Who We Are + What We Believe
At Bethesda Springs House of Mercy and Grace, it is our heart to serve the Lord and serve people through the Home Church Ministry. Continue reading below to get to know our founders and a little more about what we believe.
Get to Know Jeff & Maria Kear
In the summer of 2020, God led Jeff and Maria Kear to a time of fasting and prayer. During this time, they felt the Lord telling them that it was time to launch a house church. After submitting to the church and spiritual leaders in their lives, it was determined this was the timing of the Lord, and Bethesda Springs House of Mercy and Grace was birthed in July of 2020.
Jeff and Maria love the Lord and have a lifelong history of serving God, serving the church, and serving people in need to draw them closer to the Lord. With their heart for people and for hospitality, it is no surprise that God has called them to the home-church ministry.
Jeff was born and raised in the Knoxville, TN area. He’s a general contractor and ordained minister with a Doctorate in Ministry through Ministry International Institute.
Maria was born in Charleston, SC and moved several times due to her family’s naval service, ending up in Knoxville in 1975. She is a business owner, former pastor’s daughter and Mom to many.
Jeff and Maria were married in April of 1989, and have 3 adult children and 2 grandchildren. They have served for many years in the church in areas such as deacon (Jeff), worship and women’s ministry leader (Maria), small group leaders, and house church leaders.
Vision + Statements of Belief
Our vision is to make disciples of Jesus Christ in an environment of love and hospitality.
What we Affirm:
We affirm the concept of being the church in small transformational communities.
We affirm participatory gatherings rather than spectator gatherings; everyone has a contribution to make as the Body of Christ ministers to itself in love. (1 Cor. 14:26)
We affirm that each person is a minister; that the house church allows for the best expression of the “one-another” admonitions that we find in the New Testament.
We affirm the calling to make disciples. (Matt. 28:19-20) A church is a group of disciples using their gifts to minister to one another and to reach out and give the gospel to others.
We affirm the 5 ministry gifts mentioned in Eph 4:11-13 are to the body for the equipping of the church, along with the equipping, activating and releasing of all believers to do the work of the ministry.
We affirm that we are to practice the disciplines of worship, instruction, fellowship, and evangelism, as found in Acts 2:42.
We affirm relational growth. We seek to avoid the expense of buildings, etc. so that our time and effort can be put into building relationships and reaching out to the world with the message of Jesus Christ.
We affirm that house church can take place wherever Christians gather in the name of Jesus in homes or in any other place at any time.
We affirm the principle of multiplication through evangelism, so that when the house church reaches 15 or 20 adults, we will lay hands on a few individuals or couples and commission them to start another house church. This is organic growth. Those who are sent out to plant house churches will still be under the covering of BSHMG and we will meet together as a whole various times of the year.
We affirm that the house church movement is a church planting movement and we invite you to come on over and help us.