Phoenix Valley Church Of Christ

Phoenix Valley Church of Christ

The Phoenix Valley church has a history filled with many positives and some negatives. While we are presently trying to learn our lessons from the negatives in order to avoid repeating them, we want to remain appreciative of all of the good things that God has accomplished through the years. Souls have been saved, lives have been changed, spiritual marriages have been initiated, unspiritual marriages have been radically altered for the good, children have been born to godly parents, and lives have been blessed through a relationship with God and with one another. May we never forget that our Savior has blessed us in abundant ways, both great and small!

At this point in our history, certain needs are readily apparent. We have been in the process of examining who we are as individual disciples and who we are as a church. The results of this examination are not clear to all of us, which necessitates a time of clarification and renewal. We are on the verge of appointing elders and deacons, thus becoming a biblically organized church. According to Hebrews 13:17, elders “keep watch over you as men who must give an account.” The desire of the elders and other leaders is that we as a church are pointed in directions that enable them to keep watch over each member of the flock. Much thought and prayer has gone into putting into words what these needed directions are at this present time. We appreciate the ministry staff, the elders in training, the Temporary Advisory Group, and the Regional Core Groups for their input as this material was formulated. The elders and evangelists will be providing in the near future a much condensed synopsis of this material that will serve to help us define our present membership. May God use this time of clarification and renewal to guide our feet individually and collectively into the paths that he desires for us.

The Bible is a book about love. Therefore, the top priorities in the Bible all have to do with relationships. Jesus made that point clear in this familiar quote from Matthew 22:37-40: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Simply stated, we are to love God and love people — our physical family, the church (God’s spiritual family) and the lost (those whom God wants in his family). As we renew our pledge to Jesus as Lord, our basic core convictions about what his Lordship means in our lives should reflect these priorities. If we build our lives around these priorities, both as disciples and as a group of disciples in the church, we will remain pointed in the right direction and will not be led in wrong directions. While our focus must be upon the future and not the past, maintaining love as our foundation will protect us from repeating the mistakes of the past.

If we as a church of disciples are to be “perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10), we need to identify the basics of what that unity should include. Obviously, many basic tenets of Christianity could be noted, for we are conservative Bible believing people. However, the primary need of the hour is to identify those basic convictions that we can agree are essential for us to be committed to at this time in our history. Since much of our present lack of clarity is about the Body of Christ, the church, extra attention will be given to this area. This does not mean that this area is more important than any of the others, but our present need for clarification lies more in this area than in the others. For this reason, more attention will be given to it. Remember the focus Jesus had on the church, for in the forty days between his resurrection and ascension, his teaching was about the kingdom (Acts 1:3). Please consider the following biblical principles that seem to fit under the heading of love for God and love for people.

Sunday Services
9:30 am – 11:30 am
@ Horizon Community Learning Center
P.O. Box 71365
Phoenix,  AZ   85050
(623) 780-2220