ABOUT US
Spring Arbor Nazarene is a community of Christ followers who strive to:
Be Love
Do Love
Go Love
We are becoming a church that embodies love at all times, is committed to growing in love, and to showing real love in real ways to our community.
We gather every Sunday morning at 10:45am for worship and a message.
We'd love to have you join us!
We spend a little over an hour together each week with a service that includes contemporary worship, though we often include a hymn. Then, we always hear a message based in scripture to inspire and challenge us.
We have a staffed nursery that you're welcome to drop your child off at, as well as children's church for during the message portion of the service.
OUR STAFF
LONNY BUMGARDNER
Lead Pastor
Pastor Lonny has served in ministry in Ashland, KY; Owosso, MI; Lebanon, OR; and Perry, MI before coming to Spring Arbor in 2018. He has two sons, Josh and Jake that currently live in the Chicago area.
Email:
ANDREW JONES
Associate Pastor
Pastor Andrew is a graduate of Spring Arbor University with a degree in Pastoral Ministry. Having joined Spring Arbor Nazarene fall of 2021, he and his wife Makenzie have a great heart for students and for them to become growing disciples of Jesus.
Email:
MARK & LORINA BAKER
Children's Ministry Directors
Mark and Lorina have worked in Children’s Ministry for over 25 years. Their heart and mission are for children and their families to Know Jesus and witness the Love of a church family. They took their first selfie in 1990 while they were dating in San Diego, CA using a polaroid camera.
Emails:
The Church of the Nazarene is a Protestant Christian church in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, tracing its roots to an anniversary date of 1908. It was founded to spread the message of scriptural holiness (Christlike living) across the lands. Today the Church of the Nazarene is located in 159 world areas.
The Church of the Nazarene is a Great Commission church. Our mission is to make Christlike disciples in the nations. We believe that God offers to everyone forgiveness, peace, joy, purpose, love, meaning in life, and the promise of heaven when life is over by entering and experiencing a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are called to take this message to people everywhere.
The Church of the Nazarene is also a holiness church. We believe that Christians can experience a deeper level of life in which there is victory over sin, power to witness and serve, and a richer fellowship with God, all through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
As a global denomination, we have three core values:
being a Christian people, a holiness people and a missional people.
Through the link below, you can learn more about the mission, history, purpose, basic beliefs, Articles of Faith, and core values of the Church of the Nazarene.
nazarene.org
What we believe
JESUS CHRIST
In short, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that only through Him can you have a relationship with God. That not only did Jesus die so that you might be forgiven for your sins and have eternal life, but that He has a powerful and unique plan for your life on Earth and wants to be an active part of your life.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son of God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. He gives every believer a spiritual gift when they are saved. As Christians, we seek to live under His control daily.
II Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14-16, 17; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible is a holy book and that it is God’s Word to all mankind and that all 66 books of the Bible are divinely inspired and written by human authors. It is God's story, a story of salvation for all humanity. Not all books of the Bible are written in the same style, nor do they contain the same type of material. The books of the Bible were written by men as they were inspired by God over a period of about 1500 years. God prompted the writers to write the words of His divine story, yet He did not eliminate their individual personalities or styles in the writing. Therefore we have a variety of types of writing composing the Bible. We believe the Bible is the supreme authority for truth and life as God is revealed. We believe that through divine and human partnership, scripture is without error in all things necessary to salvation.
II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20, 21; II Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105, 160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5
SALVATION
Salvation is God’s free gift to us, but we must accept it. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus in faith, we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one recieves Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8, 9; John14:6,1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1
SANCTIFICATION / CHRISTIAN HOLINESS
We believe that when we accept the forgiveness of God and become a Christ Follower by placing our faith in Jesus, in that moment the church term is that we are "Initially Sanctified". To be sanctified or sanctification simply means "being made holy", or "being cleansed" or another way of looking at it is having our heart and mind and motives refined by God and being re-shaped to respond more and more like Jesus would. This cleansing begins a process of spiritual growth and maturity as we allow the Holy Spirit to progressively transform our lives ... making us more and more like Christ and less and less like our pre-Christ selves. During this process, at a time of God's choosing, we may experience what theological folks call "Entire Sanctification" which is a point or a moment where God's Spirit has removed all the selfish habits and attitudes from our lives and we are in a place spiritually where the Spirit can fully or "entirely" fill our spirit with Himself. This experience is both a point along the journey with Jesus and it is also a profound widening moment of living in the fullness of the Spirit of God. We believe that from this point we are certainly not "perfect" because we are still human, but we believe that we can have a perfect heart or attitude, but this does require consistent connection with the Spirit of God and a desire to continue to grow and continue to become more and more like Jesus. This process of "becoming" is a lifelong process that doesn't come to completion till we see Jesus face to face.
1 Thess 5:23-24, John 17:17-19, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:1-17, Romans 6:11-13, 1 John 1:7-9
ETERNITY
We believe that people were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. We believe that both Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.
John 3:16; John 14:17; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:17-18; Revelation 20:15; I Corinthians 2:7-9
COMMUNION
We believe that the Memorial and Communion Supper instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is essentially a New Testament sacrament, declarative of His sacrificial death, through the merits of which believers have life and salvation and promise of all spiritual blessings in Christ. It is distinctively for those who are prepared for reverent appreciation of its significance, and by it they show forth the Lord’s death till He comes again. It being the Communion feast, only those who have faith in Christ and love for the saints should be called to participate therein.
Exodus 12:1-14; Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20; John 6:28-58; 1 Corinthians 10:14-21, 11:23-32
BAPTISM
We believe that Christian baptism, commanded by our Lord, is a sacrament signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ, to be administered to believers, either by immersion, pouring or sprinkling, and this baptism is declarative of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Baptism is the spiritual initiation into the Church of Jesus Christ. It is also a symbol of the new covenant and of the new life in Jesus Christ.