Our Story

The Church of the Brethren is non-credal – so we don’t have a ready-made statement summarizing what we believe. We do, however, believe that we are called as Christians to “Continue the work of Jesus: peacefully, simply, together.”

The most concise statement of our beliefs and purpose come from our current ministers’ manual, For All Who Minister, page 95:

We believe that Jesus Christ is the expression of God’s love for all people. Therefore, we pledge our loyalty to him and his way of life.

We accept the New Testament as the guidebook to abundant Christian living. Therefore, we pledge ourselves to study its message for our day and to follow the light we discover.

We believe that communion with God and fellowship with Christ are essential to daily living and spiritual growth. Therefore, we will devote time regularly to private devotions, family worship, and group meditation.

We believe that God is our Creator and all men and women are our brothers and sisters. Therefore, as we attempt to live Christ’s way of reconciling love, we can consider no one our enemy, we dare not hate, we cannot kill.

We believe that spiritual values are more important than material possessions. Therefore, we will live modestly, dress simply, and eat temperately in order to place God’s kingdom first.

The Church of the Brethren’s main ordinances include: Believers Baptism, Anointing with Oil, and the Love Feast (which includes Communion and Feetwashing). To learn more about these, visit: http://www.brethren.org/about/practices.html.

From our Constitution and Bylaws:

Affirmation of Faith and Purpose

This congregation:

1. Is founded upon the faith that there is but one God, who is a personal God, who in holy love creates, sustains and orders all.
2. Confesses Jesus the Christ as the Lord of the church and of all life.
3. Believes that the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts and minds of believers, creating and sustaining the church through the gospel giving guidance and comfort and uniting believers with their Lord and with one another. 
4. Maintains the New Testament as its only creed and rule of faith. In the Holy Scriptures is recorded God’s search for all persons, which is climaxed in God’s redemptive act in and through Christ. Through the Bible, God still speaks and continues to accomplish God’s redemptive purpose. 
5. Believes that the gospel is the good news that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Through the gospel, God’s sovereign will and Christ’s redeeming grace are revealed.
6. Holds that the church is the body of Christ and is under the Lord’s mandate to be faithful in accepting and transmitting the gospel by word and deed.
7. Considers that all members of the congregation, as the body of believers, is responsible for the total ministry of the church.
8. Accepts the ministry of the church to be in the proclamation and fulfillment of the gospel for all people both near and far, and the nurture of individual believers in the Christian faith and life. 

Mission Statement 

The goal of the Smith Mountain Lake Community Church of the Brethren is to invite people in to a life changing relationship with Jesus the Christ and to provide a biblically based faith community in which that relationship is nourished.

Our vision is of a congregation…

1. whose primary mission is to fulfill the command of our Lord to go “…and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirits, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)
2. willing to adopt the ministry model(s) that will enable them to most effectively carry out this mission in the Smith Mountain Lake Community Church of the Brethren. 
3. rooted in the basic biblical beliefs of the Church of the Brethren. 
4. which offers an exciting intentionally prepared worship experience.
5. that welcomes all people into this faith community while specifically reaching out to those who do not presently have a church home.