An a cappella congregation on Kenhill Drive
Bowie Church of Christ sits at 2518 Kenhill Drive in Bowie, Maryland, a few minutes off Route 50 near the Laurel/Bowie Road interchange. The congregation has put down roots in this Prince George's County suburb as a close-knit, non-instrumental Church of Christ, drawing members from Bowie and the surrounding communities for worship, Bible study, and an unusually busy calendar of small groups that meet all around the city during the week.
The motto that runs across everything the church does is simple and direct: Know Him. Follow Him. Share Him. Members describe themselves as a diverse family of believers who worship together each Sunday morning around the Lord's Supper, and who then scatter into homes, online meeting rooms, and fellowship halls for the rest of the week to study Scripture, pray, and serve the wider Bowie community.
Sunday worship: singing, the Supper, and the Word
Sunday is the anchor of the week. Adult Bible Class runs from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m., and the Worship Service begins at 10:30 a.m. The worship is a cappella: the congregation fills the room with unaccompanied singing, a hallmark of the Churches of Christ. Visitors are welcome to sing along or to listen; there is no choir or instrumental accompaniment to keep up with.
The Lord's Supper is celebrated every Sunday. Church of Christ teaching holds the weekly observance of this meal as a defining act of worship, and Bowie Church treats it as such. Communion is open to any visitor who has been baptized into Christ and wants to share in it; those who would prefer to simply observe are free to pass the plates along.
A sermon and a period of prayer round out the service. The whole gathering is also livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, so members who are traveling, recovering, or housebound can still join in from home.
Once the service ends, members often linger over coffee and conversation in the foyer. On every fifth Sunday of the month, that conversation migrates into the Fellowship Hall for a potluck lunch. A 5th Sunday Potluck takes place immediately after the morning service, with everyone, members and visitors alike, invited to bring a dish to share.
What the church believes
The statement of faith gathered under Our Beliefs on the church's site runs through the same lines that other non-institutional Churches of Christ hold. There is one sovereign God, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Creator of all things. Jesus Christ is the Son through whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together; his perfect obedience, death, burial, and resurrection offer salvation to all who come to him in faith.
The Holy Spirit indwells believers, seals them as God's own, teaches, guides, intercedes in prayer, and empowers godly living. The Bible is treated as God's inspired Word and the foundation for faith and daily living. Salvation is a gracious gift received by responding to the gospel in faith, confessing Jesus as Lord, repenting of sin, and being immersed into Christ in baptism. The church is the body of Christ, called to encourage one another and share the good news, with both women and men serving within it. Faith is meant to be lived out: worshiping God, loving neighbors, serving the community, and sharing the hope of Christ wherever the members go.
Small groups woven through the week
Outside of Sunday morning, the Bowie Church runs one of the more active small-group calendars in the area. Three groups meet on a regular weekly or near-weekly basis, and a fourth meets monthly.
Rogers Small Group, Sunday evenings
The Rogers Small Group gathers on Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m. for in-depth Bible study, fellowship, and prayer. The group meets in member homes around Bowie and the surrounding area; for the location each week, members contact Joyce Rogers. During the summer the format changes: the group trades its study for evenings of fellowship and music, traveling together to free Sunday evening concerts in Crofton and Bowie. Chairs or blankets are recommended for the outdoor concert evenings.
Ladies' Bible Class, Tuesday mornings
Women of all ages are invited to a weekly in-depth Bible study every Tuesday morning from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. The class meets in person at the church building on Kenhill Drive and simultaneously on Zoom so that women who cannot attend in person can still be part of the conversation. After the lesson, the ladies often walk over to nearby restaurants for lunch together. Mary Ann Wilson coordinates the class, and Eileen Lloyd sends out the weekly Zoom link. Newcomers and long-time members are equally welcome.
Thursday Night Bible Study
On Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. the church hosts a Bible study built around an open discussion of how to follow Jesus in everyday life: marriage, parenting, work, stress, purpose, faith, truth, and hope. The tagline on the church site is Faith. Family. Food. Real Conversation. People of all ages are invited. Snacks are provided; no cost, no pressure.
The Thursday study meets at the church building during most of the year and moves to 3024 Belair Drive in Bowie during the summer months. For anyone who cannot make it in person, the group also gathers on Google Meet. Jeff Matteson and Fuller Ming lead the conversation.
Men's Prayer Breakfast, monthly on Saturday mornings
On the third Saturday of each month, men of all ages gather in the church Fellowship Hall from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. for breakfast, fellowship, and prayer. The meal is provided; attendees are asked to bring themselves and a friend. Jeff Matteson hosts the morning.
Praise and Prayer, second Sundays
From September through June, the second Sunday of every month hosts the Praise and Prayer Small Group. The gathering begins with a shared meal at noon and moves into learning new songs of worship, lifting voices and hearts in praise, and praying together. Beth Wilson coordinates the time; newcomers are warmly received.
Reaching out: the Bowie Food Pantry and Back-to-School Bash
Bowie Church practices the kind of faith it preaches through two long-running outreach efforts.
The Homeless Outreach Ministry delivers a food donation to the Bowie Food Pantry every third Monday of the month. The congregation stocks that offering with low-salt, nonperishable items collected in a bin in the church foyer on Sunday mornings. Eileen Lloyd and Gail McIntire answer questions about which items are most needed at any given time.
Each August, the church partners with the City of Bowie for the Back-to-School Bash held at the City of Bowie Gym on Northview Drive. The congregation puts together at least 45 backpacks filled with school supplies, along with drawstring athletic bags, and slips an Action Bible into every bag so that each child served leaves with something to read during the school year. The Back-to-School Bash is the church's biggest annual service project and one of the most visible ways it lives out its calling to the Bowie community.
Beyond these two signature efforts, the church also sends a small group monthly to Charter Senior Living for a Nursing Home Devotional that includes prayer, singing, and service to residents.
Leadership
The Bowie Church is currently led by a leadership team that meets weekly to prayerfully discuss the work and life of the congregation, modeling itself on the picture of shepherds in 1 Peter 5:2-3.
Jeff Matteson serves as the church's full-time minister. He holds a bachelor's degree in Christian studies from Austin Graduate School of Theology and is working on a Master of Divinity through Abilene Christian University. Jeff has served as an evangelist and missionary in Siberia, Russia; Kalispell, Montana; and Luling, Texas, and brings that breadth of experience to the Bowie pulpit. He and his wife Jill have been married since 1983; they have four children and three grandchildren.
Bill Hoffman serves as the adult ministry leader, supporting the Sunday Adult Bible Class and the broader ministry to adults in the congregation.
Eileen Lloyd keeps the church office running and coordinates many of the small groups, while Mary Ann Wilson leads the Ladies' Bible Class, Beth Wilson coordinates the Praise and Prayer group, Joyce Rogers hosts the Rogers Small Group, and Fuller Ming assists with the Thursday night study.
Visiting Bowie Church of Christ
The church building is at 2518 Kenhill Drive, about a quarter mile off Kenhill Drive at the Laurel/Bowie Road exit. From Washington, D.C., take Route 50 East to Exit for Laurel/Bowie Road (MD 197), turn left at the end of the ramp, then right at the second light onto Kenhill Drive. From Annapolis, take Route 50 West to the same exit, turn right at the end of the ramp, then make the immediate right onto Kenhill Drive. From MD 3 or US 301, take Route 50 West and exit at MD 197, following the same right-turn pattern onto Kenhill Drive.
Sunday mornings begin with Adult Bible Class at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 10:30 a.m., with the service livestreamed on YouTube for those unable to attend. Dress is what one would expect in a Bible-class-and-sermon congregation: jeans and a polo shirt sit comfortably alongside a shirt and tie. The church describes itself as a diverse family, and visitors regularly include first-time guests.
Online giving is available, and a printed or digital directory of members is published for those who want it. Worship bulletins include lyrics for congregational songs, including recent additions like The Blessing.
Worship is conducted in English. All of the recurring small groups - the Rogers Group on Sunday evenings, the Ladies' Bible Class on Tuesday mornings, the Thursday Night Bible Study, the monthly Men's Prayer Breakfast on Saturday, and the second-Sunday Praise and Prayer gathering - are open to anyone in the area looking for a place to study the Bible, pray, and be known.