About Disciples Road Church
Disciples Road Church is a non-denominational, Bible-teaching church located in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. That is deep in the heart of the mountains of western North Carolina. Our slogan is working towards discipleship. Hence the name Disciples Road Church. (Get it?)
According to Christ’s words from Matthew 28:18-20, Christians are supposed to make “disciples.” He didn’t say “converts.” He didn’t say, “church members.” He didn’t even say, “fellow Christians.” He said, “disciples.” The word “disciple” means “learner.” Being a learner of Christ is much more serious than being just a churchgoer.
Being a learner of Christ is not a sprint or a long jump. In the spiritual realm, sprinting and long jumping produce “babes in Christ” (Hebrews 5:12-14). Being a disciple is like walking down a road with Jesus. Hence the name Disciples Road Church. (Get it?) As you walk down life’s road, learning from Jesus, He methodically molds you into the person and servant He wants you to be.
Our desire to start the church came out of taking a long, hard look at typical churches and asking some thought-provoking questions, questions such as:
- Why doesn’t the average person who has faithfully attended church for twenty years or more know the Bible?
- Why do so many longstanding church members seem so spiritually immature and undiscerning?
- Why do so many Christians fall out of church completely?
- Why do so many Christians bounce from church to church, year after year?
- Why do so many Christians feel unfulfilled or unfed in their churches?
- Why is it so unbelievably customary for kids who have been raised in church and participated in every youth activity on the church calendar to stop going to church and start living unholy lives when they reach their teenage years?
- Why is the average stay for a pastor in a church less than three years?
- In a country filled with thousands upon thousands of churches, why is our society becoming more and more ungodly and immoral?
- Why does so much of what we do in our churches, at best, lack scriptural support and, at worst, downright contradict scripture?
Such questions prompted us to make Disciples Road Church a different kind of church. Our most striking feature is: We don’t have all the “bells and whistles” that most churches have. You could call us a stripped-down church. If you are into church committees, nonstop activities, thick bulletins, and a stuffed church schedule, we’re not for you. (No hard feelings on either end.) It’s not that the Lord can’t use all of that to accomplish His will; it’s just that He has given us a vision for another style of church.
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Many of us who have been neck deep in the cogs of church life know how it feels when church becomes a burden rather than a blessing and work rather than worship. It’s like you’re a hamster on a wheel, desperately trying to keep up with the church calendar. That’s really hard to do in this fast-paced, stressful age in which we live. The following conversation is a bit exaggerated, but it drives home a valid point:
- husband: “Oh, no, is it time for church already? I just got relaxed.”
- wife: “Yes, honey. And we really need to go tonight. The pastor is going to preach on the topic “How To Have A Restful Time With Your Family.”
- husband: “Okay. You get the kids ready while I take a quick shower.”
- wife: “You don’t have time for a shower. There is an ice-cream fellowship after the service and I’m on the list to bring some
cones. We need to leave early so I can stop by the store on the way.” - husband: “Why didn’t you buy the cones when you bought the baked beans for the potluck dinner our Sunday School class held last week?”
- wife: “I meant to, but in all the rush that afternoon I just forgot. I still ended up being five minutes late for choir practice that night.”
- husband: “You’re ahead of me. I was fifteen minutes late for the last meeting of the Building & Grounds committee.”
- wife (growing angry): “That’s just great. Wasn’t it bad enough that you didn’t even show up for the work day two Saturdays ago?”
- husband (defensively): “I just couldn’t make it. Joey had that baseball game at noon. All week long I thought you’d take him to that.”
- wife (more angry): “If you had checked the schedule for Lisa’s piano lessons, you would have known that she had to be at Mrs. Peabody’s at that same time.”
- husband (still in defense): “What threw me was that her lessons are usually at four o’clock, not noon.”
- wife (still with a tone): “She had to go early that day because her youth group was attending the youth rally that night.”
- husband (changing the subject): “Alright, alright. Let’s not talk about it. We need to leave right now if we want to get to church on time. What was tonight’s topic again?”
Most people don’t know that for the first three hundred years or so of Christianity, the churches were small “house churches” that met once a week on Sunday and worshipped the Lord in relative simplicity. This doesn’t mean that a church must remain small or meet in a house. But it does stand in stark contrast to all the motion and commotion of today’s congregations.
At Disciples Road Church, we try to take the basic model of how the early churches functioned and combine it with the advantages and conveniences of our modern world. We talk and laugh. We sit on comfortable chairs in an air-conditioned building. We take prayer requests and offer praise reports. We use a video projector and screen to display our songs. Pastor Russell begins every sermon with a video illustration. Our music is a nice blend of classic hymns and contemporary worship songs. We have an offering box by the door so that people can give as the Lord leads. We have a nursery, but we try to get the kids involved in the worship service as soon as possible.
We understand that Jesus is the head of every church (Colossians 1:9-18), and we let Him have His rightful place over ours. Pastor Russell is a gifted Bible-teacher, published author, experienced leader, and faithful shepherd, but He knows full well that Jesus is the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4). Our church is very much a work in progress. We are walking down that road with Jesus, letting Him teach us what He wants to teach us, take us where He wants us to go, and use us as He wants to use us.
If you are in the Spruce Pine area, we welcome you to join us for worship. We meet every Sunday morning at 10:30. Just follow the easydirections” for help guiding you to our building.
Thank you for your interest in Disciples Road Church and may the Lord lead you to the exact church He has in mind for you.