At the Cedar Avenue church, it is our effort to worship God as he has instructed within the pages of the Bible.  As Jesus Himself stated, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)."  We in no way claim to be infallible, but we do live by the infallible and incorruptible Word of God (1 Peter 1:23).  The apostle Peter wrote that we have been given "all things" that pertain to life and godliness in the Word of God (2 Peter 1:3), therefore we have no need for human creeds, manuals, or philosophies. Seeing that God is the recipient and direction of our worship, we find no need to add human thought to His divine wisdom and guidance.  In short, we take to heart the admonition of the apostle Peter when he said, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 4:11)."

The church of Christ at Cedar Avenue is led by two dedicated elders who oversee the work of the church here.  They accept with all soberness the statements of Peter as he instructed elders to, "feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:2-3)."  They take sole oversight of the work here with no headquarters, synod, or counsel governing over them.  God's Word clearly teaches that elders are to take the oversight of the "flock among" them, thus restricting their oversight to only the congregation here and limiting the office to one single church rather than a group of churches.  We find this pattern to be consistent with the scriptures, as well as completely functional.  We find no reason to change the pattern of the church, whose headship belongs to Christ (Ephesians 5:23).

The church is also served by seven men who serve as deacons.  These men serve diligently to meet the needs of the church here.  They take seriously the character of deacons as described by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:8-13.  A deacon, by definition, is "one who ministers or serves."

The minister of the church is Steven Matthews (starting June 2023) and serving with him in evangelistic efforts is Mark Hatfield. These men work together to preach and teach in the congregation and local community from the word of God.

You may notice when attending one of our worship services, that a large portion of our time has been dedicated to teaching and preaching.  The apostle Paul taught that it is by the hearing of the Word of God, that we are able to build our faith (Romans 10:17).  Earlier in that same text, he describes that God chose the avenue of preaching for his Word to be spread.

You may contact us if you have any questions or comments about the site, radio program, or if you have a Bible question you would like for us to consider.

On behalf of all of the members here at Cedar Avenue, we again thank you for your interest in the materials available here at The Cedar Sower.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about our site.