In the fall of 2012, Rhema Community Church began as a Sunday night Bible study. Gathering in the meeting room of a local insurance agency with 14 people, the desire was to teach the Word equipping believers to be mature followers of Jesus Christ. A handful of men were gathered and began to pray and fast for the Lord’s direction. After a brief time, it was clear that God intended Rhema Community Church to grow beyond the walls of the insurance meeting room.
Since then Rhema has grown and impacted our community in meaningful ways. On July 2022 Rhema called a new Pastor (Wade Williams). He has joined us with a fresh vision and heart to see Rhema continue engaging Brnswick with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Creation . Fall . Redemption
God is both the creator and context of existence. Through Adam's rebellion, we inherit sin, are totally depraved, unable to remedy our condition and thus sinners by nature and choice. God in His sovereign will and plan chose to redeem a broken, fallen creation through the substitutionary gift of His Son, chooses to reveal Himself to His chosen people and restore them back into proper fellowship with the Father.
Orthodox Christianity has historically found its meaning and understanding of God, humanity, and the world through the overreaching storyline of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. This story, which at its core is the working of God through Jesus, makes sense of our own stories. Furthermore, there is an undeniable connection between story and doctrine. The Biblical story both raises and helps us answer the big questions of life such as: Who am I? Why am I here? Why is the world broken? How can the world be made right? Doctrines are the convictions that arise out of asking these questions as we live in God’s story. Simply put, doctrine is what we believe about what God has revealed concerning his people, his plan, and his world. Our doctrinal convictions help us understand the story and keep it from becoming mere history. In this way, foundational doctrines provide meaning for the present and hope for the future.
SCRIPTURES — The Verbal Plenary Inspiration of scripture, and that scripture is the only certain and authoritative knowledge of faith and existence, demanding obedience.
TRINITY — God has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each with distinctly unique attributes, without division of nature, essence or being and permeated with oneness and worship.
GOD — Self-evident as Maker, Creator, Preserver, Restorer and Ruler of all things, perfect in all things, righteous in all judgments, infinite and due the highest love, reverence and obedience by all of His creation.
JESUS CHRIST — The only begotten Son of God, having taken upon Himself the nature of man, born of flesh of the virgin Mary yet without sin perfectly fulfilled the just demands of the law, suffered and died upon a wooden cross taking upon Himself the propitiation of our sins becoming our atonement glorifying His Father. He was buried, rose on the third day bringing new life through His resurrection and ascended to heaven where He sits as the divinely appointed mediator between God and man, making intercession for His people.
HOLY SPIRIT — Of the triune Godhead, the Spirit seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit permanently indwells at salvation bringing revelation, regeneration, and sanctification baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, and sealing them unto the day of redemption.
THE FALL OF MAN — Man was originally created in the image of a Holy God free from sin, but through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original holiness and righteousness; whereby his descendants, inherit (are born with) a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are justly under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action become actual transgressors.
REPENTANCE AND FAITH —A sheer gift of God, wherein the Holy Spirit brings to man a revelation of his sin, his inability to justify himself before a holy and just God, so that he/she may humble oneself, and repent accepting and resting upon Him alone for justification and eternal life.
JUSTIFICATION — A declaration of God in which He freely chooses to acquit a sinner by faith in the atoning work of Christ; therefore granting grace.
SANCTIFICATION — A journey of the believer enabled by the justification of Christ substitutionary atonement that begins with regeneration at conversion, and a work of the Holy Spirit whose indwelling purifies and empowers the believer to walk in purity of spirit and a life of holiness and service.
ADOPTION — God's choice to bring those elected and justified into His family as a coheir with Christ, including all rights and privileges of a son.
ASSURANCE — Every person who is born of the Spirit through faith in Christ has the assurance, or confidence, of salvation and is eternally secure in Christ. This assurance of eternal security is not based on the work or the worth of the individual, but is based entirely on the testimony and promise of God in the Scriptures.
ORDINANCES — Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two ordinances that Christ gave to His church to be publicly observed after His death and Resurrection. Baptism is a one-time act of obedience and is an outward testimony of a person’s belief in Christ. Baptism is a symbol of unity among believers and signifies a spiritual identification with Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. Only those persons who profess a personal faith in Jesus Christ may be baptized. Immersion is the ideal means set forth in Scripture. The Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated regularly as a memorial in remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross, and in expectation of His return. The elements of the Lord’s Supper represent the body and blood of Christ and are available to all believers who have confessed their sins to God.
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS — Those whom Christ has saved and the Spirit indwells, though still sinful, will indeed continue in their sanctification unto perfection and have their salvation secure in life and actions of Christ.
THE JUDGMENT — An appointed day set aside by God where He will judge the world and everyone will receive according to his deeds. Those found wicked will receive everlasting punishment and those found righteous through Christ will receive everlasting life.
The Church exists as a community of regenerated believers
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers." - Acts 2:42
The early church was marked by these key characteristics. They were devoted to the apostles' teaching, they gathered often as a community, and they were steadfast in prayer, not because they had to but because their regenerated hearts wanted to. The church is primarily a community of likeminded believers in fellowship, worship, eating and praying yet often unbelievers and outsiders participate. The door of community isn't relegated only to believers, as we hope that our actions are harmonious with God's work to produce repentance and regeneration in those non-confessing of the Lordship of Christ. Thus children are also welcomed, loved and served so as to lay a foundation for future regeneration. The Church itself, the Body of Christ, is the local contextualized expression of the Trinitarian Godhead, and is only made up/comprised of confessing believers who are justified by faith and made new by the spirit.
Is organized and lead by competent, qualified Christ-centered leaders
The Church is led by Jesus Christ. He is our Senior Pastor. He has called undershepherds who under divine calling and provision lead the local assembly of believers. He also calls senior (spiritually mature) human leadership consisting of men who have been qualified in accordance with scripture, who have expressed, answered and display the evidence of God's calling and biblical obedience. These men work to provide complementarian leadership, preparing and sending people on mission, teaching doctrine, preaching, and the overall spiritual health of the local church.
The Bible also describes leaders (deacons) who coordinated specific areas of ministry led by both men and women. These men and women leaders witnessed and participated in many evangelistic history making events, yet did not rest on experience-based Christianity. They devoted themselves to the study of Scripture and had a keen awareness of their dependence on the Holy Spirit and Scripture for understanding, not just for information but as a means of transformation that permeated their whole life. They, too, must be biblically qualified and chase to complete the church’s vision and mission.
Regularly gathers with distinct contextualized expression
The purpose of the Church is to reflect the glory of God by echoing the revelation of who God is, responding in worship, repentance, prayer and resting in the imputed righteousness of Christ. Therefore, we seek to:
Regularly observes the Lord’s supper and baptism
As a church, during regular Sunday morning gatherings, we observe communion and baptism. These expressions are an act of worship, surrender and renewed commitment to the Lord in recognition of His sovereign authority over our lives. There is nothing mystical that occurs but rather are public displays of a regenerated soul.
Is one in ministry and united in movement
We are one in ministry through the confession and shared life of Jesus Christ and through the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit to reveal knowledge and infuse the Church with power. As a body, we seek oneness under the authority of Christ and unity in our movement in ministry. This unity is expressed in concrete axioms.
Provides discipline for holiness
As regenerated souls God sets obedience in our hearts. This is often fulfilled through the work of discipline, the root of discipleship. All scripture is God-breathed, profitable for teaching, discipline and training to produce righteousness in us, and thus we regard scripture as a complete authority for Christlikeness.
Theological Unity
We believe these to be the primary, close-handed doctrines of the church that we hold with a humble and teachable spirit.
Relational Unity
This doesn't signify conformity or devotion to a cultish personality. Our heart is that when we find ourselves with extra, we seek to build longer tables over bigger barns. Our desire and the work we strive to complete is that of being people who love community, who are givers of grace and lovers of the things God calls just. We strive to wear love so that others may see the evidence of God's grace and turn to worship Him.
Missional Unity
The Bible has set forth a mandate to not take ourselves so seriously but rather to take God seriously. The self-revealing God of the Bible pursues His rebellious and guilt-filled children and as adopted children of the Father, it is our joy to live a life that reflects the glory of Jesus and our pleasure to carry this light into dark places.
Organizational Unity
As a church called, equipped and sent to complete the mission of God we create an organizational structure to help us give shape and context to how we as a church fulfill this mandate. It is the leadership’s priority to lead such things as: staff and volunteer job duties, financial policies, budgets, facility management and ministry oversight in order that we may be unified, good stewards of the resources He has entrusted.
WHAT DOES RHEMA MEAN? - Rhema is translated out of the Greek New Testament and it literally means “word”. Rhema is used with language that gives direction or action. It was used specific to the teachings of Jesus. So you can probably tell by our name that we take God’s word very seriously.
IS RHEMA COMMUNITY CHURCH AFFILIATED WITH A DENOMINATION? - RCC functions as a non-denominational church. All decisions affecting the spiritual direction of the church are made by the Elder Body.
WHY DON’T WE PASS AN OFFERING PLATE? - We don’t want people to contribute because of cultural pressure. Instead, we encourage you to be intentional and thoughtful when you give. There are wooden churches located on either side of the stage and in the back of the worship center near the exit. You can also give online at www.rhemacommunitychurch.org/financialgifts.
WHY DO WE PLACE SUCH A LARGE EMPHASIS ON HOME GROUPS? - We believe an essential component for spiritual growth is living in a Christ-centered community. Growing as a follower of Christ is a lifelong process that is designed to occur with others. Home Groups are designed so that families can engage in community together.
WHY DO WE USUALLY HAVE EXPOSITORY TEACHING? - Expository preaching elevates God’s Word by making it the foundation and focus of church life. Clear and solid exposition of the meaning of a passage puts the authority where it belongs– on the Word of God rather than the pastor. Finally, expository preaching forces us to deal with topics, themes, and passages that we wouldn’t otherwise readily and willingly choose to deal with. But there they are in the text, and so we must preach them!
HOW DO I CONNECT AT RHEMA? - Foundations is our membership process focusing on our church’s Core Values. The class will provide information about our foundational doctrines, our mission, ministry directives, and benefits of a local church. During Foundations you will be given an opportunity to sign a Covenant Agreement.
WHERE IS THE CHURCH LOCATED - Our campus address is 182 Cornerstone Dr. Bunswick, GA 31523. We are located off of HWY 341 across the street fro Tractor Supply.
Worship Service 10.30 AM
Home Groups - Site Specific
Women's Bible Study - 9.30AM,
Women's Bible Study - 6.30PM
Discovery Boys/ Girls - 6.30 PM
Youth/Adults - 6.30 PM
Men's Bible Study - 6.30 AM