There are two questions we are asked more than any others. The first is whether we plan to build a building to meet in. (The second, answered below, is "who is your pastor?"). The answer to the building question is that unless God changes the vision He has placed on our hearts, we will not be building a church building in the traditional sense. Any building we lease, rent or construct will be built with the intention of facilititating mission in a given location - i.e., it will be designed to help people in need, not simply give us a place to meet. It is possible that we will at some point have either office space or storefronts from which we conduct mission-related activity, but we are otherwise currently committed to meeting in homes. As we grow, we believe God will provide more home locations in which the groups that make up the church can meet. With that said, we are not dogmatic about our current "house church" setting, and we remain open to God's direction in how best to fulfill our mission.

Currently we find that not having a church building creates several specific benefits to the ministry we conduct. First, our resources are not tied up in overhead, and can be used to share the message of Christ and help those in need. Second, we have found that in many cases, people are more comfortable talking and discussing God with one another in a home environment than in what is far too often a rigid traditional church service. In addition, meeting in homes facilitates our goals of not breaking up families in church - parents and children meet together, and children hear their parents talk about God. Meeting in homes will also not allow any single sub-group in the church to get so large that it will lose track of the people that are a part of it. Finally, we believe that while we are blessed to live in a country that permits open worship of God through service to Jesus, it is important to maintain ideas of church community that can survive under oppression, both because we have no guarantee that our freedom will continue, and because we ultimately hope to plant churches in countries in which people are not free to worship as we are, and it is good to understand the patterns that will be required to do that.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the perfect Son of God, that He became human and died on the cross to pay for the sins of all mankind, and that he rose again, defeating death and the condemnation that all people deserve. Belief in Christ as God's Son and our Lord, and acceptance of His sacrifice for our sin in faith is all that is required to become a child of God forever. Romans 10:9 says ". . .that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

We also believe that personal acceptance of Christ's sacrifice is simply the beginning of life for believers, who are then all specifically called to a life of service and love to the people God has placed in their lives, and who most importantly are called to reach out and share the hope they have received with those who do not yet know Jesus. This call to ministry is not specific to a select few, but is made to all who would identify themselves as followers of Jesus.

The same concepts of love and service apply to local assemblies of Jesus' followers as well as to individuals. The assembly as a whole is responsible to God for the life it leads, for meeting the needs of the people it comes into contact with in love, and for spreading the good news about Jesus.

For a more detailed statement of what we believe, go to: Our Core Beliefs

The church of Jesus Christ has been called since its inception to tell people about Jesus "everywhere - in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:18. It is our goal and vision as an assembly of followers of Jesus to work with one heart and purpose (Phillipians 2:1) to fulfill this command. In order to do so, we must be willing to forgo or abandon many of the traditional roles that have been adopted by Churches in the modern era. Instead, our collective decision-making should be evaluated in terms of whether any and all decisions made and projects developed fulfill the basic mission purpose we have been given. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we hope to develop and promote a concept of church as an ever-expanding mission, as opposed to one of working toward a stated end result of becoming a "mature church." Doing this will necessitate a rethinking of concepts of building, single location, outreach, and discipleship, in favor of flexibility, multiple servant-leadership, and ultimately, multiple mission points that can grow and expand on their own.

The body of believers is accountable as a group, just as each individual believer is accountable, for use of resources, energy, and time in furtherance of the mission God has given it, and for loving and serving those around the body on the selfless terms modeled and commanded by Jesus.

Finally, our mission, and the mission of the church in the world today, is to be fulfilled, not by lifting up a single denomination or a particular church, but by lifting up Jesus Christ and confronting the world that needs him so desperately with His existence, His love, and His forgiveness. Jesus said that "But I, when I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." John 12:32. You can find a more detailed discussion of Centerlane's vision: HERE

The church of Jesus Christ is called to a specific mission - that of reaching people for Jesus. Jesus and his followers consistently focused on that mission in the face of significant pressure to become involved in the political struggles of their day. We believe that followers of Jesus should respect the political authorities that are placed over them, but that we are called to change our world by reaching people, including those leaders, for Jesus. Jesus said that "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." You can find a very useful discussion of the Church's role in politics in our friend and brother John Fischer's (from www.fischtank.com) article The Separation of Church and Hate.

We really can't improve on what he says about this issue.

CenterLane Church is not affiliated with any denomination, and identifies itself simply as being a fellowship of followers of Jesus Christ.

We can find no Biblical support for the idea that a single human being can lead a church, except for the short time period that is necessary to develop multiple eldership in a mission church environment. This is the work Timothy was engaged in at the church at Ephesus. The role of head of the church is reserved solely for Jesus Christ. The scriptural model for church leadership is a cooperative model that does not deny or attempt to limit God's authority in raising up the servants necessary to fulfill the church's mission. We believe that the cooperative servant-leadership shown in the New Testament was designed by God to permit the church to reach people in ways that are simply impossible for single leader churches.

We believe strongly in following those who have demonstrated long term commitment to following Jesus. The churches of the New Testament established groups of elders, who had proven their commitment to the cause of Christ and their service to their brothers and sisters in Christ prior to their selection from within the church. These elders were responsible for maintaining the spiritual focus of the body. But the leadership of the church was vested in Jesus Christ. Biblical decision making is neither democracy nor dictatorship, or even by committee, but through Spirit-led consensus among those actively engaged in the church's ministry of the Gospel. See Acts 13:1, Philippians 2:2.

We are committed to maintaining an environment in which God can raise up as many servants in ministry as are needed. We believe that this group will include people that fill the role of pastoral care for the people within the church, just as it will include people that are evangelists, missionaries, and teachers.

Christians should be very careful about claiming a call to or position to be "a leader." Christ has called us to be servants and brothers to one another, and indeed specifically said "And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is Christ." Matthew 23:10.

We view membership at Centerlane as a commitment to ministry together. There are two ways to become a part of that ministry. For those who have just placed faith in Jesus, there is no qualification for membership other than a desire to follow their new Savior and evidence of that desire through Baptism. In Acts 2 it is recorded that "the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." There is no indication there is any other criteria for belonging than that. For those who come from other churches or religious organizations, we generally try to make sure that there is understanding of our mission and purpose, and a similar desire to fulfill the single purpose to which we are called - sharing the message of Jesus with the world. The two constants, though,: 1)a point at which your life was changed by Jesus as you placed faith in Him alone for salvation, and 2) a desire to follow and grow in Him.

We strongly believe in accountability and authority. In fact we feel that our assembly incorporates more concepts of accountability and authority than most traditional single-pastor churches.

- We recognize the authority of our Elders, who receive that recognition, not because they received a claimed special call, or even simply because they hold the office, but instead because they have lived committed lives of Truth. Hebrews 13:7, 17; Phillipians 3:17; I Timothy 5:17.

- We recognize the authority of those who have discipled us. Every Christian who becomes a committed follower of Jesus has people that help him or her get there. They are the ones in each of our lives that pattern discipleship, teach, encourage, and hold on to each of us. Because of the outcome of their faith, they are worthy to be authorities in our lives.

- We recognize the authority in new church planting of those specially called to mission to exercise multiple roles of evangelist, prophet, teacher, pastor and apostle in that context. This authority is conferred by God and confirmed to the church by the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:1-3, I Timothy 1:18. The goal of this specific call to mission is to establish a local church community and to exercise spiritual authority in that community until such time as qualifed elders are established.

- Most of all, we recognize the authority of Jesus Christ. He is our Leader, our Lord, and our Rabbi (teacher with authority), and our Father is God in heaven.

We believe that God speaks to each believer through His Word and His Spirit, and that any claim by a follower of Jesus that God has given them a message for the assembly should be seriously considered and evaluated by reference to God's word and through prayer. This does not mean that there are none who are gifted in teaching, or in shepherding, or in evangelism, but it means that those gifts do not confer any special authority outside the authority of Jesus and His message. We are all brothers and fellow servants, and as such are ultimately accountable to one another. Matthew 23:8, Galatians 6:1-5.

CenterLane currently meets at the Lowrey's house in Sheridan, Arkansas. We meet at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings for prayer, and at 11:00 a.m. for praise and teaching. We meet at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday evenings. CenterLane Bible Study meets on Monday nights at 7:00 at the same location. Email us or call 870-329-4957 for more information.

We encourage you to read what our members have to say about their own relationships with Jesus Christ. Get to know some of us at: Who we are.

The Monday night bible study is a group focused on helping people actually follow Jesus. We generally work with a group discussion format, (although that changes at times) in which we discuss how God's principles practically apply to our lives. Monday night originated as a Bible study on the court square in Sheridan, and it is part of our vision to take Bible studies back to public locations in the community as soon as possible.

We meet at 7:00 at the Lowrey's house in Sheridan. Come join us. Call Jeremy at 870-329-4957 for more information.

The short answer to this question is that God moved us to do so. The longer answer is that we believe He has spent a significant amount of time showing each of us the limitations in ministry of the traditional church in our area. This is not to say that the traditional churches here are either ineffective or are failing to follow Jesus simply because they are traditional, but rather that God gave us a vision to begin to reach people who simply would not respond to churches in a traditional environment. We also felt that God was giving us an opportunity to investigate the patterns He had created for church life prior to the institution of many of our modern traditions and find the value in those patterns.

Many people say that the end times are here, and that it is inevitable that people will reject Christ and the church will grow cold. While it may be true that the world appears to be on the brink of destruction and judgement, we strongly believe that there is still an opportunity for the world to repent. In 2 Peter, it is written that "God is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentence." We believe there is a pattern in scripture of repentence leading to the deferral of God's judgement. (See Jonah and Ninevah for example). We believe we are responsible for sharing the message of Christ with our generation, and that this generation of people, as all have before, has an opportunity to repent and turn to God through Jesus Christ. As the people of Ninevah said when they repented and turned to God "Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will have pity on us and hold back His fierce anger from destroying us." Although the end times spoken of in Revelation are certain to come, no one can say when, and we are responsible to preach until they do.