About River Church Norman
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River Church was born in November of 2006 out of countless conversations and hours of prayer about the increasing ambivalence of Norman toward the Christian faith. This is especially characteristic of those between 18 and 35.
We grappled with the reality that there are countless outstanding churches in Norman. So, why begin another one? And, what is unique about River?
Let me sketch an outline of who we are and where we’ve come in the past few years.
We are a self-governing Baptist church cooperating with the Southern Baptist Convention for the purpose of ministry to our city, our nation and the peoples of the earth.
Our mission is expressed by these simple ideas.
We seek to know and know Jesus Christ as fully as possible, and to help you do the same. We are passionate about this.
We seek to think and act like Jesus Christ as fully as possible, and to show you how to grow in this also. This is measure of our character.
And, we join the ongoing work of Jesus Christ to make disciples of the members of our church, the residents of our community and universities, as well as the nations of the earth as fully as possible. This is our mission. This is what we invite you to consider joining us in.
All of this we do in recognition that we are on a journey. We still have a lot to learn. We seek to depend on Jesus to bring these to maturity in our midst. And we recognize our ongoing need for the prayers and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in other Norman churches.
As we have trekked along our journey we find ourselves to be described by ideas such as these:
We are young and enthusiastic.
We are outward focused.
We are a disciple-making church.
We are a relational ministry. And while we are not yet perfect, we have made great strides to express a welcoming spirit and a loving environment.
We love God’s word, the Bible. We do our best to be ‘doers of the word, and not merely hears’ (James 1:22). Check out the Resources section of our site to get a sampling of what we offer in an average sermon.
We love Norman. We seek to find meaningful ways to show the love of Christ in ways that matter to the individuals in our city with some of the most challenging needs.
We are not a perfect church. This is not to excuse our weaknesses. Yet, it is a recognition that we are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3), always in need of the grace of God, and here to serve other congregations.
If any of what you have just read resonates with your heart, consider checking us out. If you find yourself curious about joining River, consider attending one of our Preview sessions which we host about once a month. Preview lets you look behind what you see on Sunday evenings. This may help you make the decision regarding whether this is the church you can best grow in.
