Who We Are
Our Mission:
The purpose and function of this church shall be to win individuals to Christ, nurture them in the Christian faith and enlist them in Christian service. Together we will follow God’s guidance and strive to bring peace, unity, and Christian love to our community.
Poages Mill Church of the Brethren is a church made up of caring, committed Christian people who truly love the Lord. We come together to seek God’s will, to pray, to worship, to encourage one another, so that the body of Christ might be built up. We offer a number of ways for people to discover the gifts that God has blessed them with. We then offer them opportunities to use those gifts for God’s glory. We have many opportunities for fellowship for all age groups.
Our hope and prayer is that you’ll visit with us and allow God to guide you in your journey of faith, and our hope is that journey will lead you back to us again and again.
What’s Unique About the Church of the Brethren?
If you’re fed up with doctrine— and still hungry, try another way.
When you’re fully instructed but not fully satisfied, where can you turn? For 300 years, we in the Church of the Brethren have found steady nourishment and guidance not in a set creed, but another way: through open-minded consideration of Jesus, the scriptures, and our own hearts.
Together, as a community of believers, Brethren continually search for new insight; we discuss, pray, share, inquire, and keep trying. And always, we look to Jesus as our source and example. Without dispensing doctrine, Jesus fed multitudes. And in our experience, he still does.
If you’ve fished all night and caught nothing, try another way.
From the shore, Jesus looked across the water and saw that his friends had caught no fish. He called out, “Cast your nets on the other side of the boat.” Then he went back to the fire, to the breakfast he was preparing. He knew that within moments, there would be plenty of fish to go around.
For over 300 years the Church of the Brethren has tried to do as Jesus did. To notice the need. To help. To welcome, and to share. To replace the night’s emptiness with a new morning of abundance. Brethren believe there’s enough to go around. And we try to help that happen.
Working for peace is one thing - Working at peace is another.
Like many other groups, the Church of the Brethren—both men and women—have always stood for peace. We don’t bear arms. Instead, we bear food, medicines, farm tools, books. We dig wells, run clinics, teach classes. When war left children starving in Spain, we sent heifers to their families.
But projects are the easy part. There’s another way to work for peace: person to person, day by day. So we listen—and reconsider. We give the benefit of the doubt. We try to do as Jesus did. Jesus spent three years showing another way of living. And we’ve spent over three centuries following it.
The Church of the Brethren welcomes you to another way of living.