Church Profile
Service Times
Sundays at 10:30am
(205) 994-1313
Pastor / Elder Justin Cosby
Our Mission
Gospel-Centered. Community-Driven. Mission-Focused.
We are a gospel-centered, community-driven, and mission-focused church dedicated to making, maturing, and multiplying disciples of Jesus.
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About Ransomed Community Church
Why the name “Ransomed Community Church?”
We chose the name Ransomed Community to reinforce the fact that the body of Christ is a ransomed people, a called-out people for God’s glory to “proclaim the excellencies of him who has called” us “out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We want people to know Jesus. We want the opportunity to tell and to show that Jesus has ransomed us, transformed us, and brought us together in community through this good news which is the Gospel.
What does Ransomed Community Church Look Like? How is it structured?
Ransomed Community Church is different by design; we desire for the Gospel to transform us as a people and allow us to live normal (yet radically transformed) lives in our city and broader communities with Gospel-saturated intentionality.
In order to accomplish this, we keep the structure of Ransomed Community really simple. We have borrowed and learned from the way Jesus made his disciples.
We live in what we like to call “life-on-life” community with 10-25 others in what we call a Missional Community. Missional Communities typically come together as a family in homes to fellowship, share a meal, study Scripture, and apply the Gospel to their lives in the context of community. There are 3 identities that we seek to live out in our Missional Communities: (1) Family– because we have been adopted by the Father, (2) Servant– because we follow King Jesus, and (3) Missionary– because we have been empowered and sent by the Holy Spirit into the world to make disciples.
Within our Missional Community life, we also scatter to even smaller groups that meet at an unspecified time throughout the week called DNA groups. These gender-specific groups typically consist of 3-4 people. DNA is one of the primary ways in which we disciple and care for each other while holding one another accountable to living out the Gospel in the context of genuine relationship.
In addition to this, our Missional Communities come together weekly on Sunday mornings to worship God, be formed theologically, and be shaped spiritually by the preaching of God’s Word. We hold the preaching of God’s Word in high esteem. We believe that the faithful preaching of God’s Word is vital and essential for the church to be strengthened and built up. We observe the sacraments/ordinances weekly during our gatherings.
What is the vision and mission of Ransomed Community Church?
We say that the vision of Ransomed Community Church is to be a Gospel-centered, community-driven, mission-focused people who seek to make much of Jesus and his Gospel.
We are committed to being Gospel-centered. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus came to ransom for himself a people (by his virgin birth, perfect life, substitutionary death, literal resurrection, and glorious ascension) and that one day he will return and judge the world and renew all things to himself.
We are community-driven, which means that the church is not just a building, not just a place, but it is the people of God who have been transformed by the Gospel and sent on mission into the world for God’s glory.
We are mission-focused, which means we are seeking to glorify God as we Make, Mature and Multiply disciples of Jesus. Though there are many honorable things that the church is called to, we believe that our primary calling and mission is making disciples that make disciples, and to that end we are focused.
Denomination / Affiliation:
Southern Baptist Convention
Service and Sermon Style:
Verse-by-Verse Teaching
Dress Style:
casual
Primary Language:
English
MINISTRIES AND GROUPS
Church Ministries
Kids
Singles
Men’s
Women’s
Small Groups
Missional Communities: We live in what we like to call “life on life” community with 10-25 others in what we call a Missional Community. Missional Communities typically come together as a family in homes to fellowship, share a meal, study scripture, and apply the Gospel to their lives in the context of community. There are 3 identities that we seek to live out in our Missional Communities.
1) Family- because we have been adopted by the Father.
2) Servant – because we follow King Jesus.
3) Missionary – because we have been Empowered and Sent by the Holy Spirit into the world to make disciples.
DNA: Within our Missional Community life, we also scatter to even smaller groups that meet at an unspecified time throughout the week called DNA groups. These gender specific groups typically consist of 3-4 people. DNA is one of the primary ways in which we disciple and care for each other, while holding one another accountable to Gospel Living in the context of genuine relationship.
BELIEFS
God Is Triune
There is one God: infinite, eternal, almighty and perfect in holiness, truth and love. In the unity of the Godhead, there are three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-existent, co-equal and co-eternal. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet each is truly Deity. There is One God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is the foundation of Christian faith.
God the Father
God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By His word and for His glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world out of nothing. Through the same word, He daily sustains all His creatures. He rules over all, and together with the Son and the Spirit, is the only Sovereign. His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. He is faithful to fulfill every promise, works all things together for good to those who love Him and, in His unfathomable grace, gave His Son, Jesus Christ, for mankind’s redemption. He made all things for the praise of His glory and intends for man, in particular, to live in fellowship with Himself.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the eternal Word made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He is perfect in nature, teaching and obedience. He is fully God and fully man. He was always with God and is God. He was before all things and through Him all things came into being, and in Him all things hold together by the word of His power. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, and in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
He is the one and only Savior for the sins of the world, having shed His blood and died a vicarious death on Calvary’s cross. By His death in our place, He revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, on the third day, He rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness, and for a period of 40 days, appeared to over 500 witnesses, performing many convincing proofs of His resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, He intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all, awaiting His return. He is the Head of His body and the Church and should be adored, loved, served, and obeyed by all.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Through the proclamation of the gospel, He persuades men to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit, a person is led to trust in divine mercy. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth, and dwells within the regenerate. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son who, in turn, came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word. He is to be respected, honored and worshipped as God, the Third Person of the Trinity.
The Scriptures
We accept the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, as the written Word of God. The Bible is an essential and infallible record of God’s self-disclosure to mankind. It leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Being given by God, the Scriptures are both fully and verbally inspired by God. Therefore, as originally given, the Bible is free of error in all it teaches. Each book is to be interpreted according to its context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through it in living power. All believers are exhorted to study the Scriptures and diligently apply them to their lives. The Scriptures are the authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine. They are totally sufficient and must not be added to, superseded, or changed by later tradition, extra-biblical revelation, or worldly wisdom. Every doctrinal formulation, whether of creed, confession, or theology, must be put to the test of the full counsel of God in Holy Scripture.
Man
God made man—male and female—in His own image, as the crown of creation so that man might glorify Him through enjoying fellowship with Him. Tempted by Satan, man rebelled against God. Being estranged from his Maker yet responsible to Him, he became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved and apart from a special work of grace, utterly incapable of returning to God. This depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to his mind, will, and affections. Unregenerate man lives under the dominion of sin and Satan. He is at enmity with God, hostile toward God, and hateful of God. Fallen, sinful people, whatever their character or attainments, are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ alone.
The Gospel
Jesus Christ is the gospel. The good news is revealed in His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ’s crucifixion is the heart of the gospel. His resurrection is the power of the gospel, and His ascension is the glory of the gospel. Christ’s death is a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice to God for our sins. It satisfies the demands of God’s holy justice and appeases His holy wrath. It also demonstrates His mysterious love and reveals His amazing grace. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. There is no other name by which men must be saved. At the heart of all sound doctrine is the cross of Jesus Christ.
We now greatly anticipate His return, as he will fulfill His Kingdom, and we will live and reign with Him forever. Now and forever, we as His children will have the infinite privilege as redeemed sinners to glorify God because of what He has accomplished through the cross. Therefore, we want all that takes place in our hearts, churches, and ministries to proceed from and be related to the gospel.
Man’s Response to the Gospel
The proper response to the gospel is faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a faith that is naturally accompanied by repentance from sin. Biblical repentance is characterized by a changed life, and saving faith is made evident by kingdom service or works. While neither repentance nor works save, unless a person is willing to deny himself, pick up his cross and follow Christ, he cannot become His disciple. This response to the gospel is rooted and grounded in the free and unconditional election of God for His own pleasure and glory. This gospel of grace is to be sincerely preached to all men in all nations. Man’s inheritance through the Gospel, Salvation, the free gift of God, is provided by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Anyone turning from sin in repentance and looking to Christ and His substitutionary death receives the gift of eternal life and is declared righteous by God as a free gift. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. He is justified and fully accepted by God. Through Christ’s atonement for sin, an individual is reconciled to God as Father and becomes His child. The believer is forgiven the debt of his sin and via the miracle of regeneration, liberated from the law of sin and death into the freedom of God’s Spirit.
Sanctification
The Holy Spirit is the active agent in our sanctification and seeks to produce His fruit in us as our minds are renewed and we are conformed to the image of Christ. Though indwelling sin remains a reality as we are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping His commandments and endeavoring to so live in the world that all people may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. All believers are exhorted to persevere in the faith, knowing they will have to give an account to God for their every thought, word, and deed. The spiritual disciplines, especially Bible study, prayer, worship and confession, are a vital means of grace in this regard. Nevertheless, the believer’s ultimate confidence to persevere is based in the sure promise of God to preserve His people until the end, which is most certain.
Empowered by the Spirit
In addition to effecting regeneration and sanctification, the Holy Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service. While all genuine believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at conversion, the New Testament indicates the importance of an ongoing, empowering work of the Spirit subsequent to conversion as well. Being indwelt by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit are theologically distinct experiences. The Holy Spirit fills believers and empowers them to live out the Christian life and to be a Gospel witness. The Holy Spirit imparts His supernatural gifts for the edification of the body and the work of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first century are available today and are to be earnestly desired and practiced in an orderly manner. Although the practice of some supernatural gifts of the Spirit (tongues, healing, miracles, etc..) are not normative in the Church today, Scripture does not teach that they have ceased. All of the gifts are always subject to Scripture. Revelatory gifts are never to be considered equal to or on par with Holy Scripture. Rather, they are to be judged, evaluated, and tested by the Scriptures to determine if they are from God. Though God may supernaturally reveal things or give specific insight to an individual, there is no new revelation regarding the moral will of God nor a characteristic of God that has not been previously revealed in Scripture.
The Church
God, by His Word and Spirit, creates the Church, calling sinful men out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ’s body. By the same Word and Spirit, He guides and preserves that new redeemed humanity. The Church is not a religious institution or denomination. Rather, the Church (universal) is made up of those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ and have personally appropriated the gospel. The Church exists to worship and glorify God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It also exists to serve Him by faithfully doing His will on earth. This involves a commitment to see the gospel preached and churches planted in the entire world for a testimony. The ultimate mission of the Church is worship, and the means by which this is accomplished is the making of disciples through the preaching and embracing of the gospel. When God transforms human nature, this becomes the chief means of society’s transformation. Upon conversion, newly redeemed men and women are to be added to a local church in which they devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer.
All members of the Church universal are to be a vital and committed part of a local church. In this context, they are called to walk out the New Covenant as the people of God and demonstrate the reality of the kingdom of God. The ascended Christ has given gifted men as ministries to the Church, for the equipping of Christ’s body, so that it might mature and grow. Through the gift ministries, all members of the Church are to be nurtured and equipped for the work of the ministry. Women play a vital role in the life of the church, but in keeping with God’s created design they are not permitted “to teach or to exercise authority over a man” (1 Timothy 2:12 ESV). Leadership in the church is male. In the context of the local church, God’s people receive pastoral care and leadership and the opportunity to employ their God-given gifts in His service in relation to one another and to the world.
Ordinances of the Church
Water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ’s atoning work and become His disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ’s command and as a testimony to God, the church, oneself, and the world, a believer should be immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual and symbolic demonstration of a person’s union with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection. It signifies that his former way of life has been put to death and vividly depicts a person’s release from the mastery of sin. As with water baptism, the Lord’s Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf, and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with other members of Christ’s body.
The Consummation
The consummation of all things includes the future, physical, visible, personal, and glorious return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the translation of those alive in Christ, the judgment of the just and the unjust, and the fulfillment of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. In the consummation, Satan, with his hosts and all those outside Christ, is finally separated from the benevolent presence of God, enduring eternal punishment, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with Him forever, serving Him and giving Him unending praise and glory. Then shall the eager expectation of creation be fulfilled, and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God, who makes all things new.
Non-essentials
We affirm that the doctrines of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and salvation by grace through faith make up the essential, distinctive nature of Christianity. In regards to these essential doctrines there can be no conflicting opinions of those who call themselves true followers of Christ. However, we do acknowledge that there are peripheral, or non-essential doctrines, that are important, but not critical to the follower of Christ as it relates to our salvation. Some of these doctrines include the specific functions of women in ministry, the exact timing and nature of the rapture, extent and use of certain spiritual gifts, the relationship between election and free-will in salvation, etc. While our church will be diligent to establish positions as it relates to these non-essentials we will not allow these peripheral doctrines to cause division within the church. We will accept into our body those who have differing views on the non-essential doctrines, but will not allow those of a different opinion to fracture the church. While we celebrate diversity along all lines (racial and theological), we will ultimately pursue the unity of the church.
Primary Bible Version Used:
English Standard Version
Baptism:
Older Children/adults
Communion Frequency:
Weekly
Eternal Security:
No, Can't Lose
Regularly Practice:
Congregational Readings
MAP
Ransomed Community Church is a Reformed Church located in Zip Code 35630.
Church Profile Manager: Katie Mitchell