CBC is an independent, non-denominational, Protestant body of believers with a common love for Jesus Christ. The Bible is our sole guide for faith and practice. We seek to glorify Christ through the faithful exposition and application of God’s Word. CBC is an elder led church based on the New Testament model with a biblically sound doctrinal statement and constitution.
Who We Are
Distinctives
Just like each person's fingerprints, no two churches are identical. Every church is composed of different people, with varying spiritual gifts and levels of maturity. Here at CBC, we believe that our doctrine determines our direction. What we believe affects every area of our lives, both corporately and individually.
Five distinctive characteristics of Copperfield Bible Church are:
God's Glory
Our passion is to see God exalted, praised, and magnified. The goal of creation, the church, and every human life is to praise God for His amazing grace, mercy, and compassion, and to glorify Him for who He is and what He has done.
Sufficiency of Scripture
Far from merely giving lip service to the Word of God, we seek to be led by the Holy Scriptures which are "God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16-17 LSB). Holy Scripture alone contains every word of God that we need on any area of life.
Expository Preaching
God has given us His word in the form of a book, meant to be understood by applying normal rules of grammar and syntax. We believe that God's design is for us to study His Word and that His word is to rule the pulpit (2 Timothy 4:1-4). Therefore all preaching must be richly Biblical, whether it is preaching through Bible books or opening up the Bible’s teaching on any given subject.
Church Leadership
The terms pastor, elder, and shepherd are all interchangeable, since they refer to the same church office. It is that office which Christ designated to lead the church, as it is filled by men whose qualifying characteristics are provided in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. In several places, leadership is spoken of in terms of plurality. Deacons also serve our body in tangible ways, so as to free the elders to feed the flock, to protect the flock from false teachers, and to provide oversight of the flock. Their qualifications are given in 1 Timothy 3:8-13).
Meaningful Membership
The Bible makes it clear that Christians should be involved in a local church, exercising their spiritual giftedness. Members hold one another accountable in many areas. Each and every member is expected to serve, since "each one has received a gift" (1 Peter 4:10).
One of the functions of the leadership is the "equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13 LSB)
Our History
The seed for Copperfield Bible Church was planted Sunday morning, October 28, 1934, when eleven men and women who knew and loved the Lord gathered in rural northwest Harris County to form a Sunday School for the teaching and edification of their children and themselves.
They met for several months in the old Brink School, which stood on what is now FM 529 at Barker Cypress Road. The Brink School was physically relocated in the spring of 1935, leaving the Sunday School homeless. Charles Holt, a rice farmer, offered the use of his storage barn until the harvest. Later Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Backen opened their home on Baken Lane as a meeting place until larger quarters could be found.
In October 1935, after much prayer and planning, the nameless Sunday School accepted the gift of an acre of land at the present church site from Steve Thompson, a local farmer.
The men of the church designed a plain rectangular building to be built by their own labor and, acting on faith, drew up a bill of materials. With insufficient funds for all of the necessary materials, they faced their first real challenge when the lumberman explained that he could not grant credit because "it is too hard to collect money from churches." However, George Thomas and Henry Kruse were persuasive, and the lumberman relented. The Lord provided, and the debt was settled as promised.
In a setting that was rural and sparsely settled, the one-room building served its purpose adequately until after World War II. It was heated by a cast-iron wood stove and was lighted by gasoline lanterns until 1942. A piano was loaned by Modern Woodman at Addicks. Benches for seating were built by Alfred Backen and Henry Speckmaier, Sr., and labor of diverse kinds was donated by members and friends of the Sunday School.
The Sunday School was unnamed and unorganized until 1936, although its attendance had risen to about 30. William Karback replaced the Reverend Leroy Jones as pastor in 1936 and encouraged the group to organize as a church congregation. On November 9, 1937, the leaders of the Sunday School met and, led by the Holy Spirit, drafted a constitution for the church, which they named Thompson Community Church.
In 1947, the original one-room building, which now serves as our chapel, was enlarged to accommodate the growing membership. The church held its first Vacation Bible School in 1950 and built a parsonage on Addicks Satsuma Road in 1966. Thompson Community Church had a longtime radio ministry, Bread of Life, which broadcast on Sunday mornings KIKK-FM.
In December 1978, the church incorporated under the name Thompson Memorial Bible Church and made plans for construction of a larger sanctuary to the west of the original building. The new building was dedicated on November 12, 1982. A year later, in 1983, the name of the church was changed to Copperfield Bible Church. Many additions, renovations, and maintenance have been lovingly done over the years to accommodate the church’s changing needs.
Although we strive to be good stewards of the buildings and property which God has provided for us, our true calling is the growth of the church body. For nearly 90 years, this local church has been true to its original purpose: to glorify God through the preaching and application of the Bible, which will bring believers to faith and maturity in Jesus Christ.