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 infallible (incapable of error) authority, so the confession must be judged by the Scriptures. A confessional church is intentionally making known their positions on various issues and connecting their faith with the historic church. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith is in complete unity with the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Chalcedonian definition of Christology.

Where will you meet?

We are excited to share that we have secured a meeting place! 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 a Sunday morning worship service and the space to meet together as a church.

What is the plan for launch?

We are planning to start our small groups this September and begin meeting for weekly worship services in January of 2025. Leading up to the launch, we will have a number of meetings which will allow us to cast vision for Providence. Our Providence Preview was on 4/22/24. If you missed it, reach out through our contact us page and we will set up a time to meet so you can catch up! We will also have some intermittent worship services and fellowship opportunities this fall leading up to the official launch. Check out our church calendar here.

Why are you planting a church?

Why would you leave the comfort of GBC for the suburban edges of the western frontier? We want 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 (in the way we intend to) 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.

Is this going to be like a “GBC West”?

While we will have many things in common and share similar theology and philosophy of ministry with GBC, Providence Church will be a fully autonomous congregation. To be clear, this is not because of any conflict at all between the churches, but because of unity: the leadership of both churches are convinced that this is the biblical pattern.

How will you do small groups?

We love Grace Bible Church and our model for small groups will be essentially based on their approach. First, everyone will go through an initial group called “Providence First Principles” which will be based on the 1689 Confession, and then we will study books of the Bible in a similar pattern to GBC. We are starting our first ever groups this fall. Because of our context, we will have smaller, gendered groups to allow those with larger families more flexibility. For example, one group might be 6-7 women that meet on Monday mornings at 10:30am. Another group might be 5 men that meet at 6am over breakfast on Saturday mornings. Both men and women (and boys and girls) will have weekly opportunities most Thursdays and Fridays to gather for fellowship in larger groups in homes.

Should I move to Katy?

The short answer is “probably”. One of the reasons we are planting this church is so that many of us who attend GBC and live in Katy (or west of the Beltway) will have 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, high-end Columbian, 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.

What is the plan for kids?

We will start with an optional nursery for kids 3 and under with the possibility to add more in the future. Every week we will have a moment in our worship service where kids are invited up to the front for a catechism question, led by an elder or deacon. We want our kids to learn how to worship like Christians, so there will be grace for occasional outbursts from our younger brothers and sisters. 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).

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 better together and benefit from relationships with other churches, even those who disagree with us on non-essentials.

What will a worship service be like?

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29). If you are familiar with the worship at our sending church, Grace Bible Church, our services will be very familiar to you - the emphasis in the musical worship will be on congregational singing. We really like the worship pastor there and his approach. Good guy. The primary differences will be weekly communion, weekly corporate confession of sin, and a time each Sunday for a children’s catechism moment. We believe in the Regulative Principle of Worship, so our services will 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, giving, and occasional fasting. Our preaching style will generally be 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.

Who will be 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 will be a “plural elder-led congregational” church if you’re into labels. Our confession addresses the issue of church government in Chapter 26 in paragraphs 8-11. That said, we are planning to start with a skeleton crew so that the congregation will be able to appoint their own leaders. Our founding elders are Michael Brady and L.J. Decker. Check out our Leadership page for more on them. We have also recruited an excellent treasurer (Todd Richards) and a first-class bookkeeper (Amy Cooper). Our hope is to hire a worship leader in the coming months as well.

Is there anything I can do to help right now?

Please pray for Providence Church and our leadership. We are making what feels like a million decisions right now and need the Lord’s wisdom. Pray for God to send laborers into the field - we will need a lot of help. And join us as we pray that God would give us Katy for Christ. We are burdened for the lost in our community and are asking the Lord to bring reformation and revival here. If you are willing to commit to praying for us, let us know so we can send you prayer requests as they come up. You can also support us financially. More opportunities to help will come, so please sign up for updates on the home page.