WE BELONG TO CHRIST...
First and foremost - we can’t be any clearer in our identity than this. We belong to Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and Savior and he is the one we follow.
WE Are "Christ's church"
We are His "church on the Move"
Church on the Move began as a vision that the Church is flesh and blood - not brick and mortar. The Church is made up of people who Believe and Follow Jesus. As people, we are not static - we’re kinetic. Our lives are in constant motion (in this day and age more than ever). We are always “on the Move.” And so we grabbed hold of this idea - The church is people, and we are kinetic - we are in motion. We are “on the move!”
When Jesus was talking to his disciples, he commanded them to GO out into the world and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. He told them to Move Out - sharing the message of life with anyone they could. He started a movement of grace and love and redemption that has been passed down for centuries.
We are His Church - when we gather together - the Church gathers; and when we Move - the Church Moves out to change the world. And just like he has down through time, Jesus is inviting us to JOIN THE MOVEMENT.
When we decided to cast the vision for this community of believers - we wanted a name that would reflect our vision for what we hoped to be known for as we advanced the work of God’s Kingdom. We wanted to be a church that was always serving, always growing, always active, always helping, always transforming, always giving - in essence - always MOVING. Our name is a reminder of that mission. God is moving - and so are we - that people might know Jesus and be transformed by his grace!
Our story
Christ's Church on the Move was originally First Christian Church of Lake Wales, a ministry started in 1921 following a revival held in the local high school auditorium. Since then, our church family has seen many wonderful years as we have ministered to the community of Lake Wales. In 2009, the leadership decided to make some changes and we relaunched our identity as Christ's Church on the Move.
Christ's Church on the Move is a Christian Church belonging to the tradition of the Restoration Movement. This Movement began from the combined efforts of Barton Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell in the early 1800’s as a renouncement of denominationalism and a desire to restore unity to the body of Christ based on the model of the New Testament Church.
We are an independent Christian Church – belonging to Christ – and Christ alone. Our message is that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Our authority comes from the Bible. We have no higher governing body – no central office or hierarchy. We are part of a network of similar congregations, individually governed, but unified in our efforts to see Christ preached and the world transformed by the Kingdom of God. We seek to restore the church to its original mission as seen in the pages of the New Testament.
When the original members of First Christian Church of Lake Wales set out to start their ministry – they penned this statement of faith: “We, the undersigned, do hereby agree and make covenant to constitute ourselves, with such of like faith as may care to unite with us, the First Church of Christ (Christian Church) of Lake Wales. Our object is to restore primitive Christianity after the Apostolic order and so form a basis for the unity of all Christian people, thus enabling Christ to press forward His work of saving the world.” To this aim we continue to dedicate ourselves.
We are Christ's Church on the Move and our mission is to “Move with God to Move People to Life” – a life found only in Jesus Christ.
main beliefs
1. We believe that there is one sovereign God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the Creator of all things. (Genesis 1:1, Matthew 3:16-17, John 1:1-2, Acts 2:32-33)
2. We believe that Jesus Christ, God's only Son, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died as a substitute for us, and rose from the grave. (Colossians 2:9, Luke 1:30-35, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
3. We believe in the Holy Spirit who convicts the world in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment, and indwells every believer and equips them for personal growth and service to Jesus Christ. (John 16:8, Acts 2:38, Ephesians 1:13-14)
4. We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the final authority for all matters of faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
5. We believe that man, created by God in His image, willfully sinned and as a result, is lost and without hope apart from Jesus Christ. (Genesis 1:27, Romans 3:23 & 6:23, Acts 4:12)
6. We believe that salvation - the forgiveness of sins - is available only by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. This free gift of salvation is offered to all who receive Christ as Lord and Savior, through faith. (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 2:38, Colossians 2:6)
7. We believe those accepting Christ should repent of sin, confess their faith, and be baptized into Him. (Romans 10:9, Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, Acts 8:36-38, Galatians 3:26-27)
8. We believe that death seals the eternal destiny of each person. When Christ returns he will pronounce the eternal fate of each individual - the saved to eternal life in heaven, the unsaved to eternal separation from God in hell. (Acts 1: 10- 11, John 5:28-29, Daniel 12:2, 2 Corinthians 4:14)
