Harvest Bible Church is a non-denominational, non-charismatic, evangelical Protestant church in located in Northwest Houston in the Cypress community. Established in September of 2001 after four years of prayer and preparation by a core group of committed believers from Cypress Bible Church, it is our goal to provide a ministry of Bible teaching and ministry to those seeking a deeper walk with Christ. Our mission is to know Christ and to make Him known.
Because Bible churches aren't well known to many, below are some questions we anticipate you might have. Click on the questions to reveal how we would respond. Please let us know how we can be of service to you.
What is a Bible Church?
What do the members of Harvest Bible Church believe?
How does Harvest Bible Church view salvation?
What is the mission of Harvest Bible Church?
How does Harvest Bible Church plan to fulfill it's mission?
What is a Bible Church?
Many folks are hesitant to visit a church that is non-denominational. Some fear its legitimacy, and if they are going to visit a church they're certainly not going to attend one that may or may not be legitimate. Harvest Bible Church is a Bible-believing church that bases its beliefs on what the scriptures teach. We are fully legitimate in that we look very much like any traditional church. We don't handle snakes, and we are non-charismatic. We are biblically conservative, and we're people who love to get together and have a good time. Though the following document may sound somewhat wooden and/or stuffy we are actually a down-to-earth people who love to laugh, eat together, play softball together, watch football, etc. This brief statement is meant to clarify who we are and what we do at Harvest Bible Church. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
Harvest Bible Church is exactly what our name reveals. It is a church that focuses on the teachings of the Bible. We are not a church that worships the Bible, but we worship the One revealed in the Bible, in the words of scripture. Without the Bible there is no revelation of who God is. Though He is revealed in His creation (cf. Psalm 19), He can be known personally only through His Son Jesus Christ, and there is no revelation of Jesus Christ outside of the Bible. The word "Harvest" is taken from a passage of scripture. Matthew 9:37-38 says, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'" The "harvest" signifies the people of the earth who are ripe for the good news of Jesus Christ, and Harvest Bible Church is about reaching those people. They are the field of crops, as it were, and our church is about reaching them and teaching them about Jesus Christ - the only way to God the Father.
Our members and those that attend regularly come from a variety of backgrounds. There are as many Protestants as there are Catholics. Unfortunately most denominations are light on Bible teaching and heavy on stories and anecdotes. Our focus is Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the scriptures. We believe that true worship comes only from the lives and mouths of believers, and we assemble each Sunday morning for a believer's worship service. All visitors are welcome, whether "churched" or "unchurched," but Sunday sermons have believers in mind. Our people are given a steady diet of God's Word and challenged to take this good news to the dying world around them, for the "harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." We endeavor to make disciples of Christ through a knowledge of Christ and his teachings as found in the scriptures. We believe that the more Christians know and understand Jesus Christ the better they become at leading others to Christ through their own evangelistic efforts.
What do the members of Harvest Bible Church believe?
The Apostles' Creed speaks clearly about what the members of Harvest Bible Church believe:
I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic (universal) church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
How does Harvest Bible Church view salvation?
HBC believes that all have sinned and fall short of God's perfect standard (Romans 3:23). There is no one who is good, and because of this all have missed God's perfect mark (they have sinned). Romans 6:23 states that because humans are sinners - because they have missed God's perfect mark of behavior - they will all die. Death is the natural conclusion to sin, and because all have sinned, all will die. The good news (the gospel) is that while we were still sinners "Jesus Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). This means that though we are sinful and deserving of death as a result, Jesus Christ stepped in and took our punishment for us. God has to mete out His punishment for sins in order to be true to His word, but instead of taking it out on sinners, He took it out on Himself - on His Son Jesus Christ. The penalty has been paid, and those who place their trust and their faith in Jesus Christ will be saved from eternal death. Eventually we will all die physically, but those who place their faith in Christ alone for salvation will live eternally with God in heaven (cf. John 3:16). Ephesians 2:8-10 teaches that the eternal life God gives us through Jesus Christ is a gift. It is not attained through good works. If it were then people would have something to boast about. We would all take pride in our good works and one day face God and tell Him how good we were. However, even our good works are like "filthy rags" in God's eyes (Isaiah 64:6). That is why God declared us "righteous" in His eyes (He justified us). He had to "declare" this because no one could attain it - no one. Salvation then, comes through God's grace, through our faith in Jesus Christ, and good works come as a result. Notice that good works come after God's grace and our faith. They are the natural fruit of our proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. Romans 10:9-10 says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That's the good news; it is the gospel truth!
What is the mission of Harvest Bible Church?
Harvest Bible Church is a church that centers around God's Word - the Bible. Hence, we are a "Bible church." John 1:1-4, 14 says that Jesus Christ is the "Word" and that he was, is, and will always be the Eternal One. The mission of Harvest Bible Church is to know Christ and to make him known, and we believe that the best way to know Christ is through the written word that He gave us in the Holy Scriptures. Though God has made Himself known through His creation (cf. Psalm 19; Romans 1:18ff), there would be no knowledge of the man Jesus Christ without the written word of God from those who walked with him and saw him resurrected three days after he had been murdered and buried in a tomb outside of Jerusalem. Jesus claimed to be God and to be the Savior of all men. The prophecies spoken about the coming Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His life, death, and resurrection from the grave are sufficient proofs for his being the Savior of mankind. All of this is revealed in the Holy Bible - in both testaments which make up the whole of Scripture. Harvest Bible Church does not place the Bible as the "fourth member of the Trinity", as it were, but we worship the God the Bible reveals.
How does Harvest Bible Church plan to fulfill it's mission?
The ministries of Harvest Bible Church all center around the Word of God. In seeking to fulfill our mission (to know Christ and to make him known) we use the Bible and Bible-based study tools. The mission of HBC itself is twofold. First, Ephesians 4:11-16 says,
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
These verses summarize the first portion of our mission (to know Christ). We want to equip Christians to be deeper and more educated Christians as opposed to Christians who are carried away by all kinds of false teachings as a result of their biblical illiteracy.
Second, we want to make Christ known. Matthew 28:19-20 (the Great Commission) commands Christians to
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything I (Jesus) have commanded, and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the earth.
This passage commissions us to fulfill the second half of our mission: to teach the Bible to unbelievers - to those who have never heard about the saving power of Jesus Christ. Once both of these facets of ministry are in place we believe that only then can a church model what Christ has given us to model. Harvest Bible Church exists simply to make Christ known. Some need to know him more deeply while others need to meet him for the first time. The former are "working out their salvation" (cf. Philippians 2:12), the latter are in need of it. We believe that the only way to accomplish both is through a healthy dose of teaching God's Word in every situation in which we gather. The words of 2 Timothy 4:2 spur all of our ministries: "Preach the Word. Be in season and out of season. Correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and instruction."
In sum, Harvest Bible Church, from the Sunday morning worship gathering, to the men's and women's small group studies, to the children's Sunday School hour, seeks to center our ministries around God's Word, the Bible. We believe that the worship of God must be done "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23), and the worship of God in truth must center around what He has said is true worship as found in the Bible. To worship "in spirit" is simply to do so from the heart. It's goes far beyond religion and legalism, for worship "in spirit" is about praise toward God for the grace and mercy He has given to us in His Son Jesus Christ.
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