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COME SHARE OUR VISION:
We'd like to
personally welcome you to the website of The United Baptist Church of
Annandale! Let us briefly tell you who we are:
We are a Christian
Church located in the middle of the Village of Annandale, at the
intersection of the Capital Beltway (I-495) and Little River Turnpike
(exit 52). Find us by turning left at the 7th stop light (John Marr
Drive) after taking Little River Turnpike EAST. You will find us on the
corner at the next stop light (7100 Columbia Pike).
When you attend our
Christian worship service on Sunday mornings at 10:55 a.m., you will
find an order of worship with both clearly printed instructions and
clear verbal instructions to facilitate your worship of God without you
needing to be anxious about doing something personally embarrassing to
you. You will not be expected to do anything you do not feel comfortable
doing. You will find warm, friendly people like yourself, from many
different Christian and non-Christian traditions, eager to greet you,
both as the worship begins, and following worship in the nearby
Fellowship Hall. You will find a warm welcome, regardless of the region
of the world from which you come.
Our mission is to
seek God's direction through prayer as we: introduce all people to Jesus
Christ; work for their conversion to a personal relationship with God;
assimilate them into the Body of Christ; and encourage spiritual growth
through worship, education, fellowship and ministry.
We are a
Christian church in the tradition of Baptist. This means we highly value
helping people to have a personal relationship with God, as revealed in
Jesus, the Christ.
We believe that God
already has a personal relationship with every human being. But people
begin to experience that personal relationship with God by FIRST
learning that God already has a personal relationship with them. Meaning
that God has determined that the status of the relationship is PEACE
rather than HOSTILE or antagonistic. A popular assumption is that God is
hostile until people "clean up their act," so to speak, "winning" God's
approval. The GOOD NEWS is this that simply "ain't so!" We believe God
determined and demonstrated the PEACEFUL status of God's personal
relationship with people when God reacted to the HOSTILE behavior of
people crucifying Jesus, by raising Jesus from the grave. If God was
ever going to react HOSTILELY. the crucifixion of Jesus would have been
the time! When people learn that God has determined the relationship to
be PEACEFUL and allow that good news, on faith, to "sink in" and become
a controlling conviction, the FIRST step to experience a personal
relationship with God has been taken. People must repent of their
HOSTILE assumption (which is sin) and on faith change their assumption
about God. This is what it means to be "born again" to use the popular
phrase. Indeed, it often feels like beginning again!
The SECOND step in
forming a personal relationship with God is to begin to be aware of
God's initiative through people’s behavior for you every day, many times
a day. Becoming aware of God's generous behaviors tend, out of personal
gratitude, to lead to conforming personal daily behavior to God's
behaviors. When Godly behaviors are practiced, regardless with whom or
by whom, people are spiritually with God (in God's presence). Therefore,
since God is a Spirit, the SECOND step to a personal relationship with
God is to learn and behave as God behaves. Through people’s Godly
behavior, Spiritual God becomes physical and concrete, to people, in and
through people.
We believe it is our purpose
as a church to help us all to learn to experience this personal
relationship with God every moment of every day. Therefore, the goal of
our effort is not on getting people to be religious by getting people to
"come to church" or do "religious" things. Our goal is to help people
RECOGNIZE and BEHAVE as does God, in Jesus, in all their relationships,
especially those beyond the church. Church is a place to remind,
instruct, inspire and encourage a growing personal relationship with God
beyond the walls of the church.
We would be
delighted to share more about a personal relationship with God and about
the free atmosphere in which Christians of the Baptist tradition
operate, if you would allow us to do so.
Thank you for taking
a few moments to read this brief summary of who and where we are.
We welcome you personally
at our place. When you come, please tell us that your first contact with
us was on the internet. Please, come meet us face to face.
Sincerely,
J. Wayne Yawn
& Gerald L. Young |