Every sinner who places his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit into the church, the body of Christ, of which Christ is the head. The church was prophesied by Christ, was born on the day of Pentecost, and will be completed at the coming of Christ for his own. On becoming a member of this spiritual body, every believer is directed by the New Testament to associate himself with other believers in a local assembly. (Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:4-5; 2:46-47; 11:15; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:4-6; 5:25-27; Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 10:25).
The Nashville Gospel Chapel is simply a local assembly of believers who associate with each other for Worship, Edification, and Evangelism.
We believe that the New Testament expects the local assembly to reflect the true character of the spiritual body of Christ, the church. As such, the local assembly is autonomous, subject only to the Lord Jesus Christ as its head, and has His authority to administer order, discipline, and worship in accordance with the Scriptures and under the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The New Testament designates two offices for the local assembly: elders and deacons. The occupants of these offices serve and lead the assembly under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The elders jointly teach, lead, and protect the assembly as under shepherds with Christ as the chief Shepherd. The deacons are the servants of the assembly. Their ministry is to provide official, responsible care for the physical needs of the assembly and thus relieve the elders so that they can give priority and attention to teaching the Word and prayer. As the New Testament sees no clergy-laity distinction and recognizes every believer as a New Testament priest, no special ordination is required to serve in either of these offices. The requirements to serve are to be distinguished as pastoral, shared, male, qualified, and servant-like. (1 Timothy 3:1-13; 1 Peter 5:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:17).
The Lord’s Supper is celebrated each Lord’s Day, and Believer’s Baptism by immersion is practiced regularly.
The Nashville Gospel Chapel attempts to follow New Testament patterns for assembling as we can discern them.