frequently asked ?'s

And you are also welcome to dialogue with any member of our leadership team. They would also be happy to talk and interact. Together we have chewed on these questions for over two years. This is where we are at and where we are going.

1. What is Prairie View Community Church ?
We are a New Testament, Bible-believing group of Christians that have come together to form this church.  We started this mission project of establishing a living, breathing, congregation here in Parker, in the spring of 1999 with just three families.  And God has blessed us.

2. What does Prairie View believe ?
We are an evangelical church that believes in all the fundamentals of the Bible. We are hopefully relevant in those beliefs, in that we attempt to bring our faith into our daily life and practice. And we try to communicate our faith in a straight-forward, encouraging way.

(For a more detailed look check out our Statement of Faith.)

3. What is Prairie View's purpose ?
Our purpose is probably best summarized by our Lord's last words, found in the gospel of Matthew.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
-- Matthew 28:19-20

We are part of an association of churches that has used these verses as our "guidepost", for over twenty-five years. All Evangelicals have sought for many centuries to be faithful to this - His last command. It is called, "The Great Commission."

Often it is summarized in two words, to "Win" and to "Build." Our Lord instructs us here in Matthew to be involved in winning the lost and also challenges us to build them up in the faith, that all Christians might join together in helping to win even more folks to our Christian faith.

4. How does Prairie View carry out this Great Commission ?
We seek to imitate the New Testament Church in how they did it. In the book of Acts it states that this first church met together in the temple, as well as in small groups in their homes. (Acts 2:46)

We also meet in the "temple" on Sunday mornings for our regular Sunday morning worship time. In addition we meet in our homes for our "small group" times, which we call Life Groups.

Those New Testament believers met all together in their temple to accomplish two specific things. They worshipped together and they were taught the Word. On Sunday mornings we worship and the pastors teach the Word.

When they met in their homes they concentrated on their fellowship and their prayers. In our Life Groups we also concentrate on fellowship and prayer.

"And they were continually devoting themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

"And day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people." -- Acts 2:42, 46, 47

In the very next phrase, there in chapter two of Acts it says, "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Our prayer is that God would bless us as He blessed those early believers with many individuals and whole families coming to know the Lord and growing in their faith.

(For a more detailed explanation of our Life Group philosophy, check out our Life Group section.)

5. Who is Prairie View trying to reach out to and minister to ?
Anyone that God is drawing into His Kingdom and His Church. And we mean that. We really do want to be a witness to our entire community. But Prairie View is just a part of His Kingdom. And it seems that we are probably best equipped to help young families, since we are young families ourselves.

If there is a typical, "Parker Pete and Phyllis," then we want to serve them. Our typical Parker Pete is married, has three kids (two beautiful girls and a good-looking, young boy), a dog and a mortgage that is almost crazy. He cares about his family, but might be a little anxious. He wants to do well, yet is a little worried.

We believe that Christianity has relevant answers for Pete, because our faith has given us relevant answers and we fit his same profile. We too are very busy, very involved with our work, busy with our families and our homes and our schools and many, many other activities. Our schedules can seem overwhelming at times. But we are thankful that God speaks to and walks with, each of us. 

6. What is our goal for everyone who visits Prairie View ?
"And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ." -- Colossians 1:28

If individuals and families choose to be involved in our Sunday morning service, then we very quickly ask them whether they would like to join us in one of our Life Groups. These couples Life Groups are scattered across Parker. And between our Sunday mornings and living room experiences, we hope to see this verse accomplished in every one of our lives, that is, that we might be complete in Christ.

7. How do we make it easy for new visitors to connect at Prairie View ?
We have developed a simple plan called our "Seven Touches". It is simple and hopefully very gracious, where through a series of contacts, all of our visitors can get to know a little more about our church family.

One thing we do right off the bat, is mail out to everyone who visits, our weekly Pastor's Update. In this letter we seek to encourage, inform, even inspire you a little, and definitely make you smile, every week.

(For more info - pick up "Seven Touches" from our lit table.)

8. How can I make friends at Prairie View ?
It's easy! You're invited to stay after church for refreshments and fellowship every Sunday. Shake a few hands, and say "Hi." Relax and enjoy yourself. And be sure to fill out a Visitors Card and indicate any activities you might have an interest in.

9. How can I become a member of Prairie View ?
If you're interested in learning more about becoming a member of our church family, plan to attend the next "Pastor's Luncheon." This time, usually scheduled right after a Sunday church service, will help you discover the vision and heartbeat of Prairie View Community Church. We talk about our history, our beliefs and opportunities for you to get involved in a ministry and in one of our Life Groups.

(Phone the pastor for details.)

10. How can I serve at Prairie View ?
We believe that every Christian has unique gifts and talents intended to be used for the good of others, within the church body. If you desire to discover your spiritual gifts) and how they can be utilized within the ministries of Prairie View Community Church, please call one of our church leaders. We would love to talk with you.

11. What are a few of the special events on Prairie View's yearly calendar ?
A lot! Just as the first century believers had special feast days and holidays, so do we. We try to celebrate throughout the year, whether it is Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter or the 4th of July. We enjoy summer picnics, church potlucks, fall harvest parties, and lots of other excuses to get together. A lot of social activities are scheduled within our different Life Groups, where a half dozen families get together for a backyard barbeque or a campout in the mountains.

And every year we encourage our couples to get away for a yearly, marriage get-away, conference. God has used these conferences for many years and they are a regular part of our church's yearly calendar.

12. How is the Bible taught at Prairie View ?
Hopefully, in a "real" way. We always want to be relevant every Sunday, to help us all with what we face on Monday morning. We tend to be topical in our approach to the Scriptures. Our Lord was mostly topical when He spoke. He would pick a subject, relate it to our life, bring Scriptures to bear on that subject, and then give application. Humbly we seek to imitate this approach in communicating God's truth.

13. How is Prairie View financially supported ?
Our church is supported by the tithes and offerings of those who regularly attend. We have a "giving box" located on the literature table. Our church is a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation and all gifts are tax deductible. Of course, if you are a visitor, please feel free to be our guest and enjoy our church family and service, without any sense of obligation. And we mean that!

"If a person gets his attitude towards money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life. Tell me what you think about money, and I can tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related. A man's heart is closer to his wallet than almost anything else." - Billy Graham

(We have a paper on our financial practices and policies entitled "For where your treasure is. . ." In it we discuss a few basic Biblical principles on money and we share our practices, as to how we deal with it, here at Prairie View.)

14. How is the leadership at Prairie View structured ?
We have pastors and deacons, just as the New Testament Church had pastors and deacons. We work together in a plurality. Our example is found in the book of Acts where pastors (elders) and deacons served together to lead and build up the church. The character qualifications we hold to, for our church's leadership, are found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, where Paul lists those traits a man must have in his life to serve as a leader in the church.

We believe in our leaders submitting to each other and always pursuing unity. And God has allowed us to practice this standard.

(For a more detailed explanation of our leadership model, please pick up a copy of "Our History and Membership with the Great Commission Association of Churches." In this booklet not only are our "roots" and leadership model explained, but also some of our other practices and "passions". )

15. How does Prairie View go about training its future leaders ?
Through our LTC. LTC stands for Leadership Training Class. Life Group leaders and apprentices are asked to meet regularly with the pastors and deacons. We talk about issues that concern the growth and health of our church. We believe in "on-the-job-training". As God helps us in our own personal, spiritual walk and in our own abilities to encourage, serve and lead God's people - through this process God has raised up leaders in our churches for over twenty-five years.

16. What about Prairie View's children's and youth ministries ?
This is probably the most important question we could answer for you. And we would really like to take the time necessary to do a thorough job. We feel this is probably the first area that we have maybe more conviction on, than almost any other topic. Prairie View started on the heels of the Columbine tragedy, as a few families got together, wanting to help other families in the mutual care and instruction of our children.

We have taught on this topic of children and youth over fifty times in over fifty churches. And God has richly blessed our families. But we don't think they just "happened" to turn out. There are definite, biblical principles that need to be understood and embraced if we are going to "win with our kids."

We have an active, parent-based, Sunday School program we call Promise Land. And a proven, successful, teen ministry with weekly meetings, conferences, outreach activities, etc.

(If you would like to read more about our Promise Land philosophy of ministry or our Teen philosophy of ministry, again, pick up some of our various handouts or on this web site. But these documents are just the tip of the iceberg. Please give me a call. I would love to talk more, face-to-face, with you the parent.)

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Thanks again for showing interest in what we are trying to accomplish as a new, young, Parker community church.

Keep pressing,

Dennis Clark, pastor
720-842-0204  dennis@prairieviewcc.org