Eternal Church

HISTORY

In August of 2003 Westminster Presbyterian Church (WPC) in Rock Hill began to pray about a new church in the Fort Mill area. A month later they asked Skip MacMillan (who was on staff at WPC) to pray about starting this new church. In November Skip and four church leaders began to pray and discuss what this church might look like. After several months Eternal Church was born and on February 22, 2004, Eternal had its first Worship Gathering as a 4th service at Westminster Presbyterian Church. During these beginning months the director of the YMCA in Fort Mill offered the use of their facility for Sunday worship. This was a huge blessing due to the lack of available space in the area. More than that, God had provided a place without any action on our part. It has always been our prayer that Eternal would be a place where we could point to all the great things God has done for us. The YMCA opening their doors to us was just the beginning. On Sunday July 25, 2004, Eternal had its first Worship Gathering in the Gold Hill YMCA; at last we were in the area the LORD had called us. That first year we saw more people attending worship, getting involved in our small groups and serving in the community. While we were building a new body of believers, the YMCA was building a new and larger facility in Baxter Village. The timing of its completion was perfect as we were out growing the Gold Hill location. In November 2005 the new YMCA was complete and we moved our services there.

In 2006 we began our Foreign Missions program. We joined with 'Pray America', a mission's organization who has served the people of Guatemala since 2000. Each year since the ministry began, Eternal has sent teams to Guatemala to serve the families there. We are also extremely proud that several of our Eternal families have gone into full-time missions and serve in Guatemala.

Over the past several years we have seen the LORD redeem many a person through His love, grace and mercy. The LORD has healed marriages and individuals, brought hope, deepened relationships, expanded our staff, grown our service to the community, provided office space and developed a love in us for the three things that are Eternal: God, People and the Scriptures.

It is our prayer that we will continue to genuinely live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our community and around the world.

THREE THINGS ETERNAL (GPS)

Our focus is on three things that last forever. We want to love God (Deuteronomy 10:17) and love People (Matthew 22:39, Matthew 25:40) according to the Scriptures (Psalm 119:44-45, Psalm 119:89)

FOUR PILLARS

At Eternal Church, we believe our purpose as individuals and as a church is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We do this by following the two greatest commandments according to Jesus: loving God and loving people (Matthew 22:37-40). As a church, our mission is accomplished by focusing on the four pillars we see laid out in the first two chapters of the book of Acts:

Worship
We will be worshipping our heavenly Father for eternity. No one else and nothing else is so worthy of our love and affection. The scriptures are packed full of passages encouraging us to worship the Lord through song. We are called to sing a new song, to play skillfully on stringed instruments, and to admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our desire is to see people worship the Lord and seek their delight in Him. In Him alone is lasting and satisfying joy.

Evangelism
Evangelism is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who do not have a relationship with Him. At Eternal, we believe evangelism should happen not just at a Sunday worship service, but also through real, genuine and sincere relationships with people. For this reason, we encourage our members to be involved in the their community and neighborhood by investing in the lives of those around them and sharing the love of our Lord. Our prayer is for God to regenerate more and more lives in Fort Mill and surrounding areas.

Community
Building community involves sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with believers and non-believers. We do this by building relationships with people and intentionally investing time, energy, and resources to help those around us. Our desire is to be a real source of help and health to our community. Many of our community-focused ministries are overseen by Eternal’s Diaconate (body of deacons). The deacons oversee our CARE Ministry, stewardship of resources and finances, and Worship Gathering management. Other aspects of our community ministry include regular church-wide socials and church-sponsored athletic teams, both of which are designed to bring people together and strengthen relationships.

Discipleship
Discipleship is the process of moving all believers into an increasingly rich relationship with God. This involves encouraging people to view all Holy Scripture as “God-breathed and…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It also involves teaching people to yield to the lordship of Jesus Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of their lives.

SYMBOL

Three Petals: God is Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)

Circle: God is Eternal

The triquetra symbol is most commonly a symbol of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), used by the Celtic Christian Church and sometimes stylized as three interlaced fish. This symbol predates Christianity, but makes an ideal Christian symbol. It is a perfect representation of the concept of "three in one" in Christian trinity beliefs, and incorporates another popular Christian symbol, the fish. It is sometimes enclosed within a circle to emphasize the unity or eternal/never-ending aspect.