About CTR
We are a Christ-centered church, rooted in historic Christianity, seeking to practice the way of Jesus together for the renewal of our city.
What do we value?
Belonging
We long to be a church where everyone is welcome. We are committed to fostering an authentic community, a safe environment for people to heal, explore faith, and ask honest questions. We strive to be community where no one is alone, we can know to be known, mercy and grace are extended, tears and laughter are shared, diverse gifts are named and appreciated, and Christ the Redeemer is at the center.
Beauty
We believe that God, who created all things, is the author of beauty. We want to express the beauty of our Creator in all we do. Therefore, we value excellence, affirm the arts, and seek to create spaces of beauty in our worship services.
Rootedness
While we are a modern church, we strive to be rooted in ancient Christian faith and practices. We believe the way forward is to be rooted in the past. We embrace the best of modern worship while seeking to root ourselves in the historic Christian faith.
Renewal
We long to be a church that extends the renewing, life-giving, and redeeming kingdom of God in our city. Christ the Redeemer is renewing all things in the gospel! Our desire is to join him in his renewing work. We love our beautiful and broken city. We are committed to praying and working for the spiritual and cultural renewal of Batesville.
Our Statement of Faith
God
We believe there is one true and living God who exists eternally as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Trinity are equal in essence but distinct in their relations. God the Father is revealed in history through the work of the Son and Spirit. God the Son is begotten of God the Father. God the Spirit proceeds from God the Father and God the Son. God is perfect in love, power, justice, knowledge, wisdom, and holiness. He is immortal, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, and sovereignly rules over all things. He is supremely worthy of all glory and honor.
The Bible
The Bible consists of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired and authoritative revealed word of God, without error in all that if affirms, and the church’s only infallible rule of faith and practice.
Christ
Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God, one person with two natures; fully human and fully God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and then died a substitutionary, atoning death on the cross. Christ rose bodily from the grave, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father. One day he will come again in power and glory to judge the world. The dead will be raised, and the unrighteous will be separated from God in hell, while the righteous will inherit eternal life in heaven.
Creation and Sin
All things, visible, and invisible, were created by God from nothing, and are sustained by his providential oversight. Human beings were created in the image of God to know, love, and worship God, and to rule over the rest of creation. Adam and Eve, deceived by Satan, rebelled against God and thus brought sin, guilt, and death to the rest of humanity. All human beings are therefore alienated from God by both their nature and choice, corrupted in every aspect of their being, and subject to God’s righteous wrath.
The Church
Those who believe are spiritually united under Christ, the head of the church. The universal church is manifested in local churches, which are marked by worship, proclamation of the gospel, administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, membership and discipline, love, unity, and mission. Each church is responsible for its doctrine and practice, settling disputes, receiving new members, conducting discipline, and establishing elders who lead, teach, and oversee the church. The main purpose of the church is to make disciples, so that as we grow together in Christ, God’s kingdom will be advanced in the world, and his name will be glorified.
The Holy Spirit and Salvation
Through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, all those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ for salvation are united to Christ, justified, adopted by God, and baptized by the Holy Spirit who indwells them. Salvation is the gift of God’s grace. In response to God’s grace, believers are called to live in the power of the Spirit, continually growing in holiness, doing good works, and exercising their spiritual gifts for the kingdom.