You're invited!
No matter who you are or where you are in your spiritual life, you are welcome here. We gather every week to worship God and learn from His Word.
Times
Equip Classes: 9:00 a.m.
Worship: 10:30 a.m.
Location
4005 Lucy Road
Millington, TN 38053
What To Expect
Our Culture
We are a multi-generational, multi-ethnic church. Our members (and visitors) come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Most people dress business-casual, though you'll find everything from t-shirts to suit jackets on a typical week. Our members are welcoming, hospitable, and eager to greet those who visit. We encourage guests to come early and/or stay late (as you are comfortable) in order to get to know us. You will certainly feel welcome!
Our Services
Our worship gatherings begin at 10:30 and typically last about an hour and a half. Our time is carefully considered each week and thoughtfully designed to drive our attention to God's word, and ultimately to Jesus. During our time together, we will read several passages of scripture, sing Christ-centered songs, observe time for silent reflection, participate in a dedicated time of congregational prayer (where members and visitors are encouraged to take part by praying aloud from their seats as they are led), be guided by our pastoral leadership through praying for our members, sister churches, partners in ministry, and others, devote ourselves to the preaching of God's word, and spend time together thinking and praying about how God might be leading us to respond.
Our Preaching
Sermons at Lucy Baptist Church are Word-centered and Christ-centered. They are Word-centered in that they are "expositional" in nature, which means that they are delivered with the purpose of "exposing" the meaning of the biblical text. We most often work through books of the Bible, dealing with each passage in turn. However, we will sometimes craft a series to trace a particular theme rather than walk sequentially through a book. Even in these cases, though, the biblical text itself is still the focus of our attention and the source of every element of our teaching. Our preaching is Christ-centered because we believe that all of Scripture is ultimately about Jesus, either in anticipation as in the Old Testament, or in the light of his coming as in the New. We seek to constantly remind ourselves of this in our sermons.
Our Music
We are not concerned about fitting into the mold of being either "traditional" or "contemporary." Rather, we sing all sorts of songs from various eras of church history, including many written in our time. We also intentionally try to incorporate a diversity of instruments, musical genres, and styles in our weekly worship gatherings. As Scripture calls us to put off our preferences for the sake of others within the body of Christ, we encourage our people to sing songs with styles they may not prefer, with a heart of love and deference towards their brothers and sisters in Christ. Styles of music are not worth dividing over, particularly because singing is an act of worship to God and ought to be primarily about him. We believe that music serves a variety of purposes in our gatherings. It provides a vehicle for us to worship God, it enables us to express the full range of human emotions to him, it gives us an opportunity to learn biblical truths and recall them in our daily lives as we learn memorable lyrics and melodies, and it helps us to grow in unity together as we sing with one heart to the Lord.
After Morning Worship
At the conclusion of our worship gathering, our pastors intentionally make themselves available at the front of the worship center for those who would like to talk about their spiritual life or ask for prayer. Everyone who wants to is welcome to come speak with a pastor. We do encourage you to stay after worship as long as you would like to fellowship and to get to know others. We also typically have other things happening on Sundays after morning worship. We would love for you to join us for one of these, whether it be a small group meeting in a member's home, a fellowship meal in our gymnasium after worship, or an event such as a "Night of Worship," where we gather in the worship center for an extended time of scripture reading, singing, and prayer. More information about these other activities can be found in our printed materials if you visit us for worship. Be sure to pick up a worship guide or one of our monthly calendars to see what sorts of opportunities there are to connect further with us.
What about my kids?
We offer several opportunities for kids to interact with one another and to receive biblical teaching. Caring for children is both a huge blessing and also a heavy responsibility. We take it very seriously. We are 100% committed to providing a safe and loving environment for kids where they will be cared for and taught God's Word in an age-sensitive way.
Equip Classes
9:00am
Infants & Toddlers
Our nursery volunteers are dedicated to caring for and teaching infants and toddlers. We typically have games, snacks, Bible memory verses, and illustrative Bible stories that are given in such a way as to help our little ones remember the big truths of God's word.
Kids & Youth
We are committed to helping parents as they seek to raise their children to learn about God and his Word. Our children and youth are split up into several age-graded classes where our teachers can focus their efforts and provide biblical instruction that is age-appropriate for our kids and help them to learn spiritual truths at an early age.
Worship
10:30 am
Infants & Toddlers
Little ones are welcome in our worship gatherings, but for those who would like, our nursery is open to provide childcare for infants and toddlers during worship.
Kids & Youth
We do not have separate activities for kids & youth during our worship gatherings. We encourage families to sit together and participate in the service with one another.
Any questions about kids ministry at Lucy Baptist? Reach out to us!
Do you know the good news?
God sent his son Jesus to die the death that we deserved for our rebellion against Him. He promises to redeem us and adopt us into His family if we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus.
What is the Gospel?
Material adapted from "What is the Gospel?" by Greg Gilbert
What do we mean when we talk about “the gospel of Jesus Christ”? The word "gospel" just means "good news," so when we talk about the gospel, we’re just telling the good news about Jesus! This good news isn’t just any good news, it demands a response.
So, what is the good news about Jesus Christ?
Since the earliest Christians announced the good news about Jesus, it has been organized around these questions:
- Who made us, and to whom are we accountable?
- What is our problem?
- What is God’s solution?
- How can I be included in his solution?
Christians through the centuries have answered those questions with truths from God’s Word.
- We are accountable to God.
- Our problem is our sin against him.
- God’s solution is salvation through Jesus Christ.
- We come to be included in that salvation by faith and repentance.
Let’s summarize the points like this: God, Mankind, Jesus Christ, and Our Response.
God
The first thing to know about the good news of Jesus is that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Everything starts from that point, so if you get that point wrong then everything else that follows will be wrong. Because God created everything—including us—he has the right to tell us how to live. You have to understand that in order to understand the good news about Jesus.
How would you describe God’s character? Loving and good? Compassionate and forgiving? All true. God describes himself as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness…forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Then God adds, “but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). That explodes about 90 percent of what people today think they know about God. This loving God does not leave the guilty unpunished. To understand just how glorious and life-giving the gospel of Jesus Christ is, we have to understand that God is also holy and righteous. He is determined never to ignore or tolerate sin. Including ours!
Mankind
When God created the first human beings—Adam and Eve, he intended for them to live under his righteous rule in perfect joy—obeying him and living in fellowship with him. When Adam disobeyed God, though, and ate the one fruit that God had told him not to eat, that fellowship with God was broken. Moreover, Adam and Eve had declared rebellion against God. They were denying his authority over their lives.
It’s not just Adam and Eve who are guilty of sin. The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans. 3:23,10). Yet, we often think of our sins as not much more than violations of some heavenly traffic law. So we wonder why God gets so upset about them. But sin is much more than that. It’s the rejection of God himself and his right to exercise authority over those to whom he gives life.
Once you understand sin in that light, you begin to understand why “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This is the Bible’s sobering verdict: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Every one of us will be held accountable to God. The Bible warns that “whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).
But…
Jesus Christ
The word “Christ” means “anointed one,” referring to anointing a king with oil when he is crowned. So, when we say “Jesus Christ,” we’re saying that Jesus is a King!
When Jesus began his public ministry, he told the people, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news!” Centuries before, God had promised that he would come as a great King to rescue his people from their sins. And here was Jesus saying, “The kingdom of God is here…now! I am that great King!”
Eventually Jesus’ followers realized that his mission was to bring sinful people into that kingdom. Jesus came to die in their place, to take the punishment they deserved for their rebellion against God. As Jesus died on a cross, the awful weight of all our sins fell on his shoulders. The sentence of death God had pronounced against rebellious sinners struck. And Jesus died. For you and me!
But the story doesn’t end there. Jesus the Crucified is no longer dead. The Bible tells us that he rose from the grave. He is not just King Jesus the Crucified, but King Jesus the Crucified and Resurrected! Jesus’ rising from the grave was God’s way of saying, “What Jesus claimed about who he is and what he came to do is true!”
Our Response
What does God expect us to do with the information that Jesus died in our place so we can be saved from God’s righteous wrath against our sins? He expects us to respond with repentance and faith.
To repent of our sins means to turn away from our rebellion against God. Repentance doesn’t mean we’ll bring an immediate end to our sinning. It does mean, though, that we’ll never again live at peace with our sins.
Not only that, but we also turn to God in faith. Faith is reliance. It’s a promise-founded trust in the risen Jesus to save you from your sins. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (John 3:17, 18; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).
If God is ever to count us righteous, he’ll have to do it on the basis of someone else’s record, someone who’s qualified to stand in as our substitute. And that’s what happens when a person is saved by Jesus: All our sins are credited to Jesus who took the punishment for them, and the perfect righteousness of Jesus is then credited to us when we place our trust in what he has done for us! That’s what faith means—to rely on Jesus, to trust in him alone to stand in our place and win a righteous verdict from God!
Do you believe that you have rebelled against God and deserve his wrath? That Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died the death that you deserve for your sins? That he rose from the grave and lives to stand in your place as your Substitute and Savior? If that is your heartfelt conviction, you can tell him in words like these…
“Jesus, I know I can’t save myself, and I know you have promised to save those who repent and put their faith in you alone. I trust you to forgive my sins and give me eternal life. Thank you for dying in my place to make my salvation possible!”
If you’ve done that, then a whole life of getting to know Jesus lies ahead, beginning right now! There’s much more to learn from the Spirit of God who comes to live in all those who put their trust in King Jesus!
Ready for the Next Step?
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