Evangelical Bible Church

Introduction

EBC enjoys good health with an active membership.  As a local church, we exist to glorify God through worshipping Him, edifying His people, and evangelizing the world.  We are committed to the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and the second to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We are committed to preaching and teaching the truth of God’s Word so God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  It is our desire that people will be rooted and established in love, that they may have the power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know His love that surpasses knowledge – that they may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Church History

Two groups of Christians meeting separately in Dickinson merged together in 1974 to form one new congregation.   Following the call of a pastor, the name Evangelical Bible Church (EBC) was chosen and a church constitution adopted. 

After four years of renting facilities, a gift of two acres of land encouraged our growing number of believers to pray about our own church building.  God answered that prayer with amazing speed, and meetings began in the new place of worship in May of 1979.

EBC sought the fellowship and accountability of a denomination and found the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC USA).  EBC continues active membership and fellowship with the CCCC to this day.

EBC also houses a Christian school, Hope Christian Academy.  Hope Christian Academy operates within the church facilities, but they maintain their own school leadership, employees and budget.  The church and school both recently experienced a surge in growth which caused the church to purchase land and build a substantial addition to the existing building.  That building project was in 2015 completed without debt.

Our Local Community

Dickinson is a thriving community in southwest North Dakota.  The primary industries are agriculture and oil production.  We love our local community and enjoy bringing the gospel to the community through various ministries and relationships.  Our pastors, staff, and members serve in a wide variety of ministries in our community.  We also partner and engage with local organizations, businesses, and emergency services for certain ministry opportunities.  Our pastors have served as chaplains for police and fire.  Our church administrator volunteers as a middle school coach.  We have permitted the use of our facilities for certain programs such as foster care training.  We do not value being busy for the sake of being busy, but we do celebrate productive relationships.  The gospel is always our primary purpose for partnering with our community.

Church Leadership

The church is a congregational church.  The church constitution and bylaws direct which matters require congregational approval.  These include the annual budget, board elections, calling a pastor, and changes to the constitution or bylaws.

The church board consists of four elders and seven deacons.  Men who have been official church members for at least one year are eligible to be selected for the church board.  The elders and deacons meet separately before convening together as a full board.  The senior and associate pastors meet with the elders to consider the spiritual matters of the church, and the church administrator meets with the deacons to consider the physical matters of the church.  The church administrator serves full-time as a professional deacon attending to the facilities, budget, and benevolence of the church.

We also have a number of leaders who help shepherd the various ministries of the church (see below).

Church Membership

The church is interdenominational in character and attitude.  It is a community church whose members acknowledge their union in Christ with true Christian believers everywhere and are content to be known as Christians.  Our fellowship includes a balance of older couples, younger married families, single working parents, and young adults.  We have a strong representation of young families.  We have about 700 people from 250 families that attend EBC.  Of those, 167 are official members.  On a given Sunday, we generally have between 400 and 500 people attend services.  EBC is comprised of people from diverse set of church backgrounds.  Southwest ND is predominantly white.  However, the community has grown recently, and we have seen a small increase in ethnic diversity.  A high percentage of our church comes from a hard-working middle class. 

Ministries

The church ministers to the congregation and community in a number of ways.  Some of our ministries include the following:

• Men – Weekly ministries include a Wednesday morning Bible study, Every Man A Warrior discipleship groups, and the Conquer series. We also host the No Regrets men’s conference each year.
• Women – Our women are active with weekly Bible studies and life groups. We host a women’s conference each year.
• Children – We have strong children’s ministries including AWANA, Sunday school, children’s church and nursery care.
• Youth – Youth meet weekly for youth group as well as small group Bible studies. They have monthly activities and an annual missions experience.
• Young adults – Our college and career aged people meet weekly for Bible study and dinner at the homes of several of our church members.
• Christian education – We house Hope Christian Academy, a preschool through grade 12 school. We also provide opportunity for people to pursue an associate degree in Bible through a distance partnership with Trinity College of the Bible in Newburgh, IN.  Scholarship funds are available to members attending a Christian college or university.
• Marriage and parenting – We believe discipleship has its greatest impact in the home. We require extensive premarital counseling for anyone seeking to be married in our church.  We also offer Bible studies and conferences for marriage and parenting.
• Embrace – This orphan care ministry is unique to our church. Embrace assists those considering an active ministry of foster care and/or adoption.  Some funding is available to those pursuing adoption.
• Music ministry team – We are blessed with a very talented group of musicians. Sunday services include contemporary worship music and a closing hymn.
• Domestic and foreign missions – Our church strongly emphasizes each person is called to the Great Commission wherever we go. We have also been blessed to send missionaries to the foreign mission field.  We work hard to relate at a high level with those missionaries.  We also enjoy partnering with Samaritan’s Purse and local organizations with domestic mission work.  Ten percent of all Sunday offerings are allocated to our missions fund to be used for kingdom work outside of our church budget, and a separate missions offering is taken monthly.
• Benevolence – The deacons and church administrator maintain our ministry of benevolence to thoughtfully meet financial needs of those who are less fortunate.

Church Finances and Property

The church maintains strong fiscal responsibility.  Our financial approach is conservative in nature with a strong aversion to church debt.  A recent multi-million-dollar building expansion was accomplished without incurring any debt.  We also want to avoid hoarding money as we prefer to invest wisely in the kingdom of God.  Our finances are handled with full transparency of the entire congregation.

The church owns a primary campus of four acres where the church building is located.  The church is in the process of purchasing an additional four acres adjacent to our current property.  There are currently no hard and fast plans for this land, but we wanted to avoid becoming land-locked.  The church also owns a duplex for the purpose of providing affordable housing to church and school staff.

Key Challenges

• Providing pastoral care for all in our church.
• Knowing each person in the midst of the crowd.
• Discerning our next generation of ministry. Our ministries continue to grow, and we have a strong team of godly leaders shepherding our ministries.  With the change in pastoral leadership, there will certainly be a new generation of ministry.  We seek a humble associate pastor to work with our senior pastor and ministry leaders in seeking God’s direction.
• Growing our small group ministries. We have women’s and men’s small groups, and we would like to increase the number of couples/family small groups within our fellowship.
• Navigating the midwestern culture. Our people value deep relationships that take time to establish.  Our new associate pastor will excel with a patient and sincere approach to relationships.

Core Beliefs and Values

• We want to be church that is all about building faith, sending out, and sharing God. We highly value the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, a loving local church, and a heart for reaching the lost.
• The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) – Each of us is called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The church benefits that love through strong Biblical teaching, prayer, counseling, modeling love, pastoral care, and church discipline.
• The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and the Great Compassion (Matthew 9:36) – Every Christian is called to share Christ’s compassion for the lost and to proclaim the gospel wherever we go. We proclaim hope of eternal life through faith in Christ, and we pursue personal obedience to what Jesus teaches in His Word.
• The church believes strongly in the power and importance of corporate prayer.

We Believe

The church holds to the Biblical doctrines which mark and conserve Evangelical Christianity. These are stated below; we consider these minimal for participation. Christians have exceeded these seven statements with entire systems of Biblical theology. We recognize these systems and cherish the opportunity to examine them with one another.

• The Bible: We believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the only inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God written.
• The Trinity:We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ:We believe in the deity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
• Salvation:We believe that for salvation of lost and sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
• The Holy Spirit:We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling power and fullness the Christian is enabled to live a godly life in this present evil world.
• The Resurrection: We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
• Spiritual Unity: We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in Christ.

Furthermore, We Believe

• We practice believer’s baptism by full immersion.
• We celebrate communion as a full congregation the first Sunday of each month.
• Personal faith in Jesus Christ is required for church membership.

It Is Our Vision

• To proclaim and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Dickinson, North Dakota and our neighboring states, and throughout the world. Acts 1:8
• To warmly and sincerely welcome all peoples into the fellowship of our church family – worshipping, loving, laboring together in joyous harmony and in prayerful dependence upon God. Acts 2:41-47, Colossians 4:2
• To be a fellowship where all people, including the hurting, the depressed, the frustrated and the confused can find love, help, hope, forgiveness, guidance and encouragement. Isaiah 61:1-3, Matthew 5:3-4;11:28
• To develop people to spiritual maturity; that is, obedience to God’s Word and submission of every aspect of their lives to God. Ephesians 4:11-13
• To equip and encourage every believer to actively engage in works of service through the use of their gifts and talents. 1 Corinthians 12:7; 12:18, Ephesians 4:12
• To send out many career missionaries and church workers all around the world and empower every person for a personal life of gospel mission in the world. Matthew 28:19, Acts 1:8
• To promote justice and mercy in our community and to speak out against the evils of society in a godly manner. Isaiah 1:17, Amos 5:14-15, Mark 6:18

As we are faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ to make this happen, we value the following Christian distinctives as a way to grow in a closer relationship to God.

In themselves, these are good, but they do not save. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. And it’s through His birth, death, resurrection and ascension that this is made possible for us. We are called to believe upon Him and His finished work on the cross for this salvation. For there is no other name by which men can be saved.

• The glory of God. Our primary purpose is always to glorify God.
• Prayer, Bible reading, sound teaching, and Christian fellowship and service as essential for the spiritual growth of individuals and of the church.
• Lifestyles that display love for God and for our neighbors as normal for every Christian.
• Excellence and integrity in all things as honoring to God.
• The recognition of spiritual gifts and their use for the building up of the church.
• Personal discipleship and leader development as vital for maintaining a healthy church.
• Relationships characterized by unity, flexibility, grace and love as essential to the life of the church.
• Small group participation as a great opportunity for the growth and care of believers.