Our worship services are designed to bring us closer to God. We try to give glory and honor to Christ in every assembly. Our singing, praying, scripture reading and preaching are designed to be relevant for everyone whether a long time believer or one who is a recent convert. We teach the Bible as God's word to build faith and teach us how to live as Christians. This Ministry is responsible for the coordination of all aspects of the worship service. This involves song leading, scripture reading, devotional talks, leading in prayers and making announcements. Other responsibilities involve preparation of the Lord's Supper, obtaining necessary supplies, and coordinating the men who will serve it. Also involved is the selection of participants and coordination with the Administration Ministry for building openings and closings. The stocking of pews with pens, cards, newsletters and songbook arrangements for both services is also part of this activity. All of this is coordinated through the ministers and office staff.

A primary goal is to conduct a coordinated worship service emphasizing a theme. To this end, song leaders, prayer leaders and scripture readers are encouraged to organize their portion of the worship service according to this theme.

Greeters and Ushers are also provided as needed.

This ministry is responsible for coordinating services for both 8:30 and 10:30 AM and evening Sunday services as well as Wednesday evening service. Also included is the service of providing singers for weddings and funerals.

Another responsibility is to tape worship services for use by shut-ins and others that may wish to hear sermons. This program can be expanded to prisons, nursing homes, and people who cannot attend services due to their location or any other reason.

The purchase, care and maintenance of sufficient baptismal garments, accessories and towels are included in this Ministry. This ministry sees that someone is appointed to wash and dry the baptismal garments and towels and return them to the building. This ministry will also check monthly on the condition of the dressing rooms, baptistery, sound system, projection system, etc. and report any needs to the Administration Ministry.

This ministry coordinates transportation to services for those who need it. This includes assessing needs, finding volunteer van drivers, arranging personal auto pickup, and determining schedules.

For members of the Lord's church we offer communion to those unable to attend worship services due to illness or other incapacitation. Several men of our congregation bring communion trays to those who request it. We also provide worship services at local nursing/retirement homes as arranged by the ministry for anyone wishing to attend.

Both member and visitor cards are collected, sorted, and prepared for use by visitation and correspondence groups.

The ministry arranges special Laotian services as requested by the Laotian brothers.

This ministry is responsible for coordinating teachers and helpers for the conduct of Children's Bible Time (currently 10:30 Sunday) or any other children's activities during scheduled assemblies.

This ministry is designed to promote the building of relationships through member fellowship opportunities. This ministry will reach out to every member and make arrangements for periodic all-church gatherings. This ministry will assist smaller groups in arranging special outings and other fellowship activities. This ministry also will put special emphasis on bringing new members into the social life of our congregation.

This ministry will have primary responsibility for the kitchen area including the stocking of paper goods and staples of sugar, pepper, salt, tea and coffee and scheduling volunteers to prepare the continental breakfast between the first service and Bible classes. Continental Breakfast volunteers will sign up for a period of time specified by the ministry.

Except during the summer months, hospitality luncheons will be hosted by these volunteers so that members of the congregation can come together to get better acquainted with each other and also offer meals for our visitors and for members that would otherwise eat alone.

Each Sunday one of up to four hospitality teams made up of volunteer families will prepare and bring food for the luncheon. The team is responsible for setting up (decorating, arranging tables and chairs, etc.), preparing and serving food, welcoming visitors and cleaning up. All members are encouraged to take part in one of the teams. There will be as many teams as are practical depending on the number of volunteers and leaders willing to head up the teams. We want to meet our visitors and make them feel welcome.

This ministry also has a group known as hospitality scribes who through personal notes contact as many of our local visitors as possible with each time they visit.

Assignments are mailed on Mondays, after which a group of about 30 volunteer members write personal notes from home to each local visitor. Each visitor will receive at least three notes from different members. Each member writes about two notes per week

This ministry will coordinate the activities of smaller groups in accordance with age, marital status or any other common denominators. Coordinators or committees will be selected to lead these groups and to plan and carry out activities. Current groups include the following which are grouped primarily by family makeup and activity interest.

• Seekers - families with children in school
• Prime Timers - active empty-nesters
• Niners - seniors who want to limit activities to the building
• Singles (in addition to special fellowship activities for this group, they are also
  included in other groups as appropriate.)

Special efforts will be made with the groups to include intergenerational activities. Special fellowship activities will be arranged for groups within the church that have a strong desire for fellowship. Typical examples would be Women's retreats, Men's retreats, Men's prayer breakfast, etc. As part of these fellowship activities, the ministry will arrange baby-sitting as required.

This ministry will coordinate showers for member brides and/or bridegrooms and babies. This is not meant to take away from initiative of friends but is meant to insure that no one is overlooked. Generally speaking, showers are coordinated for the first baby in a family, or the first baby for that family while they have been a member at Western Hills, and first marriages. This ministry appoints shower Coordinators and it's anticipated that persons wishing to give showers will let this coordinator know so that confusion may be avoided and no one will be overlooked.

This ministry is primarily responsible for all of the Bible classes conducted at Western Hills. This includes the regular classes (for all age groups) being conducted on Sunday mornings and Wednesday night. This ministry is responsible for special classes and programs such as:

• Classes for the Laotian membership
• Special Children's programs
• Vacation Bible School
• Ladies & Men's Bible Class and Retreats
• Leadership Training for Christ

This ministry shall work under the oversight of the elders and the elders will approve all teacher selection, material selection, and curriculum.

This ministry shall also be responsible for the Teacher's Resource Room. The Teacher's Resource room will contain supplies and equipment to be used by the teachers.

The Education Committee shall be established to carry out the Education Ministry duties. The elders will rotate each year as chairman of the committee. This committee will have regular monthly meetings to discuss and plan various activities. Teachers meetings will be conducted as needed to solicit opinions and give moral support. Teacher training classes will be held as needed and teachers will be encouraged to attend training classes and workshops.

The collective cooperation of this ministry will determine the budget needs for the coming year. This ministry will monitor itself to stay within the current budget.

The Education Ministry operates under its Operating Manual Guidelines which are approved by the elders.

Click here to see the current classes page

This ministry has the responsibility to seek out ways to actively involve members of this congregation in some phase of the ministries of this church. It shall also do all possible to integrate each member into the family here in such a way that each will feel a sense of belonging and responsibility to this community of believers.

As part of this effort, this ministry shall be in charge of New Member Orientation wherein the new members are approached as they are added to the family here. They will be apprised of the work and worship here and will be given the opportunity to volunteer, via involvement sheet, to serve in ministries of their choice. At this time their picture will be made and an information packet will be given them. Appropriate information will be passed on to the ministry coordinators. Special attention will be given to new converts in their needs for spiritual growth and service.

A special program of New Member Hospitality will be maintained with volunteers to serve lunch on special Sundays, usually every fifth Sunday. The new members will be contacted in as many ways as possible by as many ministry members as possible to get them to the lunch. Certain people may be chosen to act as personal hosts and hostesses to the new individua1/family. This will serve to introduce the new members to some old members and to each other, provide an atmosphere for families to find common interests and to develop continuing friendships with the church family.

This ministry will maintain the upkeep of the Ministry Manual and Membership Involvement Sheet. All members will be encouraged to be involved and take an active part in one or more ministries. This ministry will coordinate with the Administration Ministry and Office Manager in order to keep an updated file of involvement opportunities for distribution to each ministry's coordinator.

The ministry will also manage the church library. Library workers will coordinate their activities with the office staff and will establish guidelines for maintaining the library, receiving donated books, purchasing books, checking out books, recovering overdue books and setting Library availability hours.

This ministry will oversee the efforts of Western Hills in an active program of providing food, clothing, shelter, medicine and other necessities to the needy. This will involve interviewing the applicants, determining their needs and making a decision as to whether qualified. Arrangements will be made with clients for their pick up of food items and the disbursement of financial aid through appropriate channels and/or agencies. Timely reports on assistance given and other activities will be provide to the elders. Members of the office staff will assist in the initial contact when application is made through the office. A budget for this ministry is to be submitted yearly and its integrity will be maintained as much as possible. However, there will be times when extreme need may require exceeding allocated funds. This will be cleared with the eldership.

This ministry will be responsible for providing food and other needs in times of illness and death. The congregation is divided into zones to maximize coverage and minimize the response time to persons in need. The Zone coordinator selected by this ministry will coordinate this effort, through the use of zone leaders.

This ministry will coordinate the effort of Western Hills in responding to the financial needs and other needs in Children's Homes.

This ministry will be alert to emergencies the world over (natural disasters, wars, etc.) and inform the congregation of these needs. They will arrange (through the elders) for special contributions as needed to send funds to brotherhood churches or relief organizations that can handle its distribution in the affected area.

This ministry includes a sub group known as the helping hands ministry. This ministry will be on the alert for the specific needs or problems of individual members, especially widows, widowers and the elderly to assist them with transportation, repairs or whatever their special needs may be.

These workers will coordinate hospital visiting and special remembrances to our bereaved.

Another sub group under this ministry is the food bank ministry. This ministry handles our inventory with the Tarrant Area Food Bank to secure and dispense food in accordance with their guidelines to needy people.

A special collection is currently being taken up by the Sunday auditorium class and some of the other adult classes. It is held in a separate account. These funds are to be used to replenish the pantry and to purchase perishable items as needed with Food Bank.

Food is picked up on Wednesdays and is distributed on Thursdays from 10 AM - 12 PM and 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM.

Food Bank ministry workers:

• Pick up food at Tarrant Area Food Bank [Wednesday]
• Stock food at our food distribution center [Wednesday]
• Prepare sacks of food from the pantry [Wednesday]
• Interview recipients and record in computer [Thursday AM & PM]
• Give food sacks and choice list items to recipients [Thursday AM & PM]

Another sub group is the blood bank drive. This is to provide members of our church the opportunity to donate blood to an account where other members and themselves have access if the need arises. Once a year, on a Sunday, this drive is planned by a committee and usually 60 to 80 members donate blood.

Care groups - This ministry will include dividing the congregation into small groups for the purpose of building stronger relations, spiritual growth, evangelistic outreach, and caring for special needs. The groups would meet at times other than regular worship service times as decided by each group. Group leader or leaders will be assigned to each group. Also an elder will be assigned to each group.

The objective of this ministry is to share the gospel of Christ as Jesus Himself has charged us. This includes an outreach to our community as a church family and to provide support in time of need. We want to provide a church family to those in our community who don't know Jesus. We will accomplish this through a number of different areas of outreach.

We have visitation teams that contact local visitors and arrange to visit them in their homes if they so desire each team will meet together once per month for a fellowship meal and to discuss visit assignments. This program is referred to C.A.S.H. (Christians Actively Serving Him). This effort contacts all local visitors to our services in order to reach out to them. The CASH teams are comprised of 4 to 5 couples that visit the visitors. Then they schedule follow-up visits as necessary. We feel that personal contact and visitation are highly effective methods to reach out to our visitors as well as encourage our members. There are four teams, one team meets each week except on fifth Sunday. Each team will have a team leader.

In-Home Bible Studies are also available and offered to contacts. Training can be made available to those who want to develop or improve their evangelism skills.

Evangelistic outreach through advertising is also a part of this ministry.

This ministry also supports financially the work of Mike Brown (New Day Services) who works with the Juvenile Court System, and from time to time supports projects identified as part of this ministry.

The Prison and Abode Ministries involve working with persons who have made some bad choices in the past, and who are attempting to straighten out their lives. The encouragement and counsel of faithful Christians is a work that is invaluable to these people at a critical time in their lives. This work involves both counsel and Bible teaching to those in the following areas:

• Substance abuse rehabilitation
• State prisons
• Tarrant county jails
• Federal prisons for women
• Federal prisons for men
• "NewDay" Services

In an effort to reach those who are incarcerated or who are undergoing treatment for chemical dependency, we provide Bible studies with those wishing to attend. This effort attempts to reach those who really need Jesus in their lives to help them through a very difficult time. Our hope is that we can show them a better life.

The Missions Ministry is responsible for initiating and monitoring all evangelistic efforts of Western Hills Church of Christ outside our local area. The Ministry charter is Mark 16:15 - "He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation..." Current areas of emphasis are Ghana; Nigeria; India; Costa Rica; Brazil; Mexico; Swaziland; South Africa; Mission, TX; Winona, MS; Beulah, MI; and a world-wide ministry to the blind from Carancro, Louisiana.

The Missions Ministry is implemented through a Missions Committee. The Committee operates under operating manual guidelines approved by the elders. Members of the committee are tasked with the following:

• Monitoring the reports and correspondence within a specific geographic area
• Corresponding with the missionaries and works we support
• Providing advice and counsel to the missionaries
• Representing the missionaries to the Missions Committee
• Recommending any actions needed on the part of WHCOC
• Providing the input for the Focus on Missions item in each church newsletter
• Attending committee meetings and supporting other committee members

The Committee holds monthly meetings to consider urgent requests, review reports, and plan for future efforts. One member serves as editor for the monthly evangelism article, included in the church newsletter; and one coordinates World Bible School correspondence course efforts.

The Missions Committee maintains a bulletin board outside the main auditorium for informing the congregation; provides ongoing reports and presentations to the congregation; hosts visiting missionaries; encourages WHCOC member letter writing to missionaries; and arranges special contributions or collections approved by the elders to meet specific needs.

The Committee prepares annual reports in July on each work supported. The reports are consolidated and provided to the elders, and are part of the annual budget process of reviewing current works and considering new efforts. The annual budget request is finalized during the Committee's September meeting and given to the Budget Committee in October.

The Missions Committee is also responsible for coordinating the preparation, and processing of World Bible School correspondence courses.

Click here to visit our Missions page.
 

We are blessed to have immigrants from numerous countries throughout the world living here in Fort Worth, Texas, "our own backyard". This includes many in our congregation who have emigrated from the country of Laos.

The Laotian Ministry coordinates and provides for the special needs of these Laotian members of the congregation. Although our native languages and cultures are different, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ - one family.

While there are special ministry needs for this group, the goal is to fully incorporate these members with in other ministry areas, and many are now involved in these ministries. Ken Intharansy is the coordinator for this group.

The emphasis of this ministry is our youth (middle school and high school), our children of elementary school age, and families. The mission of youth and children's ministry is to lead a continually growing group of young Christians toward life long service to Jesus Christ. This mission is pursued through bible classes, worship services, devotionals, retreats, and service projects to our community. Areas of work in this ministry include:

• Assisting in youth activities
• Host youth devotionals in your home
• Coordinate and assist in Leadership Training for Christ (LTC)
• Teach and assist in middle and high school classes
• Participating in Bible Bowl

Periodic parent/teen meetings are held in an effort to organize events. In keeping with biblical truths, if parents will lead, their children will follow! Parents are welcome to attend any and all of our youth activities.

In addition to our Bible classes and devotionals, the youth of this congregation participate in service projects such as preparing food for the homeless, delivering food baskets to needy families at Christmas time. We also participate in the Leadership Training for Christ program, Wilderness Trek, Summer Youth Series and Mission Trips.

The Children's Ministry operates like a Junior Youth ministry. In addition to regular bible classes, there will be various activities such as devotionals, outings, special projects, and junior LTC training.

The purpose of the family ministry is to provide a variety of opportunities to strengthen the families at Western Hills and the community. The goal is to equip the family with ways to function in today's world while still being active in the Church Ministry and raising Christian children to love the lord. This ministry will strive to strengthen marriages, prepare families for the financial struggles in today's society, educate parents on raising children in a Christian atmosphere, and encourage family involvement.       

Click here to visit our Youth page
 

The Administration Ministry includes all tasks necessary to take care of the day to day administrative business of the congregation. Those working in this ministry will respond to the needs of the congregation as rapidly and effectively as possible. They will serve as the communication and administrative support function for all of the ministries.

The office staff will provide administrative services that include the coordination of office supplies and equipment, printed forms and maintenance of office equipment. They coordinate secretarial help and maintain office procedures. They coordinate typing, filing, mailing, reproduction of correspondence, bulletins, directories, notices, ordering Bible School materials, etc. They will also maintain historical records and prepare statistical data, trends, and projections. The use of the computers and other office equipment will be under the oversight of the office staff. A church webpage will be maintained to provide updated information on all church ministries and activities. This site covers areas of church leadership, ministries, classes, missions, calendar, youth, special events, news, gospel message, and links. An office manager plans and coordinates all administrative tasks and assigns tasks for volunteer workers. The office manager also coordinates the telephone calling tree for rapid communication as the need arises. The office staff will coordinate building use and maintain a master schedule of events. The security for our facilities and assemblies are also managed under this ministry. This ministry shall be responsible for submitting a yearly administrative budget. This ministry will handle the disbursement of all funds in cooperation with the other ministries.

Much of the information used by other ministries originates from our computer system that is managed by the office staff. Periodically, our office staff is assisted by volunteers.

This Ministry is responsible for maintaining the wall photos of our members, and the board highlighting photos of our new members. This ministry will also be in charge of publishing the church photo directory from time to time. This Ministry is also responsible for the phone system, office machines and equipment as well as the sound system.

In today's world, security is an important consideration in our church family. In this regard, this ministry will be responsible for the overall safety and security of our operations. This ministry will assess security risks, facilitate background checks and insure that there are proper security arrangements during assemblies.

Key Keepers are responsible for opening and closing of building. Building is to be open 20 minutes prior to services and security system is to be disarmed. After services (and majority of people have exited building) all outside doors are to be checked to insure exit devices are in locked position, that doors are locked, and security system is armed and lights are turned off.

The Finance Ministry is responsible for the management of the church's finances, the development of the church budget, and assessing and maintaining insurance coverage. The Ministry is responsible for money management to insure proper counting of monies and make bank deposits. The Administrative Assistant will audit and pay invoices, prepare and release checks for payment, and prepare monthly financial statements indicating actual expenditures compared to allocated budget.

The ministry is responsible for insurance coverage to include evaluating and maintaining records and coverage. The persons responsible will keep informed of new developments in insurance coverage and laws that may affect our insured status and recommend adjustments to insure compliance.

In the fall of each year, the budget cycle for the next year will commence. Ministry leaders will meet with their members and discuss and define a budget request for the coming year. The Finance Ministry will then compile the budget for final evaluation, review, and approval. This and other aspects of the Church Budget and Financial Management is contained in a separate document "Western Hills Church Budget Process".

This ministry is responsible for custodial services as well as all aspects of repair, replacement, periodic maintenance, supplies and improvements to all church-owned facilities, grounds, equipment and vehicles. This responsibility includes the general upkeep to the cemetery located on the west side of the building.

• Utilities - including electric, gas, and water
• The setting and adjusting of air conditioning and heating system controls
• Furniture and facilities arrangement
• Maintain Inventory