Sundays on Knight Arnold Road
Parkway Village Church of Christ sits on Knight Arnold Road in southeast Memphis, between the Parkway Village and Oakhaven neighborhoods. The congregation follows a simple Sunday rhythm that has shaped Churches of Christ for generations: an early worship service at 8:00 AM, Bible classes for every age at 9:15, and a longer morning worship at 10:30. Visitors arriving for any of the three will find a warm welcome and a quiet, come-as-you-are atmosphere. No one is asked to stand up and introduce themselves, and the only expectation placed on guests is that they come ready to observe what God's people do together on the Lord's Day.
What the Worship Service Looks Like
The worship is deliberately plain and follows five acts the New Testament records the early church practicing. The service opens with prayers led by different men from the congregation, then the whole assembly rises to sing together, with no piano, no organ, and no band, only voices. Parkway Village holds to the Churches of Christ conviction that a cappella singing is the scriptural pattern, and the words to every song appear both in printed songbooks and on a screen at the front of the auditorium so anyone can follow along. Many guests join in the singing; others prefer to listen.
After the singing, members sit quietly for the Lord's Supper, breaking unleavened bread and sharing the fruit of the vine while they remember Christ's death. A Bible lesson follows, typically about thirty minutes long, almost always preached by minister David Tillman Sr., with occasional guest preachers stepping in. Members then give as the collection plate is passed. The church makes clear that visitors are not asked or expected to contribute.
That is the heart of a Parkway Village Sunday morning: prayer, unaccompanied singing, communion, preaching, and the weekly collection of the church's offerings.
Wednesday Nights on Zoom
The middle of the week has its own small gathering. Wednesday nights begin on Zoom for a Bible study that runs about forty minutes, a chance to dig into Scripture and encourage one another before heading into the second half of the work week. Meeting ID 867 0462 8993 connects anyone who wants to join. After the online study, the group meets in the auditorium for a short in-person devotional: a few songs, a brief Scripture reflection, an invitation, and a group prayer that wraps up in about ten minutes. Members describe the midweek time as a spiritual lift that carries them through the rest of the week.
A Church Built on the New Testament
What the congregation believes is laid out clearly on its Beliefs page and centers on a single conviction: the New Testament is the only rule for faith and practice, and the modern church should look as much like the first-century church as possible. From that conviction flows a number of distinct practices.
Parkway Village teaches that God exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God, born of a virgin, crucified, buried, raised, and now reigning, with a promised return. Sinners are saved, the church teaches, through a faith-response that includes repentance, confession, and baptism by immersion, after which the new Christian is added to the church and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper is observed every Sunday, not once a month or once a quarter, in obedience to Acts 20:7. Music in worship is unaccompanied because the church reads Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 as authorizing congregational singing only.
The congregation is organized the way the New Testament describes: elders who shepherd, deacons who serve, preachers who teach, and members who belong. Members are taught that their everyday lives, at work, at school, and at home, are part of their worship, and the church emphasizes every-member evangelism, godly living, love for one another, and helping those in need. The aim, the church writes, is to be the same church one reads about in the New Testament, restoring its doctrine, practice, lifestyle, and zeal.
The Men Who Lead the Pulpit
Three elders shepherd the congregation: Robert Williams, Eddie Gray Jr., and Paul McKinney Jr. Louis Jones serves as a deacon. Two ministers carry much of the preaching and teaching: David Tillman Sr., who handles most Sunday Bible lessons, and Jacques Small, who preaches regularly at the 10:30 service and frequently teaches the adult Bible class. Owen James, Robert Williams, Carl Allen Jr., Tyler Hunter, LC Griffin, and Ruben Williams appear often in the rotation as guest preachers and Bible class teachers. The depth of the pulpit ministry shows in the church's recordings, with three or four classes and sermons posted to YouTube almost every week, covering Old Testament books, the Sermon on the Mount, marriage and family, the kingdom parables, and dozens more.
Family, Children, and the Next Generation
Parkway Village takes its work with young people seriously. The Youth Ministry gathers children of all ages around a few regular habits. Pew Packers meets on Sunday evenings for the very young. Yearly Timothy classes train young men in worship and service, while Tabitha classes do the same for young ladies. Bible Bowls draw young people into serious Scripture memory. Most of the young people attend a Christian camp each summer, with Hensel Youth Camp named as a favorite, and trips like Discipleship U provide extra spiritual enrichment. A yearly Sweetheart Banquet hosted by the youth honors widows, widowers, and those who are single again in the congregation.
Younger children are not forgotten. The Grace Rose Register Children's Library is named for a child who was born with Cockayne Syndrome and went to be with Jesus in 2012 at the age of five. The church writes that she touched so many with Christ's love. In her memory, members and friends built a children's library of instructive and interesting religious books, with monthly reading times each summer.
Bible classes run from cradle roll through adult, and the church has held special seminars in recent years on marriage and family, Islam, and how we got the Bible.
Women's and Men's Work
Women's ministry runs deep at Parkway Village. A ladies' Bible class meets in a member's home on Mondays. Another meets at 10 AM on Wednesdays at the building. A Wednesday night discussion class for women gathers at 7 PM. The Ladies' Ministry oversees the writing of encouragement notes to the sick, the bereaved, and the shut-in, prepares meals for families who have lost loved ones, and assembles holiday baskets for those who would appreciate them. Members also help with visitation and with sprucing up the building, and they host an area Ladies' Day each year.
The men of the church gather at least once a quarter on a Saturday morning for a prayer breakfast, where elders share updates on the work of the congregation and the men share a meal and a season of prayer.
Becoming a Christian
Visitors who want to know more about following Christ are invited to ask. The church teaches that salvation is by God's grace through faith, not by personal effort, and that accepting that gift means believing in Jesus as the Son of God, repenting of sin, confessing that faith, and being baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins. New Christians are then added to the church and begin the long work of being shaped, by the Spirit and by the Word, into the image of Christ. Members are quick to point out that they are imperfect people who fail often; what binds them together is shared love for Jesus and His church.
Live Stream and Contact
Every service is broadcast on the church's YouTube channel, with archives going back for years. Those who cannot attend in person can worship along at home, and the same channel is a library of sermons, Bible class lessons, quarterly song services, and youth and ladies' events. The mailing address is 4400 Knight Arnold Road, Memphis, TN 38118, and the phone is 901-603-8569. A contact form on the home page invites newcomers to request a Bible study, ask about a recent sermon, schedule a tour of the building, or simply introduce themselves, and the church promises a friendly reply.