We want to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in reaching out to the world and one another in the love of Christ. So we are open to trying new things and to working individually with members of the church to help them fulfill God's call on their lives for service to him. Similarly, we desire to help members of the church discover and use their spiritual gifts. We have listed our regular outreach efforts below.
~ Missions ~
We are very committed to spreading the gospel of Christ in our own area and unto the ends of the earth. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) our Lord Jesus Christ commissioned us to make disciples of all the nations. This is our mission. Therefore, missions play an important part in the life of our church. We give a substantial portion of our finances to the spread of the gospel through supporting four missionary families (two are with Campus Crusade for Christ; one is with Youth With A Mission; and one is with Overseas Crusade), who we also pray for regularly. We are also presently supporting in prayer and finances five poor pastors from restricted nations that persecute Christians. In addition, we take various other opportunities to support the spread of the gospel and to help the needy as we are so lead.
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~ Local Evangelistic Outreach ~
As a body we have committed to individually and collectively seek opportunities to present Christ to the lost. Our main emphasis is on encouraging and equipping members of the church in personal and lifestyle evangelism. But we also have several corporate avenues for seeking to lead people to Christ.
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- Young Life: We gather monthly to pray for the youth of Hampton and for a ministry called "Young Life" that would like to reach out to them. Through our prayers we can play an important role in helping Young Life get established in Hampton and in reaching Hampton's youth for Christ.
- Halloween Outreach: Every Halloween we offer the Hampton community a wholesome, family friendly event that is great fun and proclaims the gospel. Dressed in a variety of costumes, we welcome hundreds of neighborhood trick-or-treaters and their families as they participate in about a half-dozen different fun activities and hear the gospel. We also offer refreshments to parents, and children who participate receive a bag of goodies, including an assortment of candy, a Gospel message, and information about Faith Community Church.
- Christmas caroling and presentations: During the Christmas season we usually go caroling at nearby elderly housing and share from our special Christmas presentation. We have also been known to carol at the local supermarket.
- Parades and town events: We also march in the town's annual Memorial Day Parade and seek to uphold a testimony to Christ in various ways in relation to the town and its events.
- Various opportunities: We seek to take other opportunities for corporate evangelistic outreach as they arise and the Lord so leads. Whether participating in Samritan Purse's "Operation Christmas Child," which distributes gifts and gospel literature to needy children in poor countries for Christmas, or joining Campus Crusade for Christ to share our faith at Hampton Beach, we are on the lookout for how God might have us to share the awesome gospel of Jesus Christ.
~ Campus Crusade for Christ Summer Project ~
Every summer we are joined by a number of students from the Campus Crusade for Christ Summer Project located at Hampton Beach. These college students are fired up for Christ and devote their summer to sharing the gospel at the beach and growing in their faith. So we take the opportunity to bless and encourage them by reaching out to them and giving them a home away from home. Various families in the church "adopt" students and act as their family for their time with us.
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~ HMS Ministry ~
HMS stands for "Helps, Mercy, and Service" as well as for "His Majesty's Service," the epithet of Great Britain’s royal navy. For us, it means that Jesus is our king, in whose name we are called to help and serve others. This ministry responds to needs in the community by connecting individuals in the church with those needs. We seek to use the spiritual gifts of helps, mercy, and service, or simply practice the basic Christian virtue of service to others, to share Christ's love with the world to the glory of God. This is a practical ministry that facilitates acts of Christlike compassion such as giving a cancer patient a ride to radiation therapy, cleaning for an elderly person, helping a mentally retarded person with grocery shopping, etc. It is an exciting, nitty-gritty ministry that has seen a number of people receive Christ as they have witnessed the gospel in action. Currently, this ministry is in need of updating and reviving. But we hope to see it thriving again soon.
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~ Soup Kitchen ~
Various local churches take turns providing food and service to the hungry at the soup kitchen at Hampton Beach ("Saint Vincent's Kitchen") located on Ashworth Avenue. We serve regularly at the kitchen, which is open from mid-October to mid-May and provides a wonderul opportunity to fulfill Jesus' call to feed the hungry and minister to the poor.
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~ Nursing Home Ministry ~
We are currently developing a nursing home ministry out of a desire to fullfill God's call to visit orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27), to minister to the needy, and to share the gospel.
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~ Discipleship ~
When someone becomes a Christian, it is important that they get grounded in their faith and in the word of God. To become a Christian is to become a disciple (or follower) of the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a disciple means learning to obey all that Jesus has commanded (Matthew 28:20). Faith Community Church provides two basic stages of discipleship in addition to normal church life.
The first is the Bible Study in Basic Christian Faith and Practice, which ideally takes place in a group context. We try to do this course in a group partly because young Christians often change so much during their first months/years of walking with Jesus that all that is really needed at the beginning in addition to regular church life is teaching on the basics. That is what this course is about. If there are not enough people to do a group study, then we try to offer alternative, individual training.
The second stage of discipleship is individual and more intensive. It is for those who have covered the basics in some way, and desire to have individual training in godliness and relationship with Christ.
All of this is contingent on available resources, and every case must be considered individually. Sometimes, it may be best to combine these two stages of discipleship or otherwise tailor training to an individual’s situation. There is opportunity both to be discipled, and for qualified individuals, to disciple others. The Bible Study in Christian Faith and Practice covers the following topics (not necessarily in this order; some topics may take more or less than one session):Back to Top
- The Bible: Learning and Living the Word of God
- Trusting Jesus as Savior
- Yielding to Jesus as Lord
- Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit (including a discussion of the Trinity)
- Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil
- Community: Becoming a Family with God and Others
- Growing in Holiness
- Growing in the Fruit of the Holy Spirit
- Worshiping God Wholeheartedly
- Discovering and Using Spiritual Gifts
- Serving God and Our Neighbors
- Serving God with Our Money
- Sharing Jesus with Others
- Eschatology (i.e. last things, including the end times)
- Prayer
- The Sacraments: Baptism and Communion
~ Teaching ~
There are opportunities for qualified individuals to teach children in Sunday school. Qualified lay people may also teach Bible studies or lead other meetings as opportunity arises.
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~ Worship Team ~
There is opportunity for qualified individuals with a heart for leading others in worship to join our worship team. We play mostly contemporary worship music, but are open to various styles of music and worship.
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~ Pastoral Counseling ~
Pastoral counseling is available to those who desire it.
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