Questions about Sunday Morning Service
General Questions
- What denomination are you?
- Are you Lutheran?
- What do you believe?
- What is a Link Group?
- Who is the pastor?
- Are you an “emergent” church?
- Why do you meet in 1st Lutheran Church’s fellowship hall on Sundays?
- What kind of church structure do you have?
- How do you make decisions as a church?
- Who can I talk to if I have more questions about Horizon Church?
- Why do people give money to churches?
- I give money to support a non-profit organization. Should I also give to the church?
Where are you located?
On Sundays, we meet at the 1st Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall. The Fellowship Hall is located on Burke Ave. off of York Rd. in walking distance from Towson University. During the week we meet in homes and apartments in small groups we call Link Groups.
Where do I park?
You are welcome to park in the 1st Lutheran parking lot. Our parking attendants will help you find a good spot. Our regular attenders will make sure they park on Burke Ave or Maryland Ave so that we have plenty of parking for our families, people with disabilities, and first time guests.
What do I wear?
Come as you are. Some people come in t-shirts, shorts and sandals. Others come in business casual. We meet in a fellowship hall, not a typical sanctuary, so just be yourself.
What can I expect when I come on Sunday morning?
You can expect there to be people outside helping you find a good place to park. You can expect people greeting you at the front door and a great kids area for your children. You can expect food, coffee and juice waiting for you upstairs, just outside the fellowship hall. You can expect a group of people mingling in the hallway and welcoming you when you get there. You can expect the service to start around noon and end around 1pm. You can expect to meet a group of twenty and thirty-somethings, families and singles who are trying to follow Christ and be the church He has called us to be.
What is your service like?
Come and find out. Typically we have worship music and a message. We also try to include creative elements as often as possible.
What are your sermons like?
You can listen to them for yourself by going to the Podcast section on this website. When it comes to our messages on Sunday mornings, we believe in the authority of scripture, the need to speak truth in love and the importance of being both transparent and relevant as communicators.
What is your music like?
We sing worship music and are often led by either an acoustic guitar or a full band. Listen to our music.
Is there something for kids on Sunday?
Yes. We have a kids ministry that happens while the adults are in the worship service. Check out the Kids page on our website for more info.
Do you have Sunday School
We do have something like Sunday School for kids 0-14 on Sundays but not for adults. Instead, we do small groups during the week, which we call Link Groups.
Are you handicap accessible?
Yes.
What demonination are you?
We have people from all different Christian denominations who are a part of our community. Some people have called us multi-denominational because, while we don’t affiliate strongly with one particular denomination, we try to celebrate what is valuable about all Christian traditions.
Are you Lutheran?
We are not affiliated with the Lutheran denomination. We are, however, very grateful to 1st Lutheran of Towson for letting us rent their fellowship hall, children’s area and parking lot on Sunday mornings. They have been very kind and gracious to us even though we are a very different kind of church.
What do you believe?
When it comes to theology and doctrine, we follow the motto: “In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things love.” That means we want to agree as a community on the essentials of the Christian faith and we want to allow room for disagreement on non-essentials. We believe that the essentials, the core of Christian belief found in Scripture, were best articulated in the Nicene Creed.
What is a Link Group?
It is a small group of people who have decided to live life together. It is a place to find community, build relationships, ask tough questions, discuss life issues, study scripture, and learn about God. Link Groups meet in homes and apartments throughout the week.
Who is the pastor?
We have a very flat leadership structure. That means we believe each Link Group leader functions as a “pastor” to their Link Group. While we do have people who are on staff and, therefore, are being paid by the church to do ministry, they work alongside the Leadership Team (made up of Link Group leaders) to make decisions for the church.
The two people currently on staff are Ryan Casey and Mark Stephenson. Ryan lives in Towson, MD, has a B.A. in Christian Ministry from Messiah College, and is working on his Masters of Arts in Christian Leadership from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. Mark lives with his wife and son in Nottingham, MD, has a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Messiah College and a Masters of Divinity from Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University.
Are you an “emergent” church?
Most people in our community don’t know what the phrase “emergent church” means. The best way to get to know us is to come and hang out with us. If you can figure out exactly what that phrase means then maybe you can tell us if we fit that description.
Why do you meet in 1st Lutheran Church’s fellowship hall on Sundays?
We used to meet in the Towson Commons AMC theater before it closed on May 15, 2011. We met in that theater for 7 years. As we look for a more permanent location, 1st Lutheran Church has been gracious enough to share their space with us.
What kind of church structure do you have?
We tend to do church organically. We also tend to be bad at programs. Structure for us tends not to be put in place from the top-down but instead rises from the bottom-up. So the few program-like things that we have typically have come from a need within the community. And while we tend to be bad at formal structure, we are good at hanging out and building authentic relationships.
How do you make decisions as a church?
Our Leadership Team is composed of the Link Group leaders. The Link Group leaders get insight from their Link Groups and others they are connected to. Then the Leadership Team meets once a month to cast vision, make decisions, talk, dream and pray for the church. Link Group leaders function as a combination of a pastor, small group leader, elder and deacon all rolled into one. Leading in teams is a high priority for us because we believe it maintains the integrity of the Leadership.
Who can I talk to if I have more questions about Horizon Church?
You can talk to any of the leaders in our community to get a feel for who we are and what we are about. Hanging out with us is the best way to get to know us. Contact us here.
Why do people give money to churches?
Let us first make it clear that those who are new to the church or who are still exploring Christianity are not expected to give financially to the church. However, those who are followers of Christ and who have decided that this is their community are expected to give faithfully back to God through the church. Why do we expect this?
We have this expectation because we believe that the local church is God’s primary way of working in the world. In the local church, people learn to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Following Christ means having one’s whole life submitted to Him. This includes growing into a person whose heart, soul, mind and body all imitate the life of Jesus. It also includes viewing all of our relationships and possessions as gifts from God to be used for His glory.
In response to God’s generosity toward us by giving us His Son Jesus, we give back to him just a small portion of our financial resources. We do this as an admission that all we have is God’s in the first place. We also do this as a reminder for ourselves that even the part of our lives that has to do with money needs to be surrendered to God. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:21 that, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” We want people’s hearts to be fully invested in the work of God in the world through the local church. Part of being fully invested means giving generously back to God through the church.
The apostle Paul did not want the people of the Corinthian church to give out of guilt or compulsion. He did not want people to give to the work of God in the world with a reluctant heart. So he told them that, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).
This is our hope as well at Horizon. For us, giving is a heart issue and we want to be known as a community full of people with generous hearts.
I give money to support a non-profit organization. Should I also give to the church?
There are lots of ministries and non-profits out there that are doing good work. We see these ministries and non-profits as organizations whose work often supports the work of the local church.
So while we encourage people to give money to other ministries and non-profit organizations, we believe our primary financial offering should be given to the local church. We have this view because we believe that the local church is God’s primary way of working in the world. (see the answer to the FAQ entitled Why do people give money to churches? for more details on this.)
The local church has the unique ability through its Christ-centered community to create the space needed for people’s lives to be transformed by God. These transformed lives transform the world.