About Us

True worship is much broader than Sunday morning worship services. Biblical worship is living a life of praise and transformation. Of course, that includes attending worship services but far surpasses simple church attendance.

Consider Romans 12:1-2 – I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (ESV).

With these two verses, the Apostle Paul succinctly outlined a life of praise and transformation. Our true spiritual worship is marked by sacrifice, living for God rather than for ourselves, living a life of praise, holy and acceptable to Him. To live such a life requires both a change of heart and a change of mind. How does that work? God’s Spirit works in our hearts, and God’s Word works in our minds. As someone in our church family commented, “We incorporate worship into our lives as a consistent attitude and not just something we do on Sundays.”

The primary hub of congregational worship is the Sunday worship service which, at this point, is fully authentic but a work in progress. We pray, we sing, we read Scripture, we hear solid, biblical teaching, we administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and we connect with each other. Our service is casual but honoring and respectful. Our music is diverse with song lyrics, Scripture, and prayers projected on a large screen. We offer a blend of modern worship expression and deep respect for our Christian heritage.

We envision moving to a worship location with more space soon so that we can launch a full-orbed Children’s Ministry. We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re on the way and moving quickly, making remarkable gains in the few months since our low-key inauguration. So much has happened by the grace of God, and there’s so much more to come.

Outreach at Harvest Church is about building long-term, meaningful relationships with our neighbors in the Cleveland Community and surrounding areas. Our focus is not on stand-alone outreach events, but on consistent engagement with those who live near us. Of course, we invite our neighbors to come and enjoy all that we have to offer, but outreach is centered on our people going out into the community to connect with people where they are and provide help and service where it’s needed.

For example, home groups are beginning to develop in our congregation, small groups of people who meet routinely for Bible study, prayer, worship, and just being together and sharing life. We’re encouraging these groups to go beyond the norm and adopt a community outreach mission for the group as a group to engage.

Our first group to do so is the H1M Group or Hope 1 Mission Group. Wanting to expand both in-reach and outreach, the members of this group began with outreach, centering their ministry on the homeless through supplying homeless people with necessities. This need was recognized by one member who saw the needs of the homeless through her work as a caseworker at a local hospital. H1M made a decision to begin their ministry there. Regarding in-reach, the group also started a quarterly fellowship gathering of the group in addition to their twice monthly Bible study. More groups such as this will be starting soon.

We envision a church that faces outward toward the community. As one of our church family members commented, we’re going to be “a church that is willing to go out into the community and serve, whether it be from programs that we start or from getting connected with existing programs in the community.” There are unlimited needs to be met and unlimited ways to meet them. Harvest Church is all in.

Ideas abound at Harvest Church when considering evangelism from prayer walks to supporting organizations such as Young Life and First Priority, to welcoming newcomers, to worship services that both challenge disciples to greater spiritual growth while sharing the life-saving and life-giving message of Jesus to those who are searching for truth, maybe for the first time. The bottom line, though, is that we are committed as individuals to sharing our faith with others, telling our story of coming to faith and growing in faith and telling the story of Jesus.

To be candid, we’re not great at doing this – not yet anyway. But our commitment is strong, and, by the grace of God, we’re going to get there and soon. Our leadership is consistently providing teaching and training in the discipline of effective evangelism. Everything that we do in ministry aligns with the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

We envision being a church where people find salvation and redemption in the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ. Stay tuned!

The true measure of discipleship is found in obedience. Just prior to his ascension, Jesus delivered what we have come to know as the Great Commission. When thinking of the Great Commission, folks typically highlight the initial instruction of Jesus found in his words. That initial instruction was to “go and make disciples,” often offered as the abbreviated version of Great Commission.

Going deeper into Jesus’ statement, he informs his leading disciples to baptize people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, a sacramental practice that Bible-believing churches have engaged since the founding of the church. The final instruction of Jesus on that occasion was to teach people “to obey everything I have commanded you,” (Matthew 28:20). Obedience to the commands of Jesus Christ is at the heart of true discipleship.

We envision a church whose congregation is a family of followers of Jesus Christ who are obedient to his commands. To know what he commands, we study his word, the Holy Bible. The more we study the Bible, the more we know what he commands and the more we know him. The more we know him, the more we’re compelled to pray and worship, and the more we’re compelled to share what we know with others. In the vision of one member, “Harvest Church is a thriving group of members willing and excited to lead Bible studies and discussion groups as they share with the different generations how to follow Jesus in their daily walk and continue to grow closer to him through our spiritual disciplines.” Well said!

The Harvest Church family is deeply committed to ministering well beyond our church and community. Here are a few comments from our people regarding what they envision:

“That we would seek opportunities to provide for people in need both near and far, continuing to partner with other churches to support Missions trips.”

“Annual (or more often) church sponsored youth Missions Trips to areas where disasters have occurred.”

“A congregation that looks for opportunities to serve and will give of their time and resources to help with projects locally, nationally, and internationally that need to be done to improve the livelihood of the community…and provide hope through sharing the gospel with those they serve.”

You get the idea. Harvest Church is a missions-minded church. We envision ministry engagement well beyond our congregation and community, committing time, energy, expertise, and finances to God’s work well beyond ourselves.