WCC exists to take the Gospel to all people, transform hearts to be like Christ, and train disciples to make disciples.
Take the Gospel
The word “Gospel” means “Good News,” the problem is to get to the Good News you have to hear the bad news first.
God created all people and He made them to worship Him and work with Him. In that process though, everybody, including the very first man and woman rejected God and chose to go their own way. This rejection of God and His ways is called sin.
We often seem to think sin doesn’t really apply to us. For example we would all say that lying, stealing, murdering, etc. are bad actions. But it is very rare that anyone thinks they are a bad person. But sin is actually a far worse condition than just an outward appearance, or a one time mess up, or being a bad/good person—sin is rejecting God and His ways. This happens at a deep, heart level: lying stealing, murdering, etc. are just symptoms of a sin condition.
When someone chooses to go their own way instead of God’s way, when someone is selfish instead of selfless, when someone hurts someone else this is all a description of rejecting God and His ways. The bad news is everybody has chosen to reject God in one way or another—this is called sin. Our sin cuts us off from God and a relationship with Him.
Every action has consequences—God tells us in Holy Scripture that there is a penalty for sin. The really bad news is the penalty for sin is death.
Now for the Good News!
Transform Hearts
Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins! In God’s great love for us, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to live on earth as a man.
Jesus lived a perfect life, always living to do the will of God. When Jesus went to the cross and died, he took the punishment for the sins of all who would ever turn from their sin and trust in him.
God raised Jesus from the dead three days later, showing that He accepted Jesus’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted.
Jesus is alive today and is calling you to change and believe in the salvation He offers.
After Jesus rose from the dead, he spoke to his followers and spent time with them. Then he ascended into Heaven, but He didn’t leave us on our own.
Jesus said He would send us a Helper to be with us, around us, and within us and this Helper will also help us make a decision to believe. The Helper Jesus sent to us is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is sent by God to convince you that your sins need to be removed and that your relationship with God needs to be restored.
So how do we respond to this Good News of Jesus?
Train Disciples
First, you have to believe that Jesus died and rose again and accept that His sacrifice of perfection is good enough to pay for and remove your sin.
Second, the Apostle Paul told people responding to this message to tell others that you are choosing Christ—some people call this “the Good Confession”. Paul goes on to say that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Third, one of Jesus’s best friends—Peter—told us how to respond if we hear this message: He said we should repent of our sins and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now what?
Responding to the Gospel means that you now have the promise of forgiveness and eternal life.
At Wilmington Church of Christ we believe that your belief, confession, repentance and baptism are just the beginning of your restored relationship with God.
You can actually get to know God more intimately through Jesus; you can mature in your spirituality by learning to obey all that Jesus teaches—and as a disciple (that means follower of Jesus)—you have a responsibility to baptize and train someone else
That's part of the mission we embrace at Wilmington Church of Christ: train disciples to make disciples.
Contact us if you would like to respond to the Good News of Jesus.