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During the early days of the Christian Church, often times people would gather to hold services in their homes, due to persecution. Times have changed since then, and now a new church has formed in Bainbridge, although the meeting place is a bit more unusual than someone’s home. The newly formed Faith Community Church holds its Sunday morning services not in a church sanctuary, nor in someone’s garage or back yard, but in the Bainbridge Little Theatre.

Ryan Wade, lead pastor and church elder, as well as a Bible teacher at Grace Christian Academy, sat down to talk to the Post-Searchlight about the formation of the fledgling church.

“It’s been a six-month process,” he said. “I moved back in December of 2020, and so it’s been in consideration since then.”

Wade originally felt called to “church revitalization”, and had previously traveled around the Southeast participating in various youth and college ministries, before feeling the call to pastor in his hometown. He embarked on this task with his friend, and now associate pastor and fellow church elder, Hunter Bulger.

A Southern Baptist Church, Faith Community Church holds services at the Bainbridge Little Theatre every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m., with children and youth services held across the street at The Venue. “The Bainbridge Little Theatre is just a good setup for now,” Wade said. “We’re open to what the Lord might do in the future. We know it’s not a permanent place, but it’s a good place to be at right now.”

According Wade, they’ve had up to 35 adults and 15 kids turn out for a service.

“It’s been a really good turnout. We didn’t really have any expectations. Really our understanding is, the Lord is gonna do what He will.”

“Our mission statement is to gather and go for the glory of God,” he said. “So that’s two things we take very seriously. The gathering, we take very seriously. The worship service, and how we handle that, how we preach the Bible, sing the Bible, pray the Bible, see the Bible, all of those things are centered around God’s Word.” As for the “go” part, he said, “When we preach the Bible, our natural next step is to go and make disciples… So we take seriously what happens, but if that’s all we do, is gather in a worship service and never go out and tell people about Christ, we’re really failing to do His mission.”

For more information on Faith Community Church, visit their Facebook page or website. They can be reached at faithcommunitybainbridge@gmail.com.