About us

About Us

We are a congregation of Christians striving to be exactly what the church in the New Testament was: no creed but the Bible, no head but Christ, and no name but His. Here you'll find people who open the Scriptures, take them seriously, and try to live them out every day.

A small-town church family with an open door.

Coldwater is the kind of place where people know your name, and our congregation is no different. We study together on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, worship together every Lord's Day, and look out for one another the rest of the week. Whether you've been a Christian for fifty years or you're just starting to ask questions, there's a seat for you here and people glad to sit beside you.

Hear the Word. Obey the Gospel. Take It to the World.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

We believe the Bible is God's complete and sufficient Word. Our classes, sermons, and conversations all aim at one thing: understanding what Scripture actually says. (Romans 10:17)

Faith that obeys is faith that saves.

Following Christ means more than agreeing with Him. We teach what the New Testament teaches: believe, repent, confess Christ, be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and remain faithful to the end. (Acts 2:38; Revelation 2:10)

The gospel is for every nation.

From Highway 306 to Singapore, India, Russia, and the Philippines, we support the work of carrying the gospel to people who have never heard it. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Honest Answers to Honest Questions

Life's Hard Questions

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01) Salvation & Baptism

What the Bible actually says a person must do to be saved.

Jesus said it Himself: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). Every conversion recorded in Acts follows this pattern — people heard the gospel, believed it, and were baptized (Acts 2:38; 8:30-39; 9:18; 10:48; 16:15; 16:30-34; 18:7-8; 22:16).

Baptism isn't a good work we perform to earn salvation — it's the moment our sins are washed away (Acts 22:16) and we're placed into Christ, where every spiritual blessing exists (Ephesians 1:3, 7; 2:6, 12-13; 2 Timothy 2:10). Paul says as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12-13) and been united with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:1-6).

God's plan is consistent throughout the New Testament: Hear the word (Romans 10:17), Believe it (Acts 8:36-37), Repent of sin (Acts 2:38), Confess Christ (Acts 8:36-37; Matthew 10:32), be Baptized (Acts 2:38; 8:30-39; 9:18; 10:48; 16:15, 30-34; 18:7-8; 22:16), and then live faithfully to the end (Revelation 2:10).

This means obeying all of God's word, not just the parts we like (Matthew 7:21), and it means owning up to our own sin (Acts 2:37-38; Ezekiel 18) and putting Christ first, above every other relationship or priority (Matthew 8:34-35; Luke 14:26-28).

It matters why you were baptized the first time. Scripture ties baptism to a specific purpose — for the forgiveness of sin, for salvation, to be raised to walk in a new life (1 Peter 3:21-22; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). A baptism performed for the wrong reason — as a church membership ritual, a public statement, or before someone actually understood and repented — isn't the baptism the Bible describes.

We see this directly in Acts 19:1-7, where a group of believers who had been baptized without full understanding were baptized again, correctly, once they understood.

No — because predestination doesn't fit with the rest of what the Bible teaches about how a person is saved. Scripture consistently describes salvation as something we respond to, not something decided for us without our involvement: we must hear (Romans 10:17), believe (Acts 8:36-37; John 8:24), repent (Acts 2:38), confess (Acts 8:36-37; Matthew 10:32), be baptized (Acts 2:38 and others), and live faithfully (Revelation 2:10).

We come to God only through Jesus (John 14:6), by way of baptism (Romans 6:1-6). The passages often used to argue for predestination (Ephesians 1:5, 11; Romans 8:29-30) are about God's foreknowledge and His plan for who would be saved (those in Christ), not that individuals are chosen without any response of their own.

We don't — it's not our works that save us, it's our obedience to what God asks. Jesus said the person who hears His words and does them is wise; the one who hears and doesn't do them is foolish (Matthew 7:24-27). James makes the same point: faith without action behind it is dead (James 2:14-26).

Faith that never leads to obedience isn't real faith — it's just an opinion. Think of Saul in 1 Samuel 15, who disobeyed a direct command from God and offered a sacrifice instead. Samuel's response was blunt: "to obey is better than sacrifice." People find a lot of reasons to excuse disobedience, but God has always required it.

02) Worship Practices

Why we worship the way we do — Sunday singing, communion, and church attendance.

In the Old Testament, instruments in worship were specifically commanded by God (2 Chronicles 29:25). But in the New Testament, we find no such command or authority for using them (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 4:11; Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 5:23-24). What we do have is a clear, repeated command to sing — and every New Testament passage about music points to singing alone (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26; Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12; James 5:13; Revelation 5:9; 14:3; 15:3).

We take seriously the warning not to add to or take away from what God has commanded (Revelation 22:18-19). Nadab and Abihu offered worship God hadn't authorized and it cost them their lives (Leviticus 10:1-2) — a sober reminder that how we worship matters, not just that we worship.

Paul instructs that women are to keep silent in the assembled church (1 Corinthians 14:26-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-12). The Greek word for "church" here (ekklesia) refers specifically to the gathered assembly for worship — this isn't a restriction on women speaking anywhere, only on leading the public worship service.

This is about God-given roles, not worth or ability. Men and women are equal in value (Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28) and everyone will be judged by the same standard (Acts 5), but Scripture assigns different roles within the body (1 Corinthians 12:12-23).

Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper as a remembrance of His death (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20). The early church didn't treat this as occasional — Acts says they continued "steadfastly" in it (Acts 2:42), and Acts 20:7 specifically ties it to "the first day of the week."

Since the first day of the week comes around every week, we take the Supper every week. Paul's extended teaching on the subject in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 assumes this same regular practice.

Miraculous gifts served a specific purpose — confirming that a message truly came from God — and that purpose has been fulfilled. Paul teaches that partial, miraculous gifts would cease once "that which is perfect" arrived (1 Corinthians 13:8-13), which we understand to be the completed word of God.

In the New Testament, only the apostles could impart miraculous gifts to others through the laying on of hands (Acts 8:18; 19:6) — and those who received gifts this way couldn't pass them on further. Once the apostles and those they laid hands on died, the age of miracles ended.

03) The Bible & Truth

Why we trust Scripture as God's word, and why it still applies today.

No one argues that two plus two isn't always four — it's a standard, and everyone accepts it as true regardless of the era. Truth works the same way. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Truth doesn't expire with time.

The Bible is God's standard for how people are to live, and that doesn't change just because the world around us does. Jesus said His words would never pass away (Matthew 24:35), and Paul describes Scripture as fully sufficient for every generation (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Four lines of evidence stand out. First, the Bible claims divine inspiration more than 2,700 times (Exodus 11:1; Acts 1:16; and many others). Second, it's consistently accurate on historical details later confirmed by archaeology — Sargon's palace, discovered in 1843, confirmed he was a real king exactly as Isaiah described (Isaiah 20:1), and the Hittite civilization, once dismissed as fictional, was confirmed by a discovered law code in 1906 (Exodus 23:28).

Third, it's consistently accurate on matters of science long before they were understood medically — from the timing it identifies for surgery (Genesis 17:12), to the role of blood in the body (Leviticus 17:11-14), to sanitary practices around the dead (Numbers 19:11-18) and human waste (Deuteronomy 23:12-14), to a spherical earth (Isaiah 40:22). Fourth, every prophecy it makes has come true — the fall of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:9), Cyrus named as king before his birth (Isaiah 44:28), and over 300 separate prophecies about Jesus, all fulfilled.

04) The Church & Grace

What it means to be part of Christ's body, and how grace fits in.

We absolutely believe we're saved by grace, not by earning it (Ephesians 2:8-9). But grace was never meant to be a license to keep sinning — Paul asks directly, "Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?" and answers, certainly not (Romans 6:1-3).

Scripture describes Christians who can fall from grace (Galatians 5:4) and be "vomited out" by Christ for lukewarm faithlessness (Revelation 3:16). Repentance — genuinely turning from sin rather than continuing to live in it — is part of how forgiveness works, not a one-time event disconnected from how we live afterward (Acts 2:38; Hebrews 10:26; 1 John 1:7-9).

Anyone who genuinely follows the Bible will go to heaven (Matthew 7:21-27; John 4:23-24) — we can't pick and choose which parts of it to obey. Scripture is clear there is only one body, one church (Ephesians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 12:13), made up of people, not denominations (Romans 12:4-5), and that division within that body is not what God intended (1 Corinthians 12:25).

Baptism is what places a person into that one body (1 Corinthians 12:13), and Christ saves the body — He doesn't save people apart from it (Ephesians 5:23). Jesus described Himself as the vine we must remain connected to (John 15:1-8). So the question isn't really about a denominational name — it's about whether a person has obeyed the gospel and remains faithfully connected to Christ, wherever they worship. Scripture even warns that some who assume they're part of Christ's church are not (Revelation 3:14-16), because all authority over the church belongs to Christ alone (Matthew 16:18; 28:18-20).

Paul instructs believers to give on the first day of the week, setting aside an amount as they've been prospered (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). The principle is proportional and personal: give sparingly, and you'll reap sparingly (2 Corinthians 9:6-7); give generously, and it will be given back to you (Luke 6:38).

What matters most is the heart behind the gift, not the size of it (Luke 16:1-15; 2 Corinthians 8:5, 8-9) — Abraham gave a tenth of everything (Genesis 14:20), while a poor widow was commended for giving everything she had (1 Timothy 6:18-19).

05) Life's Hard Questions

Suffering, unanswered prayer, and whether God really wants us happy.

Suffering generally traces back to one of a few sources: our own wrong choices, the wrong choices of others, the consequences of past generations' choices, violations of natural law and order, or natural disasters. Even the disasters we see today have roots in the dramatic changes the earth underwent during the flood (2 Peter 3:6) — a flood that came because of humanity's sin (Genesis 6:5-7).

Suffering can also come as discipline — sometimes from Satan's attacks, as in the book of Job, and sometimes as God's own chastening of His children, taught in both Testaments (Deuteronomy 8:5; Proverbs 3:11-12; Revelation 3:19; Hebrews 12:5-8). God doesn't discipline because He delights in it (Lamentations 3:31-33), but because it corrects us (Hebrews 12:9), makes us holy (Hebrews 12:10), produces righteousness (Hebrews 12:11), and keeps us from being condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:32) — and He only does so when we haven't corrected ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:31-32).

Scripture is honest that death is appointed for every person (Hebrews 9:27) — praying doesn't exempt anyone from that reality. We also don't always know what we should even be praying for (Romans 8:26), which is why we're told to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and simply bring our requests honestly to God (Philippians 4:6).

But every prayer, including Jesus' own prayer in the garden, ultimately submits to God's will: "not my will, but Yours be done" (Matthew 6:9-13; 26:39-42). God answers according to His purposes, which aren't always the outcome we asked for (2 Samuel 12:15-23).

God calls us to be holy, not simply happy (1 Peter 1:14-15) — and the happiness the world offers is temporary and comes with real consequences (1 John 2:15-17). What feels right to us isn't always wise; Proverbs warns that "there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12).

Jesus promised something deeper than fleeting happiness: His own joy remaining in us, if we keep His commands (John 15:10-11). That's why our focus stays on following God rather than chasing physical comfort (Matthew 6:19-20) — His plan is higher than ours, even when we can't see why (Isaiah 55:9).

Yes — this is the whole point of the gospel. God loved the world enough to give His only Son so that we wouldn't perish (John 3:16; John 1:29). Jesus has the authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6), and Scripture describes God as removing our sins as far as the east is from the west (Ephesians 1:7; Psalm 103:2-3, 10-12; Isaiah 43:5).

The one condition Scripture attaches is that we forgive others the way we want to be forgiven (Colossians 3:13; Matthew 6:14-15; 18:21-35). When we walk according to His word, Jesus' blood covers our sin, fully and continually (Romans 6:4; 1 John 1:7-9; Matthew 7:21).