THE NAME

“The Forest” sometimes catches some attention and people want to know why we picked this name to represent our church.

Our name comes from a deep desire to stick to the Biblical way of talking about ourselves, our identity and the lives we are meant to live the way God shows us in His Word. We aren’t attempting to make cool sayings, we’re just keeping to the Script.

When you have seen or been a part of hollow churches, churches that don’t know how to develop leaders (mature Christians), churches that turn into cults/personality cults, and those who are so program/resource-crazy that they are drowning in a sea of “doing stuff on mission” - then yeah - you find the Word of God to be the grounding manual for All a church needs.

Is it unattractive to some? Sure.

But that’s The Forest Church. It is not novel. It’s Biblical. It’s reform.

Simply put, it is a framework for helping everyday Christians understand the 30,000 foot view we all should know if we follow Jesus. It’s a return to the Bible as our instructor and a tenacity to be the church the way it was set up to be in the time of the Apostles.

In all of “The Forest” metaphor surrounding our efforts here, we are just seeking to be the 2,000 year old Faithful body called “The Church”. Nothing more. Nothing Less.

“New & Improved” doesn’t fit into an organism established by the God of the universe. There isn’t anything to improve upon here in His Church. It actually works in a healthy way when you set yourself aside to serve and minister how He says to and just trust it.

So for the sake of ruffling feathers in a good way, for the Gospel and for Ministering how we are told to, we have sought to let many of the gizmos, tools and trends go, and instead turn our efforts to the minds, hearts and actions of the people who are in our church and those who aren’t but live right down the street.

When the church struggles to look like who she actually is (the bride of Christ), then two things are out of place, and they are the same two things that were under attack in the 1st Century. Paul the Apostle addressed it, John the Apostle addressed it, Peter the Apostle Addressed it and our Lord Jesus addressed it too.

Her Identity has been forgotten & Her Maturity has not been pursued.

Enter The Forest Church.

"The Forest" comes from plant imagery and metaphor found throughout the whole Bible. Whether in the Garden of Eden, the first Psalm, the words of Jesus or the book of Revelation, trees and plants are used to describe many truths surrounding the Kingdom of God. 

Spiritual life, obedience, the walk of a Christian, evidence of a truly transformed life, and eternal hope are just a few of the ways Scripture utilizes the natural world to teach eternal things.

According to the first Psalm a mature, spiritual fruit-bearing Christian can be compared to a deeply-rooted, vibrant tree. The life of the tree comes from water nearby just as the life and health of a Christian flows from Remaining in the Word and Abiding in Christ.

This name lines up perfectly with our desire for a church of deeply-rooted, mature Christians.

We desire for God to grow them and gather them, creating a Forest of His Work.