Our Mission

To Live As God’s Family Under the Cross– Loving, Serving, Praising and Proclaiming

God’s Family:  Through grace we become God’s children, and differences between us dissolve (Gal. 3:26-28).  God makes us family (Gal. 6:10), and our task as a church is to live out that unity (Eph 4:3).  One of the ways we try to do that is through Body Life.  On Sunday evenings during the school year, small groups (6-12 adults) gather in homes for fellowship, study, and prayer.  This allows us to get to know each other more intimately than we can in larger groups.  Our Family Ministry also sponsors activities that help us to grow closer together.

Under the Cross: The cross is at the center of Christianity (1 Cor. 15:3).  It is God’s power to save us (1 Cor. 1:18, Col. 1:20).  We live for Christ by taking up His cross (Lk. 9:23).  As Luther put it, “The cross puts everything to the test.”  No matter what we do to serve God, we can only boast in the cross (1 Cor. 2:2, Gal. 6:14).  The Lord’s Supper is a reenactment of and participation in the cross,  and it is always an essential part of our worship each Sunday.

Loving: The essential nature of God is love (1 John 4:7-8).  The essential way we love God is in loving others (1 John 4:20-21, 1 Cor. 13:13).  Jesus said that love for God and love for others are the two greatest commandments of the law.  Indeed, these two great loves are foundational to everything we seek to do as a church.  Though we are diverse racially, socially, and economically, we seek to treat one another in love despite those differences.

Serving: Paul says “serve one another in love” (Gal. 5:13).  Just as Jesus died for us, so we die for one another by meeting one another’s needs (1 John 3:16-18).  We seek to serve one another and our community through several diverse efforts— DUCO (a multi-church effort to help the poor), a support group for families with members who suffer from Bi-Polar Disorder, and a very active Boy Scout troop which we believe serves the youth of the community.

Praising:  Jesus said that if people don’t praise, the rocks would cry out (Luke 19:40); our job is to keep the rocks silent!  Worship is expressing humbly and exuberantly how much we love God… and why!  Our worship style is blended, using both familiar hymns and contemporary praise songs.  You may be surprised that we sing without musical accompaniment; this is both to stress the Bible command to sing and also to stress participation in worship.  Or you may be surprised by our “Praise Team” which helps to encourage participation in our song service and allow us to sing more unfamiliar (and difficult) contemporary songs.

Proclaiming:  We have been given a precious gift of knowing God’s grace through Jesus Christ.  When you know good news, you feel compelled to share it with others.   There are many ways in which we share the gospel at Denbigh.  We have Bible classes for all ages each week where the Bible is taught.  We support mission efforts in Uganda and Ukraine and other places around the world.  Our “Body Life” small groups meet in various homes each week to study scripture.  And we offer home Bible studies to people who are interested in studying more about the Bible.

Our CASA (Christians Against Substance Abuse) program is a jail ministry working with men and women incarcerated at several local facilities. The course uses the Bible as a sourcebook to help those who are struggling with substance abuse issues and to help them emotionally and spiritually prepare for a new life beyond chemical dependence and outside of incarceration. This educational program is approved and accredited by the local jails as part of their ongoing education and rehabilitation efforts. Several of our members go into the facilities to teach these classes; others are involved in grading lessons and corresponding with enrollees.

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Denbigh also regularly provides volunteers to help with the Five Loaves Food Ministry, an effort feed the hungry in our community.  Five Loaves collects food from various grocery stores and restaurants each day, and this food is distributed to the hungry. Hot meals are also regularly provided in this program.  

From the Five Loaves Web Site

Five Loaves Food Pantry exists to serve the Hungry of the Virginia Peninsula. We accept people from all over the Peninsula and only ask that you be hungry in order to receive food. We have served people from Gloucester to Smithfield, but over 85% of the people we serve come from Newport News. At the end of July, 2015, of the 2,204 current families we served, only 42 do NOT qualify for Emergency Food Assistance by the USDA standards. That is less than 2% of our clients do NOT qualify for Emergency Food Assistance
In 2014, Five Loaves Food Pantry distributed food to over 50,000 individuals for under $18,500. Our total budget for 2014, was $800,000, only $18,000 was in cash. The rest was in kind contribution: over $570,000 in food alone, over 144 TONS of food was donated. Less than 3% of our budget is cash. So for every dollar donated we are able to do $40 worth of ministry.

We are a sustaining food pantry and as such see many families at least once a week; those with a more desperate need, i.e. homeless, we might see almost daily. Since we relocated to Hampton Roads Church in the Denbigh area of Newport News, we have increased the number of families we serve by 30%.

We are open Monday through Friday for Perishable Food Distribution from 11am until we run out of food.  On Tuesday evening, from 5:30pm to 7pm, we serve a Hot Meal and distribute shelf stable groceries (for three meals) and meat.  We receive food from Trader Joes, Food Lion, WaWa and Fort Eustis Commissary.  We also partner with Panera, LongHorn Steakhouse, Little Caesars and Chick-fil-a for additional food products.  In addition to our food distribution progrms, we also team up with Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and the home schooled for educational and hands on instruction regarding hunger, homelessness and food safety.

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Denbigh is involved in helping to meet needs in our community by partnering with other churches in our area in an effort known as THRIVE Peninsula.  This effort, formerly knows as D.U.C.O. (Denbigh United Christian Outreach) helps to serve the poor in our area.  Denbigh helps to provide canned goods for an ongoing food bank, several different volunteer services and ongoing financial support to help in this this good work.

From the THRIVE Peninsula Web Site

Fueled by the Light of Christ and the dedicated support of partnering faith communities and other contributors, THRIVE Peninsula ministers to the physical, economic, educational, emotional and spiritual needs of our neighbors. Addressing both essential living needs (e.g., food, housing, utilities) and the unique crises affecting each person, this volunteer-driven coalition helps coordinate community resources for a tailored, integrated response.

With comprehensive budget education among its core (no cost) services, THRIVE strives to encourage people to be active participants in the resolution of their present plight and the plan for long-term financial stability. Formerly known as Denbigh United Christian Outreach (DUCO – est. 1973), present-day THRIVE Peninsula remains among the most long-standing outreach services of its kind in its local community. How humbling to witness and be a part of seeing thriving families create a thriving community!

VISION

A united Peninsula faith community, partnering with community resources, to help those most in need resolve their immediate crises and lead lives of more faithful stewardship.

MISSION

To Encourage, Educate and Empower our Peninsula neighbors in need toward transformed and self-sustaining lives.

GOALS

• Provide emergency food and financial aid to eligible individuals and families.

• Motivate, mentor and equip people to participate in the resolution of their financial hardships.

• Advocate cooperation between people and creditors.

• Refer to appropriate supportive resources.

• Lead a collaboration of Peninsula faith-based organizations and other contributors to accomplish these goals.

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Each year the Denbigh Church of Christ has been involved in the PORT (People Offering Resources together) ministry to the homeless.  This cooperative interfaith effort uses different church buildings in the Newport News area to house and feed homeless people during the winter months.  For many years, Denbigh has helped to provide volunteers to serve at different site across the city in this program.

From the PORT web site…

PORT Emergency Winter Shelter Program

PORT (People Offering Resources Together) is an emergency winter shelter that hosts an average of 100 individuals per night, for 20 weeks during the winter. The name of this program really explains it all: it’s a safe harbor, made possible by a network of 130 interfaith (Christian and non-Christian) groups that provide the facilities, volunteers, food, clothes and many other resources to homeless men, women and children in our area.

The shelter moves to a different church every week, and each night, there’s a new group of volunteers responsible for welcoming the guests and providing at least 2 meals (dinner and breakfast) per day. Each season, PORT counts with over 5,000 volunteers that get involved in planning, cooking, or distributing clothes and hygiene donations.