Our Vision: The vision is Jesus. Invincible. Supreme. Glorious. Triumphant. The vision is Christ and an army of men and women who are deeply in love with Him! Whose lives He has radically transformed. Humble. Kind. Gracious. Soldiers with tender hearts! Worshippers.
The truth of God established in our hearts – the Gospel of Jesus Christ unleashed in our hearts. Truth that compels us to acts of service, courage, risk, and sacrifice, believing for miracles, giving away our time and energy and money… Sharing our faith. Living our faith.
Declaring our devotion with music, with prayer and with tears.
What’s the vision? What’s the compelling idea? It is Jesus Christ, God incarnate, creator and ruler of everything that exists, sovereign king of the universe. Crucified but now resurrected! And it is an assembly of people, young and old, whose lives are marked by these two things: passion for God and the character of God.
The Bible – It is the inspired Word of God. It is complete and true. (2 Timothy 3:16)
God – There is one and only one living and true God. He is the Creator of all, has existed and always will, and rules over all. God reveals Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 90:2)
Jesus – He is God’s Son. He has existed always, but lived on earth as a man. After living a perfect, sinless life, Jesus offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice for every human being by dying on the cross. He arose from the grave after three days, having defeated death and ascended to Heaven and will return one day to reign as King. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
The Holy Spirit – He works to bring all people to understand their need for Jesus Christ. He lives in every believer the moment they accept Jesus Christ as Savior. He never leaves the believer, but to experience His Power in our lives we must be obedient to His direction. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
Salvation – Is through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and what He did for me by sacrificing His Perfect Life on my behalf, a sinner. I can never earn my salvation because it is not what I did, but what Jesus did. It is a gift, but I must accept it. (Romans 10:9; Ephesians 2:8-9)
The Church – The Bible tells us the Church is the body of Christ in the world today. Its main purpose is to reach people for Jesus Christ and to disciple believers in their daily lives. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
Communion – We believe that the Lord’s Supper as observed in our church, symbolizes the Lord’s death and is open to all who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior. (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
Arie L. Mangrum III has served as the pastor of The Church at Riverside since 2013. Before that, he served on the pastoral staff of Sovereign Grace Church in Joppa, MD for 8 years and previous to that he led a church planting team for 7 years in establishing Cornerstone Church of Chester, PA. He and his wife Marilyn have been happily married for 43 years and they have three adult children, Arie IV, Darren and Marisa. Their son Arie IV and his wife Jamie have blessed them with the birth of their first grandchild Arie V.
He is a graduate of the University of Maryland in 1974, where he met his wife, Marilyn. He also graduated from the Sovereign Grace Pastors College in 2004.
Pastor Arie’s primary desire is to see the church comprehend the gospel more fully, feel it more passionately and obey it wholly. He believes that a biblical understanding of the church will motivate us to invest our time, our talents, our energy and our lives in God’s purpose for the church.