Looking for a church? Is it like finding a new restaurant or ice cream parlor? It quite often seems like it. The criteria that most people use to find “a religious house of worship” is quite amazing–to put it in the best light possible. There is a sense in which people want to commune with something or someone divine, but God is more like an idea than a living person. It’s pretty easy to consult with an idea in order to establish some guidelines in searching for a church. It is quite another matter to consult with a person who might have his own non-negotiable requirements as to what actually constitutes a church without consulting us about what we might prefer.

If we were interested in consulting with God about a church, how would we know what he requires? Whose to say? Well, it is God who establishes the criteria and makes it known to us in his word, the holy Scriptures. Now this doesn’t cut it with too many people. Religion is more of a personal matter and no one is in a better position to define it than we are. In fact, the postmodern hubris is that no one is better suited to say who or what God is than we are. As for the holy Scriptures, aren’t they just the opinions of people who lived thousands of years ago? Why would we consult with people who lived and died more than two thousand years ago?

Our starting point is the Bible. It is not unreasonable to believe that God is real and that he has the ability to reveal himself to us–or not. The Bible itself reveals the person who is God. It is God’s word. It speaks of many things, but the Bible is preeminently about God: who he is; what he is like; what he demands of us; and what our everlasting fate will be if we stand before him without the righteousness he requires absolutely.

So our starting point in finding a church is the Bible. God teaches us in his word what a church is–which necessarily also says what a church is not. If the nature of the church is authoritatively defined by Scripture…well, most of what passes our own preferences is a very long way from passing God’s requirements.

Frankly, this doesn’t bother too many people today. And not too many will agree with the conviction that the Bible is an authority that entirely eclipses our own. Most will disagree that the Bible is the sole authority over all matters of human life.

Taken at God’s word, the church is the assembly of people–sinful people–who have responded to God’s Son, Jesus Christ, with the response that God himself demands. And what is this response? Two loaded words: (1) repentance toward sin; (2) faith in Jesus Christ. The church is a community of people who have come to believe in Christ on the basis of the word of Christ.

People who give to God their obedience of faith are not thereby sinless in this present world. But they are declared to be what God requires them to be: Righteous. Not with their own righteousness. No! What they have is the righteousness of Christ credited to them because of their trust exclusively in Christ Jesus. This is what God says the church is.

To “cut to the chase” so to speak, Twin Branch Bible Church will not look very appealing to the postmodern (read “self-oriented”) world. And we as a church are not trying to compete in the profit-driven economy of our time. “Advertising” feels a little like retail strategy. But we do what people to know that there is a church that meets in a building at 3807 Vistula Road. It is a church that believes the Bible, teaches the Bible, and holds the Bible to be the sole authority over all of life and faith. This does not mean we think we’ve hit closer to perfection than anyone else. We certainly do not believe this. Our very nature as human beings is conducive to disobedience rather than obedience. But we do know where to go and what to do with our sin. And we know how to receive with grateful hearts what Christ Jesus has done for us on the cross two thousand years ago. We know because of our faith what God will do for us when this present age ends: He will fulfill all his promises he has made without a single one of them left unfulfilled. We try to help each other live in the light of God’s promises.

We invite you to consider these matters. And if you would consider them alongside us, we welcome you.