Our Key Environments
Where do we focus on pursuing our vision and mission as a church? In three strategic environments:
Sundays
From the parking lot to pew, we long to see people connecting with each other on Sunday mornings. On the Lord’s Day we worship together, learn together, serve together, drink coffee together, talk with each other and enjoy time together when the church is gathered corporately.
Grace Groups
The Christian life cannot be lived in isolation or anonymity. It is lived in community with each other. As a large church, we have intentionally committed to being a fellowship made up of Grace Groups, not simply a church with Grace Groups. Unless you connect through a Grace Group at Southwood, you will never be truly connected.
Serving
Grace cannot simply be something experienced; it must be expressed. Grace that claims to be experienced but lacks expression is simply religious self-deception masquerading as orthodoxy. Grace that claims to be expressed but lacks personal experience is simply social activism masquerading as Christianity. We embrace both the experience and expression of grace at the expense of neither.
Our Serving
Where has God particularly called Southwood to serve? While we rejoice that our members serve in many different ways in our community and beyond, we focus together on these three places to serve:
Student Ministries
From cradle to college, Southwood is a place for children. Whether it is ministry service through the nursery or working as adult leaders in Junior or Senior High-Life, we embrace the amazing opportunity to love, lead and learn with our covenant and community children.
Shepherding
C.S. Lewis said that Christians are "beggars telling other beggars where to find bread." As a community of broken, needy "beggars," we have embraced our calling to come alongside hurting families, hurting marriages, broken people and broken situations. Through our leadership, staff and members Southwood intentionally moves toward people who are in need. We understand the importance of this because we too are needy people.
Community Development
This term is an umbrella term we use to describe our participation in the restoration of creation. When the Fall of man occurred, every person, system and strategy within creation fell with us. Community Development is our attempt at working toward redemption to alleviate the physical and spiritual poverty created by the Fall, both in Huntsville and beyond.