Frequently Asked Questions

What is a confessional church?

A confessional church believes that a historic confession of faith is an accurate summary of the Bible’s teaching. Subscribing to a confession (the 1689 London Baptist Confession in our case) provides an excellent way to teach theology and maintain unity. The confession has a catechism for helping children and new adult believers learn about God and the Gospel. While we believe the confession is accurate, we must insist on saying that the Bible is our final and only infallible authority. A confessional church is intentionally making known their positions on various issues and connecting their faith with the historic church.

When and where do you meet?

Our home for the foreseeable future is an event venue called Palacio Maria, which is located at 21728 Highland Knolls Drive, Katy, TX, 77450. We are thrilled to have such a great space to meet together as a church. Our service is at 10am, but please come early for a cup of coffee and fellowship.

What are worship services like?

Our desire is to worship God in the way that he has prescribed in his word. We want to worship in an orderly way, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29). Our emphasis in the musical worship is congregational singing; the voice of the congregation is the most important instrument in the room. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week, have a time for the corporate confession of sin, Scripture readings, and a time each Sunday for a children’s catechism moment. We believe in the Regulative Principle of Worship, so our services contain only those elements that Scripture specifically prescribes for worship: prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, preaching and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, the administration of baptism and the Lord's supper, and occasional fasting. Our preaching style is exegetical, working through books of the Bible, with an emphasis on application. We believe that soft sermons make hard hearts and hard sermons make soft hearts. Check out our sermon archive if you want to hear our approach.

Why did you plant a church?

Why did you leave the comfort of Grace Bible Church (our sending church) for the suburban edges of the western frontier? We wanted to plant a church in Katy for a number of reasons. First, while there are plenty of churches out here, there are also so many unreached people that even the many faithful churches are barely scratching the surface of the population. Secondly, a confessional church that emphasizes disciple-making is hard to come by in Katy. We don’t at all think we are the only ones “doing it right” - we just think we are called be faithful with our section of the wall, so to speak. Third, and most importantly, we are convinced that this is something the Lord has called us to do.

What about kids?

Our vision for a thriving and healthy church means that we want a lot of children in our congregation. We believe they are a blessing from God and reject the worldly idea that they are a burden. At Providence Church, our goal is for children to grow up knowing how to worship the Lord as Christians, which in the context of a Sunday means attending our worship service in the sanctuary. We know that for some parents, keeping their kids from distracting them or others in a worship service is a tall order. With that in mind, we have an optional nursery for children aged 3 and under. If you choose to make use of the nursery, your child will “graduate” and join you in the sanctuary the Sunday after their 4th birthday. In the sanctuary, we teach our children catechism questions each Sunday from the Young Baptist’s Catechism. This book has a question-and-answer format with Scriptural texts supporting each answer. We encourage you to help your kids memorize them during the week. The children’s catechism moment happens during our service before the sermon. Not only do we hope for it to be spiritually nourishing for your kids, but we hope the timing is helpful. They are invited to get up, move around, and make noise before being expected to sit quietly through a sermon. The sermons will also intentionally address the children in the room with age-appropriate instruction and application (as Paul does in Ephesians 6:1-3). We also have a page with some tips for parents here and an email signup here so parents can help their kids prepare for the sermon.

What are your small groups like?

In small groups, we want to help people understand the Scriptures and find meaningful Christian community. The opportunity to meet with the same group of people over the course of a school year allows for deeper learning and significant relational growth. We have three kinds of small groups. First, everyone starts with a First Principles group which is based on our confession of faith and runs from September to May. We started our first ever First Principles groups last fall. Because of our context, we have small (less than 10), gendered groups to allow those with larger families more flexibility. After completing a First Principles group, participants sign up for a Second Studies group (also from September to May), where books of the Bible are studied. We also offer a co-ed Spring Small Group, which only runs from February to May. These groups allow people to experience a small group while they wait for a First Principles group in the fall. Registration is actually open for those right now until January 31, so sign up here if you’re interested.

Should I move to Katy?

The short answer is “probably”. One of the reasons we planted this church is so that many of us who attended GBC and live in Katy (or west of the Beltway) needed a disciple-making church in our neighborhood. We raise our kids together, meet for supper every week, and want to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the breaking of bread, to fellowship, and to prayer (Acts 2:42). We think this is easier to do when we live close to one another. Katy has a huge range of housing options, from low-cost apartments to lavish McMansions on acreage. Let us know if you have questions about specific neighborhoods in Katy. The restaurant scene here is incredible. Within a half-mile of my home (in Memorial Parkway), I have a food truck park, Indian food, an assortment of pizza and tacos, Thai, South African, Venezuelan, Danish, Vietnamese, and plenty more. Schools are better out here than in the city, although several of us homeschool together. Is Katy a type of the New Jerusalem? It seems likely.

Are you a part of a denomination?

We are a part of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). Michael Brady is an approved church planter with the EFCA, and we align very closely with the EFCA’s emphasis on disciple-making. We wholeheartedly affirm their statement of faith and appreciate their “better together” approach to church association. We are definitely better together and benefit from relationships with other churches, including those who disagree with us on non-essentials.

Who are the leaders of Providence?

We believe that the Scriptures teach that there are two offices in the local church (elders and deacons) and that the local authority of each church rests in the congregation. We are a “plural elder-led congregational” church if you’re into labels. Our confession addresses the issue of church government in Chapter 26 (paragraphs 8-11). We have started with a skeleton crew so that the congregation will be able to appoint their own leaders. Our pastors/elders are Michael Brady and L.J. Decker. Check out our Leadership page for more on them. Our Nursery Coordinator is Samatha Hoffart. Our Music Director is Ben Sieben. We have also recruited an excellent Treasurer (Todd Richards) and a first-class Bookkeeper (Amy Cooper).

If your question wasn’t answered here, let us know! Email your question to info@providencechurchkaty.org and we will get back to you (usually pretty quickly).