When River City Church first began as a small group of people, we met in locations that were only available on Sunday nights. When we got our own building in 2016 we continued meeting for worship on Sunday evenings. The Bible assumes that believers will gather together in local assemblies (notice the repeated phrase “when you come together” in 1 Corinthians 11:18
, 1 Corinthians 14:23 for example.) In fact, the word for “church” comes from the word for “assembly” or “congregation” (Greek ekklesia). Therefore, it’s ridiculous to think that a person can be a part of a church and not assemble with that local body. It’s not possible. It also doesn’t make sense for a person to say they don’t like the body of Christ (the church) but say they love the head of the church (Jesus). The Bible does not make that distinction.
Following the pattern of the New Testament church, our gatherings include singing worship songs together (Ephesians 5:19), giving offerings (1 Corinthians 16:2), praying (1 Corinthians 14:16), reading of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13), practicing the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24) and preaching God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:2).
Also following the pattern of the first church, we gather on the first day of the week to celebrate the risen Lord Jesus together (Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2). And while this has always been on Sunday evening for River City Church, we believe there is no rule from the Bible about what time church should be. Therefore, in order to better align our local church culture with the larger cultural rhythms of our community and city, we will begin meeting for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am starting Easter Sunday, April 1. If you do not have a church home, we would love to have you join us as celebrate our risen Savior and King, Jesus.