When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, his response was simple, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) Loving God and loving others is at its heart an act of worship, and worship is both a private and a family matter. Members at HSBC are expected to have vibrant personal relationships with Christ, whereby they Love God through worship on a daily basis. But the Bible also commands us to gather together with other believers (a faith family) regularly to worship the Lord together.     At HSBC we provide 2 opportunities each Sunday to worship together as a faith family at 11:00am and 6:00pm. Our gatherings provide the opportunity to Love God and Love others as we come together for the express purpose of publicly and purposefully worshipping God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit both for who He is (our creator and sustainer) and for what He has accomplished for us through the gospel of grace.

Following the resurrection and just prior to His ascension, Jesus left the church with a task that we have come to know as the Great Commission. Jesus said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The heart of the Great Commission is to make disciples, which means the heartbeat of HSBC is to make disciples. This occurs as we help people see their need for Christ, invite them into a relationship with Christ, baptize them as a symbol of their commitment to Christ, and then teach them to become more like Christ.
The process of growing more and more like Christ and less and less like ourselves is a lifelong process that occurs as we learn more of who God is as he has revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through His holy, inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word and seek to be obedient to all of His commands, not out of obligation or any attempts to earn merit before Him, but rather flowing from the reality that we have already received mercy and favor from Him. At HSBC our Sunday School classes are the primary means by which we connect with others in order to grow in Christ together. These smaller groups come together to study the bible, minister to one another, and to reach others with the gospel. Thus, each group has a threefold purpose: to Mature in Christ through carefully studying and applying the Scripture together, to Minister to one another by praying for one another and meeting one another’s needs, to engage in Mission by seeking to reach non-believers with the gospel, praying for and caring for church planters and international missionaries, and seeking to serve the community of Somerset and Pulaski County together.

The primary task of the Great Commission is to make disciples, but there is a qualifier at the beginning of the Commission that explains how we are to make disciples. The first word of the commission is go, so if we are to make disciples we must go to where these prospective disciples are. We have the most essential message in all the world, that Jesus Christ has died to save men and women, boys and girls from their sin and rebellion. It is not only the most essential message in all the world, it is the only essential message, and we as the church have been tasked to serve the world by taking the gospel to people everywhere, beginning in Somerset and Pulaski County and stretching to the ends of the earth.     At HSBC, we expect members to serve, and that service is twofold. First, we need members to serve within the church so that we may be better equipped to serve outside the church. There are a variety of opportunities to serve within the church, whether it be in our children’s area, worship area, student area, Sunday School teacher, committees, etc. All members should find at least one area to serve within the church. Second, all members should be serving outside the church, taking the gospel to the community and beyond. First and foremost this takes place as individuals and families live life on mission where they are, taking the gospel to friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and others they might encounter in daily life. But we must also serve the world together, and the primary vehicle for serving together is our Sunday School classes. Our classes seek ways to serve the community together, through community outreach projects of various kinds, with the intent to reach people with the gospel.   But we are not called to simply serve the community, we are also called to serve the world. Our classes also seek to engage in national and international missions in partnership with North American Mission Board church planters, and International Mission Board missionaries. In partnering with these groups our church as a whole, and Sunday School classes in particular, look to engage in four areas of strategic partnership: