (Have we mentioned the buildling enough? Let’s continue...)
When you walk in, you’ll find our foyer area with coffee and breakfast goodies readily available. There on the ground floor, you’ll also find the kitchen, auditorium, restrooms, and nursery. Kids’ classrooms and an additional restroom are upstairs.
There are a Children’s Bible class and a Youth class (7th-12th grade) that meet upstairs. The adult class meets in the auditorium at the same time (9:30 a.m.).
Worshiping God is something that is done as individuals and as a group. What we do throughout the week is the individual part. (Showing God’s love by loving others is worship. Being merciful and forgiving is worship. Living a life that brings glory to God is worship. Doing what Jesus would do is worship. You get the idea.)
What we do on Sunday mornings is the group part. And at CCC it goes somethin’ like this...
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Our worship music is led by a praise band in a contemporary style. But we do also sing some old standard hymns you might have grown up with, and we’ll even do a few of them a cappella from time to time. Feel free to sing along with anything you know. The lyrics will be on the screen.
If you’re having trouble locating the band, turn around--they play in the back of the auditorium. The praise band prefers to be part of the group of worshipers, rather than set apart. Yeah, it’s unusual, but it’s about focus. We want to focus on what we’re singing about (looking at the lyrics in the front of the room) rather than on the performance of a few individuals.
There are several times during our service when we stop and pray. Again, it’s about focus. Prayer puts us in communication as a group with God and reminds us where every good thing comes from. It’s sort of a conference call with The Boss, if you will. (The Boss being God in this case, not Bruce Springsteen.)
Jesus prayed that all His followers would be unified in order to show God’s true nature to the world [John 17:20-23]. So, each week, we continue His prayer with a “Unity Prayer” of our own. We pray that Christians in Arlington will be united in the effort to bring the heart of Christ to the heart of the Metroplex. And, in an effort to support our brothers and sisters around the world, we pray that those who are persecuted for their faith will be strong and that the oppressive regimes that they live under will become more tolerant of those following Jesus. We are very blessed to live in a country where we have the right to worship who, where, and how we choose. Others around the globe are not that fortunate.
If you’re looking for the reason why we’re here, this sums it up. Each Sunday we participate together in Communion (or The Lord’s Supper). It’s an opportunity to remind ourselves of the sacrifice Jesus made for us in giving up His life when He was executed on a Roman cross. If Jesus hadn’t died for us in order to give us life, we would all be lost. We cannot save ourselves on our own. We’re just not good enough and never can be. We need a Savior. So Jesus came to the rescue. Our sins were nailed to the cross with Him and He left them buried in the grave when He rose again. Sin and death were defeated--once and for all--and they can never have power over us again.
We do this every week because Jesus said, “Do this to remember me...” [1 Corinthians 11:23-26] Seems like it would be hard to forget, but there’s a lot happening during the week that can distract us. Also, we find that the shared experience of Communion in worship is a precious time. Each week a member of our group shares a Communion thought. We try to make the weekly “remember me” fresh and meaningful--not just another ritual.
During this Communion time, we pass around bread and grape juice to represent Jesus’ body and blood. It may seem like an odd practice if you’ve never participated in it before, but it’s our way of internalizing (literally) what we believe--taking Christ into our lives. You are what you eat, as they say. Feel free to share this with us if you like.
Typically, each Sunday we are presented with a sermon. These lessons are designed to encourage and enlighten us in our Christian journey and challenge us stay on the right track as we travel together. The preacher presents this lesson as one of us, a fellow sinner (because, let’s face it, we are all sinners), and not as one who is revealing some secret truth that the rest of us don’t have access to. The source is the Bible, God’s Word to all of us, and the message is openly available for all of us--all who are willing--to see it.
That said, great effort is put forth on a weekly basis into giving us something from the Bible to walk away with and apply to our daily lives. Because the Bible is not some rule book on how to do church. It’s the story of how God created and set apart a people to be His children and then went to great lengths to show us how much He loved us by sending His Son to save us from sin and death. That story still speaks to us today. There are new things to learn from it all the time. The Word keeps speaking and we keep learning. So we look forward each week to hearing what God wants to say to us during this part of our worship together.
This part is members-only. You are our guest. Please don’t feel like you are required to reach into your wallet to be welcome here at CCC.
We give a portion of our income to the church on a regular basis. We don’t do it to somehow pay God back for what He’s done for us. The money is really all His to begin with, since everything we have comes from Him anyway. We’re just being faithful with what He has graciously provided us. These donations go toward making sure we have a place to meet and funding whatever ministries, events or needs we have decided, as a family, to support.
The kids (nursery, preschool, and elementary ages) share the first part of the worship service with us and then have the opportunity to go to Children’s Church (upstairs), where they are presented with a lesson specifically tailored to them. We feel that the delivery of a message you can understand at your level is very important. Jesus did just that kind of thing Himself. The story of God’s love is for everyone, at any age. For the young and the not-so-young alike.
By the way, we do have a nursery available during class and worship time equipped with a changing table, baby bed, rocking chairs, toys, and a speaker that you can control to listen to the worship service. This room is located close to our downstairs restrooms.
Well, that should just about cover it. But if you want to know more about anything listed here or have a question about something we didn’t cover, feel free to send us an email.
We hope you’ll decide to give our little church a visit. We’re looking forward to having you as our guest.