Since 2009, Arrowhead Church has been a place where it’s ok to not be ok.
HELPING PEOPLE TAKE THEIR NEXT STEP WITH JESUS
Arrowhead Church is a young church in East Tennessee that is all about helping people take their next steps with Jesus. For some of us, that next step is simply being willing to hear about who Jesus is. For others, it might be time to repent of sin, be baptized, meet in a connect group, give regularly to the church, or dive deeper into discipleship. Wherever you are in your relationship with God, we want to walk alongside you! Arrowhead Church is a safe place to do that - to ask a lot of questions and discover who God is.
Now that you know a little bit about us, we’d love to get to know you!
A history of Arrowhead Church
In 2009, the first of us met in the Rose Center as "Arrowhead Church" for the first time. The dream was for a church where "it was ok to not be ok." In just a few years, a lot has happened. During the first 10 years, we walked with 400 new Christians, sent out full-time missionaries, planted a new church in Greeneville, and watched many of our students grow into Jesus-following adults. God has been so faithful to us and we want to see more. This short video follows a few people who have joined the church at different times and how they are looking forward to the future.
What does it mean to be “One Church, Two Congregations”?
Arrowhead Church is a church family made up from smaller congregations across East-Tennessee. There are some things all congregations share, like our name, beliefs, mission, and resources. There are some things that are unique about every congregation, like the staff, pastors, outreach, culture, and ministries. So if you’re new and you’re not sure which congregation to visit, our suggestion is simple: visit the congregation closest to you!
There’s more to our structure and leadership and you can find all of those details below under “Leadership Structure.”
Arrowhead Church
Arrowhead Congregations
Our core BELIEFS
These are the simplest and most foundational beliefs that we hold. Getting these right determine what it even means to be a Christian. Tap on any topic to expand.
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(2 Timothy 3:15-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21)
The Bible is inspired by God, and it is the revelation of Him to man. It is fully authoritative and without error. We can trust it in every circumstance and situation. It provides the foundation for all other doctrines and practices.
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(Genesis 1, Deuteronomy 6:4)
God has always existed in perfect power and holiness. He is Creator of the universe, and He rules over every aspect of creation still today. He exists in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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(John 1:1-18, Colossians 1:13-22)
Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and after three days, He defeated sin and death and rose from the grave. He will return one day to rule and reign.
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(Genesis 1:2, Acts 1:8, Ephesians 1:13-14)
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He works in the world to make all people understand their need for Jesus Christ, and He indwells every believer from the time of salvation. He empowers Christians to live a supernatural life.
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(Genesis 3, Romans 3:10-23, Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 2:8-9)
Because of our sinful nature, man cannot enter into heaven no matter how good of a life he may have lived. Jesus Christ came to earth to take the punishment for sin, and our only hope for salvation is faith in the truth that Jesus died for our sin and made a way for us to gain the righteousness it takes to enter heaven.
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(Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:41-47, Colossians 1:18, 1 Peter 5:1-5)
The Bible teaches that the universal Church is the body of Christ in the world today. A local church is made up of baptized followers of Jesus Christ, gathered for worship and scattered to serve. The church should live out the mission of Christ as His body, taking the gospel to the community and the world around them. The church is led by a group of men known as elders or pastors, who serve as spiritual leaders and shepherds.
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(Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:9, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12)
Baptism is an act of obedience for every believer. We practice baptism by immersion, symbolizing the imagery of salvation through Jesus - that our old selves have been crucified and buried, and that we now live in new life by the power of His resurrection.
Dig deeper into our beliefs
In a world of ever-shifting cultural norms and values, we want to provide clarity on what we believe as a church and why, even beyond those core belief statements above.
Our Congregations
Arrowhead Morristown
Founded in 2009
Arrowhead Greeneville
Founded in 2016
Arrowhead Grainger
Coming in 2024
Church Staff
Every Arrowhead Congregation has its own staff, and you can find those by visiting either congregation page. But the operations of the church central organization is advanced by the church personnel staff. These are the men and women who provide administrative, systematic, financial, and communicative support to all our congregations.
Our Leadership Structure
A Multi-Congregational Church
We are one church of several congregations across East-Tennessee. Some things are shared between us (like our beliefs, mission, and resources) and some things are unique at every congregation (like outreach, services, pastors, staff, ministries). After two years of development, at the end of 2021, our partnership body formally implemented our multi-congregational model.
Each local congregation is a unique expression of the church, sent to embody the Gospel in a particular context.
Churches are living communities of unique people within a particular cultural context, gathered in a common pursuit of knowing and honoring Jesus. Therefore we do not view local congregations simply as generic distribution centers of religious goods and services. We celebrate the truth that as each congregation is shaped by its people and context it is equipped better than anyone else for the missionary task of translating and embodying the Gospel in its neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, etc. On a broad level, a diversity of truly local congregations united in Gospel partnership brings vibrancy and health to the greater body, adding fullness to its witness.
THE MISSION OF LOCAL CONGREGATIONS
The goal of each local congregation is to help people take their next steps with Jesus.
The purpose of the local church is not to maximize numbers, budgets, or buildings. It is not even to reach more people. It is to make disciples who say with their mouths and lives, “Jesus is Lord.” This is the metric by which the faithfulness and success of the church must be measured: are we making disciples? Often, you’ll hear us phrase it as “helping people take their next step with Jesus.” This is not the goal of church leaders only, but all members of the body of Christ. All are sent as Christ’s ambassadors, called to make disciples. The role of leadership is to equip Christians for this work of spiritual multiplication. Healthy disciples make healthy disciples, who make healthy disciples.
THE BOUNDARIES THAT UNIFY CONGREGATIONS
At the end of 2020, we began to process of developing our multi-congregational model. As such, some of what you’ll read here has already been implemented and some is still in development.
The leaders of Arrowhead Church congregations are charged with the creative task of building and sustaining a healthy expression of the body of Christ in their context. To help ensure the unity of our diverse congregations, boundaries have been established that help define the space in which local congregations have freedom to contextualize their ministry. These boundaries are meant to empower leaders with clarity, direction, and resources rather than limit them with constraints. They are in place to help the multiplication of healthy disciples and leaders who do the work of ministry in their local church. The established boundaries are found in four main categories:
1. Covenant – We are bound together as one legal entity with shared resources.
2. Beliefs and Practices – We operate from the same foundation in the Gospel.
3. Culture – We have shared values and expectations.
4. Communication – We speak the same language and present a consistent message.
Arrowhead Church
The central organization of Arrowhead Church is structured to support and empower local congregations in the freedom that has been given to them. This is done by efficiently meeting common needs with centralized leadership, freeing congregations of the burden to dedicate energy, resources, and/or staff to meet those needs locally. Arrowhead Church is intentionally minimal to reduce the financial burden placed on the local congregations, who contribute a percentage of their budget to fund it.
Authority of the Church
Establishment of church doctrines and beliefs
Planting of new Arrowhead Congregations
Adoption of new Arrowhead Congregations
Responsibilities of the Church
Media and Communications
Legal
Finances
Human Resources
Church Planting Process and Funding Assistance
Leadership of the Church organization
The central organization is ultimately lead by a board of church elders who represent our congregations. That board consists of the lead pastor of each congregation, one nominated elder from each congregation, and the Church Executive Pastor.
Arrowhead Congregations
The local communities of Arrowhead Church are the congregations, where believers worship, serve, are led by pastors, give, and partner together to embody Christ to their cities. Our congregations are elder-led.
Authority of a Congregation
To join or leave the Arrowhead Church network
To hire/terminate employees
To set their own budgets and financial initiatives
Responsibilities of a Congregation
Ministry
Missions (local and global)
Portion of budget given to the Church organization
Leadership of a Congregation
Each congregation is lead by a group of its own elders, with no more than 2 being staff members.
Our Values
What makes us, us.
Welcome Home / Grace
This is a church for everybody. Failures are never final and our Father always welcomes us home. The cross means we are free and we all come in the same door. We believe there is no problem in life that following Jesus cannot solve.
LIVE SENT / MOBILIZATION
We don’t wait for people to come to us. We go across the street and around the world to them. Our goal isn’t merely to gather an audience but to raise an army. We’re focused on developing disciple-making missionaries in our community and for the nations, in this generation and the next.
Laugh Out Loud / Joy
We’re people of good news so we smile. We've cast our burdens on the Lord and are free to enjoy Him and one another. We believe the best, celebrate first, laugh often, and play hard because what could be more exciting than changing the world?!
GIVING IS GAINING / GENEROSITY
We are stewards not owners. I give myself away when I give my money away. We don’t just want to make it in life - we want to make a difference for eternity. God gives extravagantly to us, so it’s our privilege to trust Him to provide for us by giving to others. We sacrifice to war against our selfishness.
See Good Say Good / Honor
The Bible says we should outdo one another in showing honor. If we see somebody doing good, we say it. If we admire something about a brother or sister, we say it. Enough working to gain approval from others - we give approval to others.
GROUNDED + FREE / WORD + SPIRIT
We hold tightly to Scripture, theology, and even tradition. The Bible we study to understand tells us we’re powerless to do what we’re desperate for, so we yield to the supernatural work of the Spirit for miracles through prayer.
Every year, we provide our congregations with an annual report on a few health indicators from our church. These include numbers on weekly attendance, baptisms, outreach, giving, budgets, are more. Here, you can download a PDF of these reports.