Emmanuel Tuscaloosa Building Blocks

Living it Out | Our beliefs about the church’s identify, purpose, and functions are shaped by Scripture and emphasize the importance of meaningful church membership in which we seek to make and mature disciples for the glory of God.

Church Membership | Tom Allen

Things To Settle Before Suffering Comes… | Christian hope rests in Christ’s decisive victory, trusting that God will ultimately right every wrong while sustaining His people through suffering with faith, forgiveness, and compassion.

Speaker: Michael Crosswhite

Baptist Distinctives & the SBC | Baptist churches hold particular views on church membership, baptism, and church governance and autonomy. The Southern Baptist Convention is a voluntary association of churches who pool their resources to fund missions and ministries in the U.S. and around the world.

Church Membership | Tom Allen

From the Vantage of the End | Though evil and suffering remain until Christ returns, believers can endure with hope, trusting God’s perfect justice, finding comfort in His presence, and looking forward to resurrection and eternal glory.

Speaker: Michael Crosswhite

Discipline & Discontentment | The whole church body is to guard the gospel by pursuing holiness and practicing discipline and exercise wisdom and discretion in dealing with frustrations and discontentment within the body.

Church Membership | Tom Allen

Are We Pawns? | God’s sovereignty and human responsibility coexist mysteriously, calling Christians to trust his goodness, pray faithfully, fight evil, and endure suffering in faith rather than fall into fatalism or bitterness.

Speaker: Michael Crosswhite

Congregationalism | A church that is elder led and congregational ruled recognizes that under Christ’s ultimate authority and the subordinate authority of pastors, the entire church body is responsible to guard the gospel through doctrine, discipline, and membership.

Church Membership | Tom Allen

When God Refuses to Explain | Scripture gives good reasons for evil and that God may withhold the specific reasons for our suffering, calling us to trust His sovereign goodness rather than presume to explain His providence.

Speaker: Michael Crosswhite

Elders and Deacons | The biblical offices of elder and deacon promote unity in the church as the Word is taught, the church is equipped for ministry, and its physical needs are met.

Church Membership | Tom Allen

Why would God permit it? | God can be both good and sovereign while allowing evil for purposes of judgment, discipline, and mercy.

Speaker: Michael Crosswhite