Religious information and spiritual guidance can be found with a click of a mouse on a computer or the swipe of a finger on your phone. So why do we have to gather together? It’s simple. We humans need connection. And the church exists to connect us with the God who is connected to us in the God-human person of Jesus, as well as with one another who exist as Jesus’ body on earth. Here’s how it happens at Bessemer Presbyterian Church.

Worship

We gather together to worship the Triune God in the name of Jesus Christ. While we can offer our praise and adoration to God from many places (even the temple of God’s creation), there is a sense throughout the New Testament that when the people of God gather to worship together, something powerful happens. The body of Christ, though many parts, is united by the Holy Spirit to offer a fuller expression of praise to God. The people of God, the living stones, come together to be a temple to God’s Spirit. When we gather at the table of the Lord together, Jesus is truly present with us; our hearts are lifted to God in the power of the Holy Spirit, and we share in a moment of mystical fellowship with the church in heaven and on earth. In short, something powerful and mysterious happens when we gather together in God’s presence that we don’t quite experience as individuals. And that powerful and mysterious “thing” is actually an experience of the Divine, the love and presence of the Triune God.

Fellowship

At the heart of the church’s life and mission are relationships. If as Jesus tells us, the whole law of God can be summarized in the commands to love God and to love one another, then it only makes sense that fellowship would be at the heart of what connects us. Fellowship is a word that means, “friendly association, especially with people who share one's interests.” For us, it is a forming of the bonds of friendship with one another around our shared faith in Jesus Christ. Yet it goes deeper, as we are linked into a familial bond of brothers and sisters, adopted into God’s family. At its best, the church provides us a place of belonging, an experience of love and grace. And even in the more tense moments of our existence, through disagreements and discord, there are moments where our sense of fellowship and love become the means by which we experience God’s grace and forgiveness; there are moments where we are challenged to live the Gospel we proclaim, and we grow as followers of Christ.

Fellowship is the bond of the Holy Spirit that unites us to one another. We find that fellowship in various ways: by participating in church events together, such as times of education (Bible Studies, Sunday school, etc.), various meals together (as the earliest church did), church mission projects or fundraisers, in smaller gatherings of church members, and simply in passing before and after worship. But we also share in fellowship as we pray for one another, as we tell our stories and hear the stories of others, as we show love to one another in times of need, rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn.

In short, fellowship is the glue of the Holy Spirit that binds us together as one body, as a temple of God, as the church of Jesus Christ in this community.

welcoming others

There is a strong sense of warmth when one enters the church for the first time: words of welcome and introductions are heard as visitors arrive. We are always glad to have new faces and old faces alike among us. We strive to be a place and a community where strangers become friends, of ours, and friends of our Savior Jesus Christ.

We live in a time and place where not all feel welcome in the fellowship of the church. In part, there is a recognition that as we encounter others different from ourselves, we are called to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ to all, so that every person, regardless of worldly labels and associations, experiences the dignity they deserve and the love that belongs to them as a child of God. We intend for all to feel welcome in this space, and we will strive to see that every person feels welcomed (*And we do mean ALL*). We may not always be perfect at this, as we are continually in the process of growing. But we would love to try, to learn, to grow by all who come into our fellowship. After all, even those different from us may be the very piece of our fellowship that we didn’t realize we were missing, and their presence with us brings a beauty, a warmth and a depth that enables us to experience the love of God in ways we never have before.

So if you’re new, please give us a chance. We would love to connect with you, to learn more about you, and to not only help you connect with God, but to learn what your experience of God can teach us!

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