Washington, DC International Christian Church

“This is what the Lord says:  Stand at the cross road and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16

On Sunday, September 14, 2008, God worked powerfully as we celebrated the Inaugural Service for the Washington, DC International Christian Church!  Despite a triathlon that closed some of the city streets and a fire alarm that went off during service, we had 134 in attendance and four were added to our number!  Two placed membership - Conset Jefferson and Christian Carroll; one restoration - Herbert Johnson; and a University of DC student, Jeheifa Elliot, was baptized after studying for only six days!  To God Be the Glory!  Since arriving in late July, our 18-member mission team has grown to 24!  It was encouraging to see some of our dearly missed brothers and sisters from the Central NY Church of Christ and Chicago International Christian Church join us, as well as to see our brother Earl Jones, our first baptism in DC, return from his senior year at Cornell University to celebrate with us!  God is blessing the work at my former alma mater, as we also saw Hope Gbarayor, another Cornell senior, state that “Jesus is Lord” and be baptized!  How awesome to see God bless the faith of CNYCOC as they financially supported the mission team to DC, only for our first baptism to be sent back and help another to be baptized!  Most encouraging was to have my Dad, Karl Smellie, join us for service.  Despite the emotional heartache of burying my mother the previous Saturday, he traveled five hours on a bus from Long Island, NY to be with us.  He walked with me all day Saturday and watched as we shared our faith boldly throughout downtown DC.   After service on Sunday he commented in tears, “You’re doing something very special here.  I am very proud of you.”   I wept.
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“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16

Welcome to the Washington, DC International Christian Church!  Sent out by the Spirit from the Central New York Church of Christ, along with members from churches in Chicago, IL and Corvallis, OR, our 18 member mission team arrived in Washington, DC in late July of this year.  To gain a vision for this lost city with a metropolitan population of 5.8 million, we traveled to the Lincoln Memorial, which overlooks the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, to pray for the entire metropolitan area of DC to be won for God!  Despite the chaotic weeks of finding jobs and dealing with steep housing prices, the Lord has already blessed us with a baptism and 2 placed memberships!  God willing, 4 more will be added today at our Inaugural service!

Perhaps you have asked the question, “Why another church in Washington, DC when there are churches seemingly on every street corner?” Our collective convictions are unique; we believe our Savior Jesus is the Son of God risen from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4); the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16); “sold-out” baptized disciples compose God’s church universal, of which we are striving to be a part (Acts 2:41-42); every member is called by God to participate in daily discipling relationships, thus creating family (Hebrews 3:12-13); the mission of each disciple is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20); and we believe wholeheartedly in building a movement of “like-minded” congregations (1 Corinthians 4:17) whose motivating vision is the evangelization of the nations in this generation (Romans 16:25-27).
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“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16

What is more important?  Life or doctrine?  The bible clearly states both.  An analogy that always comes to my mind is that of an airplane.  What wing of an airplane is more important to the success of a flight?  The left wing or the right wing?  The answer is obvious – both are equally important.  The railings of a bridge can also apply to this analogy as well.  If we are not walking a straight path, we can fall off if one of the railings is not present.  In the same way, we must keep God’s standards in both our “life and doctrine” in order to successfully walk the narrow path.  As Jesus states in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” What is Jesus saying here?  That the majority of people who claim to “religious” will not be with Him?  Consider what Jesus says later in verse 21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Only by paying close attention to our “life and doctrine” will we be sure of what God’s will is.

In 1 Timothy 4:16, the apostle Paul gives specific instructions to Timothy, his protégé and leader of the church in Ephesus.  Paul speaks in very definite terms that both life and doctrine are essential to salvation, and the perseverance of such values is crucial not only for the individual, but also for the people that hear their message.   As disciples of Christ, we are aware that the doctrine of the apostles (and Jesus) is very clear:  We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31; Acts 9:20), make the decision to make him Lord of our lives (Acts 2:36; Acts 10:36), repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, thereby receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; John 3:1-5), and live a life of making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey as well (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Corinthians 5:11-13).
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