Central Christian Church DOC - Springfield, MO

Jesus told the crowd that the problem was never the food on the plate.

It was the heart behind the hands that passed it.

This Sunday we sit with two texts that don't let any of us off easy. Isaiah stands at the temple gate with an announcement that must have stopped people cold: God's house will be called a house of prayer for ALL peoples. The foreigner. The outsider. The very people religion had quietly sorted out of the room. And God says, plainly, that there are still more to gather.

Then Matthew hands us Jesus, patiently explaining to a crowd of sincerely religious people that defilement doesn't come from what goes in. It comes from what's already living in us—and from what comes out.

Rev. Alyssa Spradlin brings us a message: "Heart Orientation." Because the question these scriptures ask isn't whether we've kept the rules. It's which direction our hearts are actually facing.

Our Chancel Choir is resting through the month of August, but the music is anything but quiet. Organist Hayden Vaughn is leading us in worship all month long, and if you've been with us these last few Sundays, you already know how good it's been!

Come as you are. Bring your questions, your doubts, your Sunday best or your comfortable shoes. There's a place for you at this table—no exceptions, no fine print. That's not just our welcome statement—it's Isaiah's.

📍 1475 N. Washington, Springfield, MO
⏰ Worship at 9:30 AM | Fellowship at 10:45 AM | Sunday School at 11:00 AM
🌐 centralchristianspringfield.org
🖥️ Join online: www.youtube.com/

Image: Artist unknown, "Christ the Teacher," detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Join us at 9:30 a.m. for our worship service | August 9, 2026

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There’s courage waiting for you this Sunday—whether you’re facing stormy waters or listening for a quiet voice in the stillness.

This week we meet Elijah at Horeb, discovering that God isn’t in the rushing wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a gentle whisper calling him out of the cave. And in Matthew, we watch Peter take a deep breath and step out of the safety of the boat onto the roaring waves to walk toward Jesus. Both scriptures remind us that stepping into faith often means leaving our fears behind to meet God right where we are.

We're overjoyed to welcome Guest Minister Rev. Alyssa Spradlin to our pulpit this Sunday, bringing us a message titled "Stepping Out."

While our Chancel Choir takes its well-earned August rest, our worship music is still vibrant and deeply inspiring! Join us for congregational hymns and music featuring our historic pipe organ. So bring your voice and sing the songs you love!

Whoever you are, wherever you've been, and whatever step you're taking next—there's a place for you here.

Join us this Sunday. All are welcome. All are loved.

📍 1475 N. Washington, Springfield, MO
⏰ Worship at 9:30 AM | Fellowship at 10:45 AM | Sunday School at 11:00 AM
🌐 centralchristianspringfield.org
💻 Join online: www.youtube.com/

Image: Philipp Otto Runge, Christ Walking on the Water (Calling of Saint Peter), 1806–07, Oil on canvas, 116 x 157 cm, Hamburger Kunsthalle; bpk Bildagentur / Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg / Photo: Elke Walford / Art Resource, NY

There's a table set for you this Sunday—and there's always enough.

This week we hear Isaiah's astonishing invitation: "Come, everyone who thirsts... come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." No cost. No conditions. Just an open hand and an open table. And in Matthew, we watch Jesus take five loaves and two fish and feed thousands—with baskets left over. God's abundance has a way of overflowing our arithmetic.

We're overjoyed to welcome back Rev. Alyssa Spradlin to our pulpit this Sunday, bringing us a message titled "Satisfied." Come and be fed.

While our Chancel Choir takes its well-earned August rest, the music is still EXCEPTIONAL! Our gifted organist Hayden Vaughn will be leading us in worship and our Choral Scholars providing special music all month long. And here's the best part—every hymn in August is a congregational favorite. So bring your voice and sing the songs you love!

Whoever you are, wherever you've been, and however hungry you arrive—there's a place for you at this table.

Join us Sunday for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost. All are welcome. All are fed.

📍 1475 N. Washington, Springfield, MO
⏰ Worship at 9:30 AM | Fellowship at 10:45 AM | Sunday School at 11:00 AM
🌐 centralchristianspringfield.org
🖥️ Join online: www.youtube.com/

Image: Joachim Patinir, “The Feeding of the Five Thousand”, circa 1510, oil on wood panel, Monasterio de El Escorial, Spain

Our Sunday Morning worship service. July 26, 2026

July 26, 2026 | The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Springfield, MONin...

The newest edition, and the correct edition, of Central Christian Church's newsletter, "The Call" is now available. Please click on the link below to see the issue.

https://centralchristianspringfield.org/newsletter

Most of us are looking for something. 🌱

Maybe you couldn't name it if someone asked. But you feel it—in the quiet after the kids and grandkids head home, on the drive back from work, in that stretch of a Sunday afternoon when the noise finally dies down. Whether you're raising a family, well into your golden years, or somewhere in between, the ache is the same: a longing for meaning. For peace. For a little more depth than the daily grind ever hands back. For somewhere you actually belong.

If you know that feeling, you are not alone. And this Sunday, Jesus meets it head-on—not with a lecture, not with a list of rules, but with stories.

A mustard seed, smallest of them all, that grows into a shelter wide enough for the birds to nest in. A woman quietly folding yeast into flour until the whole batch rises. A man who stumbles onto treasure buried in a field and can hardly breathe for joy. A merchant who finds one pearl so beautiful he lets go of everything else just to hold it.

These are stories about noticing. About what happens the moment you finally recognize the thing that's been right in front of you all along—the treasure hidden in the ordinary, the Kingdom of God closer than you ever imagined.

We welcome Rev. Geoff Weinman back this Sunday to continue our summer series, "Hear, Then," walking us deeper into the parables of Jesus. Geoff has a gift for making these familiar stories feel new—the kind of message you carry with you long after you've pulled out of the parking lot.

And then there's the music. If it's been a while—a month, a year, longer than you'd care to admit—we think you'll be surprised by what a beautiful hymn, sung in good company with a resounding pipe organ and exceptional organist, can still do to a heart. It reaches the places words can't. For a lot of us, that's exactly what Sunday morning is for.

You do not have to have it all figured out to walk through our doors. You do not have to dress a certain way, believe a certain list, explain where you've been, or who you are. You just have to show up and come exactly as you are.

Bring your questions. Bring your weariness. Bring whatever it is you've been looking for.

There is a seat here with your name on it—and a community that has genuinely been hoping you'd find your way in.

The coffee, doughnuts, and lively fellowship certainly don’t hurt either.😉❤️

📍 1475 N. Washington, Springfield, MO
⏰ Worship at 9:30 AM | Fellowship at 10:45 AM | Sunday School at 11:00 AM
🌐 centralchristianspringfield.org
🖥️ Join online: www.youtube.com/

Image: Kelly Latimore, "The Parable of the Mustard Seed"

Join us at 9:30am for our worship service | July 19, 2026

July 19, 2026 | The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Springfield, MOEig...

Ever pull a w**d and yank up the good plant right along with it? Jesus knew that feeling too.

He told a story about a farmer whose field was sown with w**ds in the middle of the night—and instead of ordering everyone to rip them up, he says: Wait. Let them grow together. The harvest will sort it out.

That's not the answer most of us want. We like to fix things now. Sort the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, today, before lunch if possible. But Jesus keeps telling us that some things—in the world, and in ourselves—take longer than we'd like, and they're not really ours to sort anyway.

This Sunday, guest pastor Luther Young continues our "Hear, Then" sermon series with Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43—the parable of the wheat and the w**ds. It's a story for anyone who's ever wanted to fix a person, a family, or the whole world a little faster than grace allows.

Come hear it with people who've been chewing on questions like this one for a long time—with music that'll move you, in a sanctuary that's been part of Midtown Springfield's story for generations, surrounded by folks who mean it when they say there's a place for you here.

You don't have to have it all figured out to walk through our doors—we certainly don't claim to either!

📍 1475 N. Washington, Springfield, MO
⏰ Worship at 9:30 AM | Fellowship at 10:45 AM | Sunday School at 11:00 AM
🌐 centralchristianspringfield.org
🖥️ Join online: www.youtube.com/

Image: Vincent Van Gogh, “Ernte in der Provence (Harvest in Provence)”, 1888, oil on canvas, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Same seed. Same sower. WILDLY different results.

This Sunday, Rev. Geoff Weinman opens up Jesus's parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) in a message called "Hear, Then."

Jesus tells a simple story: a farmer scatters seed, and it lands everywhere — the hard-packed path, the rocky patches, the tangle of thorns, and finally the good soil.

Same seed every time.

Same sower.

But the outcome depends entirely on where it falls.

It's easy to hear this story and think about which category everyone else fits into.

Harder, and more honest, to ask — what kind of "ground" are we bringing this week?

Distracted, defensive, anxiety-ridden? Or actually open.

That's the real question behind "Hear, Then": not just what we're hearing, but whether we're ready to abundantly receive God's love — for others, and for ourselves too.

Come for a message and music that will move you, stay for the coffee and conversation, and expect a welcome that doesn't ask you to have it all figured out. We certainly don't pretend to!

We're a historic Disciples of Christ congregation right in the heart of Midtown Springfield, MO and we'd love for you to be part of our story.

YOU were created in the image of God.💫
YOU are truly welcomed & LOVED just as you are.❤️

📍 1475 N. Washington, Springfield, MO
⏰ Worship at 9:30 AM | Fellowship at 10:45 AM | Sunday School at 11:00 AM
🌐 centralchristianspringfield.org
🖥️ Join online: www.youtube.com/

Image: Vincent Van Gogh, "De zaaier (The Sower at Sunset)", 1888, oil on canvas, Kröller-Müller Museum