oUR cHURCH hISTORY
The idea of forming a church was slow, deliberate and evolving. Committed to nurturing our spirits into more fervent devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ, Pastor Ato Afful formed a prayer and Bible Study group in August 1998 at 3810 Dunsinane Road in Silver Spring, MD. The original intention was to build us up in our most holy faith and enrich the life of the study group. However, by divine intervention, the idea of Church became obvious to us.
Starting with only five people, it grew to approximately twenty-one over a period of five months with eighteen regular attendees. Providential intervention in September 1988, however, made it difficult to continue meeting together at the premises. With unbridled love for the Lord Jesus Christ and unquestioned obedience to his abiding missionary mandate as living extensions of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20; John 17:17-19), we covenanted before God on October 20, 1998 to commit ourselves together as an organized body of believing disciples, in obedience to His calling on our lives and extended privilege, to form a visible fellowship of believers under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Our life together grew and became much closer. We felt a sense of kinship and dedication to a common cause: worshiping and petitioning the Lord in spirit and in truth. Consequently, we sensed the need to extend the Friday night prayer and Bible Study to a Sunday worship service. Our first service, therefore, was held on October 30, 1998 at the 3810 Dunsinane Road with a communion.
After a few services, we kept the Friday night meetings and moved the Sunday services to a basement at 4722 Falcon St., Rockville, MD. The bond of fellowship and kinship grew steadily with each service.
Our first concern was a systematic teaching about the nature of a biblical Church. Consequently, we started a series of sermons about the unique and glorious identity of the Church in God=s economy. Turning to God=s Family Album, so to speak, we discovered the essential characteristics of a New Testament Church. Impressed with the vibrancy of the Church described in Acts 2 as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we developed a spiritual kinship with the disciples. The idea of conspiracy of goodness soon became a byword in our little fellowship. The little basement fellowship continued to grow with frequent visitors and on Christmas day December 25, 1998 we numbered 19 people. On December 27, our ranks swelled to 25 people.
At the start of the new year, on Friday, January 1, 1999, the members had a congregational meeting at one of our conspiracy of goodness meetings to recognize and praise God for the birthdays of two of our members who had pledged themselves to continue in loving and faithful devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.
The steady growth demanded moving out of the basement into a larger place of worship. Applications were sent out and we began the process of determining through prayer, both the location and space for worship.