About Our Church
Who We Are
The Shiremanstown Church of God is a Christian fellowship made up of people from a rainbow of religious backgrounds, all working together to serve one another and the surrounding community.
We want you to know that you and your family are important to us. More than
anything, we want to help improve the quality of your life. Our desire as a church is to offer assistance toward your personal and spiritual growth.
Whether you are investigating Christianity or are already a believer, our services are designed to meet your spiritual needs. We encourage an informal atmosphere where people have the opportunity to interact with one another. We use various mediums in an attempt to present God’s truth in ways that are effective and attractive. Each program is planned and well thought-out, focusing on a central theme for the day. In our time together we try to deal with the significant life issues that people like you are wrestling with on a daily basis.
What We Believe
The Shiremanstown Church of God is made up of a group of people from a variety of situations in life, all trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus today. We may use up-to-date language, a combination of contemporary and traditional music, and other mediums to communicate God’s Word to today’s culture, but our message is as old as the Bible itself.
We embrace historic Christian teaching on all doctrines. The sole basis for our belief is the Bible, which is uniquely God-inspired, without error, and the final authority on all matters on which it bears. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each possessing all the attributes of the deity.
God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but they defied God by sinfully going their own way. As a result, we need God’s saving grace to end our alienation from God. Salvation comes through God’s grace – not human effort – and must be received personally by repentance and faith.
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, lived a sinless life on earth and voluntarily paid for our sin by dying on the cross as our substitute. This accomplished salvation for all who receive grace by trusting in Him alone. He rose from the dead and is the only mediator between us and God. He will one day return to earth to consummate history.
The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church. The church’s role is to glorify God and serve those in need. At the end, everyone will experience bodily resurrection and the judgment. Only believers will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.
If you would like more details, please feel free to contact us and ask for our complete Statement of Faith, “We Believe.”
Our Purpose
During this next season of ministry here at our church, we want to focus on three things. We want to…
Love God and love people – Matt. 22:36-40; Col. 3:14; 1 John 4:7-9
Live out our faith by helping people grow closer to God, within the church and
community – Matt. 5:16; Jam. 2:14-17; Phil. 3:10
Serve God and others through the power of God’s Spirit – 1 Pet. 4:10; Gal. 5:25; Phil. 2:14
Our Philosphy
It has become increasingly clear that a majority of the folks in our community are not involved in a local church. We believe being a part of a church community can make a difference in people’s lives. We have been reworking our program to make it more ‘user-friendly’ for those who haven’t been to church in a long time.
On Sunday mornings we encourage an informal atmosphere where people have the chance to talk and interact with one another. Church is a place where you should be able to relax and make friends, so we allow people the freedom to make that happen. We also try to deal with the issues that people are wrestling with in our society. We provide biblical solutions to the everyday problems of life. Our hope is that each Sunday you will receive the information that you can use to make your life better.
Our experience has been that most people are interested in the person of Jesus Christ and what he has to say. It is the institution of the church they have a problem with. Our goal, in everything we say and do, is to remove the barriers of tradition and enable people to come in contact with the living God. We have some work to do and there is still room for improvement, but we think you will find our church to be comfortable, warm, and friendly.
What is a "Church of God"
The Shiremanstown Church of God is affiliated with a denomination known as the Churches of God, General Conference. This can be somewhat confusing, since more than 150 denominations use “Church of God” somewhere in their name.
The Churches of God, General Conference is a 200-year-old association of Christian churches headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The denomination has a strong commitment to the Bible as the Word of God, to salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to other central truths of the Christian faith, and to world missions. Perhaps, the best way to describe the church is to say that it is right in the mainstream of historic Christianity. You won’t
hear any radical new teaching at Shiremanstown, but you will hear the truths of God’s Word communicated clearly and concisely in a style that makes sense.
.