Willow Bend Church

Unchurched young suburbia. We believe that while we are to emphasize a total ministry to all ages and socio-economic groups, God has called us to reach unchurched suburbanite "baby-boomers" (ages 24-44) both military and civilians in a ten mile radius of our church. Southern Baptist Transferees. As a Southern Baptist Church, we should actively seek to minister to Southern Baptists transferring to our area, but NEVER at the expense of our primary emphasis on unchurched families. How Has God Equipped Us to Reach Our Target Community?
The church's ministry should be structured philosophically and programmatically to attract and positively meet the needs of young unchurched families on our community who are seeking the skills to cope with the problems of life in the year 2000 and beyond.

The primary purpose of this and every other church is to make disciples. There are many other things we will do and activities we will be involved in, but our primary purpose is to reach people with the message of Christ, and lead them to be disciples. The natural expression of our worship is evangelism and discipleship. We are a church involved in dynamic worship and social ministry, but our primary purpose is to make disciples.
Our strategy is to use "Relational Evangelism" as opposed to more confrontational methods. Relational evangelism requires that believers spend time with and develop relationships with non-churched persons in the community. When a believer has a relationship with another person, we then earn the right to be heard when we share our faith.

Every church should feel that it is special and that it has something special to offer the community. What makes Willow Bend different than every other church in Clarksville, Tennessee? Willow Bend is different because our sense of purpose, not our programs, shape our ministry. Our goal is to never lose our focus on what really matters. What matters to us is reaching our community the message of Christ, and when people accept Christ, teaching them how to become mature followers of Christ. Every thing we do as a church has to pass the test of "How will this enable us to more effectively reach Clarksville with the message of Jesus?" If we cannot show how it will make us more effective in reaching people, we just do not do what was suggested. "Keeping the main thing the main thing," is our goal, The main thing is reaching people with the message of Christ.