Harvest Community Church
Orange City, IA

Worship. Since His resurrection, Jesus has been gathering His church to Himself on the first day of the week.  The Bible calls this the Lord's Day, and it continues to be a special day of Jesus' meeting with, working in, and revealing Himself to the gathering of His covenant people.  In keeping with the Bible's definition of day as morning and evening, and pattern of morning and evening worship, the Harvest Community congregation meets for gathered worship morning (10 a.m.) and evening (6 p.m.) every Lord's Day.  Though temporarily we meet in the basement of Iowa State Bank, we will soon be moving to our new building at 209 1st St NE (next to Pizza Ranch and Across from Iowa State Bank, see picture to the right).  We enjoy the Lord's Supper together on the first Lord's Day of every month, alternating between morning and evening services (even months in the evenings).  Please come prepared to enjoy it with us!

Also according to the Scriptures, we worship as families and individuals in our homes every day.  Different families and individuals do this differently, but it is part of our elders' ministry to provide whatever guidance and resources families need to saturate personal and family life with character-forming, life-directing, God-exalting, gospel-resting, heart-rejoicing worship.

Discipleship. Preaching and teaching being two different activities and two different gifts that God gives people for the sake of the entire congregation, we seek to exercise both. Teaching carries the discipleship ministry beyond the worship service.  In addition to the reading, proclamation, and hearing that are offered by the congregation as a part of worship, Harvest Community has a Bible Class hour (currently 9a, Lord's Day morning, before worship).  Current Bible class offerings are:
-Biblical Parenting, using The Case for Kids DVD curriculum to teach parents to shepherd souls not according to the wisdom of man but the wisdom of God
-Christ in the Old Testament, using Ed Clowney's The Unfolding Mystery to build up our knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament by learning how it preaches Christ from start to finish.
-WSC from Scripture (3rd-9th grade), learning the Westminster Shorter Catechism as a summary of Scripture by discussing Bible passages that teach the doctrines.
-Obeying God (1st-2nd grade), learning how God's people are to live from the prophets and 1-2 Kings
-God Leads His People (Pre-K), learning how God saves and leads His people from Exodus

Following the model handed down by the apostles to the first elders, Harvest's elders "do not shrink from declaring anything profitable" as they teach from house to house.  "House visiting" at Harvest isn't once a year, isn't rapid-fire, and isn't canned and cookie-cutter.  The elders visit continually, usually for an hour to an hour and a half, engaging each family's specific interests and needs, building spiritual relationships.  Further, these visits aren't limited to "joined members."  If you worship with us with any kind of regularity, elders will offer to work you into the visiting rotation.  You can expect such a discipleship visit once every 3-4 months.

God has given in Scripture not just elders and families but the fellowship of all the saints for our encouraging and building each other up in Christ.  In addition to encouraging the congregation to engage in such fellowship frequently and spontaneously, we plan/schedule it in monthly fellowship meals, after morning worship on the 1st Lord's Day of every month and fellowship groups.  The latter meet either in homes or on outings, once a month.  If you have been attending and would like to be added to a fellowship group, please use the online form or talk to Kevin Poeckes (fellowship group coordinator) directly.

More to come!  One of the basic, Biblical, discipleship ministries not yet formally implemented at Harvest is WIC ('Women in the Church').  God's design is for women to train women, empowering them for the very many and vitally important ministries that God has given them.  So that will be something to watch for. 

Also, to this point in the congregation's life, evangelism has only taken place on an individual basis.  What larger evangelistic ministries might He give us? Gospel-saturated ESL classes?  Philosophical or theological community forums?  Friendly discussion groups in which unbelievers or new believers can discuss the basics of Christianity? 

We're a very young (June, '08) congregation, and this is an exciting time for us.  As the Lord Jesus adds to us different people with their unique gifts, we are discerning the unique place He is giving our congregation in His larger body.  We don't even know what other ministries will take shape here; could yours be one? 

We're also grateful to Him for providing our new building.  This will multiply by seven the number of days each week that we can organize ministry in a central location! 

We gather for Lord's Day worship every Sunday morning (10a) and evening (6p), temporarily in the basement of Iowa State Bank, but moving soon to 209 1st St NE in Orange City.  If you have questions that are not answered by the pages linked above, please contact us via online form, email (church@harvestoc.net), post (209 1st St. NE, Orange City, IA 51041), or telephone (712.395.0983).

visitors since 28 May 2008. ©2008, Harvest Community Church