Expression of Faith
Our expression of faith, or “what we are about” comes from several years of discerning what God has already been doing within the life of our church. The essential doctrines of our faith we find within scripture are the foundation we stand on and the expression of our faith is made up of four pillars:
Prayer
Prayer is more than just a discipline but the key life giving element to our spiritual formation and the heart of our church for the purpose of cultivating an intimate connection with God.
The disciples asked Jesus in Luke 11, “Teach us how to pray.” And we receive this wisdom as the most important element of our spiritual life. We believe a prayer shaped life is the heart of the individual disciple and from this comes everything else that makes us, us.
Help grow your prayer life practically by:
-House of Prayer first Monday of every month.
-Lectio 365 app- daily prayer meditations.
-Participate in intercessory prayer groups.
Spiritual Disciplines
In the same way we see Paul, the disciples, and Jesus Himself discipline themselves in various ways, we commit to doing so with our lives also. We uphold spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, fasting, solitude, generosity, confession, etc. within the rhythm of our life, not to earn favor with God but to put them into practice to help cultivate an intimate life with God.
There are various times throughout the year where we feel lead to practice these disciplines together as a community, but also throughout the year we encourage people to put these into practice as needed throughout their own personal faith journeys.
See these books as excellent resources:
Spirit of the Disciplines- Dallas Willard
Celebration of Discipline- Richard Foster
Or you can purchase them at the same cost in the lobby.
Community
We see the way God purposed His people to live together with one another. We recognize the tension of learning how to be fully dependent on God as provider and guide, yet we cannot follow Him without being with one another. We commit to this in the way we gather together on a Sunday, in one another’s homes, coffee shops, and restaurants throughout the week. And we also have small groups that use the church building for adults and youth throughout the week that gather every other Tuesday. Please refer to the calendar on our website for when you should come be apart of a small group to grow in the word together.
At BCC, we acknowledge the difficulty of intimate community in todays age but we see the call on our life to fight for it as we learn how to bear with one another and we believe it is within these close relationships that we grow in our discipleship to Jesus.. We are committed to growing in our ability to be a real Christ centered community, following Jesus Together in Bandera
Justice
God is a God of justice, and we are filled with His Holy Spirit to respond to the call of action. The call to justice, according to scripture, isn’t just about the guilty getting what they deserve. Godly justice is doing what is right and good according to God’s kingdom and standard. Many have the desire for community outreach and this is how we see justice being fulfilled according to scripture. We desire to see justice met through the various ways people are gifted and called to reach our community of Bandera. At BCC, we do not elevate one particular ministry above another. We believe they all play an equal and important role in God’s desire to redeem this community.
These are things we believe God has created on His own within our community so far. We continue to pray and discern about other ways we are to respond to the needs of our community. We encourage you to also be discerning how the Lord has gifted you to be apart of loving our community in one of these ways. If you are interested in one of these specific areas of justice, we encourage you to reach out to those that are direct contacts for each respective area.
Justice Partners
1
Service Name
Mercy Gate
Mercy Gate Ministries is a faith based, direct care, non profit organization committed to empowering women aged 18 and older who are overcoming sexual exploitation, sexual trauma, and sex trafficking. We provide comprehensive support through both residential and non residential restoration programs, court advocacy, and services that promote family reunification and healing.
Email: Erin Rowe
2
Service Name
Jail Ministry
“...I was in prison and you visited me.” Matthew 25:36
The men and women in county jail are at a time which allows them to reflect on their bad choices and the results. We believe this is an opportunity to meet them where they are, and to share the forgiving love of Christ with them.
Email: Tom Cook
3
Service Name
Addiction & Recovery
Among our Small Groups that meet here in our church building every other
Tuesday at 6 pm is our Recovery Group. We believe in what is said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
In other words, Scripture is sufficient to guide us through whatever struggles we are facing, including addiction. As we dive deeper into the lesson taught on the previous Sunday, we take a look at how God’s word relates to our recovery journey and how He uses our unique
experiences to draw us closer to Him and to reach others who are struggling. Our desire is for anyone battling any type of addiction to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ and
experience the true freedom that only He can provide.
Email: Matt Boyse
Foster & Adoption
Many families in our community are only one traumatic event away from being swept into the foster system. Job loss, domestic violence, drug addiction, illness and unplanned pregnancy are all factors that often lead to families at risk of entering the foster system. At BCC, we want to see people cared for before these fracture points hit, children from our community in foster care be placed into loving, God-fearing homes, and for those families to be well supported. We all have a part to play!
James 1:27 states: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
One of the biggest needs within this community is being able to simply babysit for the families that are fostering from time to time. It is required by the state for anyone who babysits to be properly trained. If you are able, please reach out to these contacts for the proper instruction so you can be apart of blessing these families in this way, or if you're interested in learning more about how to get involved in other ways, whether it be by becoming a foster parent, providing support to foster families through respite care, or representing a child through CASA, reach out at:
Email Shannon Traver or Kaitlyn Raitz