Where We’ve Been
A Brief History
Calvary Christian Fellowship was established in 1997 as a Calvary Chapel style church in Forest Grove, OR. Between 1997 and 2006, CCF met at a variety of places around Cornelius and Forest Grove. Like many churches it grew, it shrank, ministries came, ministries went.
In late 2006, early 2007, a change of leadership occured. As is often the case, with new leadership comes new vision and new focus. Every ministry was shut down. Existing leaders were asked to step down. It was a time to regroup and rebuild after a difficult season. It was like remodeling a house; things needed to be torn down in order to be restored and rebuilt.
At the end of 2007, Calvary Christian Fellowship, which had been trying to function as Calvary Chapel Forest Grove, was renamed as The Exchange Church. We had effectively replanted the church. We needed a new identity in our community. A fresh start as it were. We restarted essential ministries with a paradigm shift toward deliberate discpleship. We had new ministry leaders. We didn’t have a worship leader so we worshipped with tracks from CDs. It taught us that worship comes from the heart, not from whoever is in the front of the room. (We now have a “human” worship leader and are enjoying the best of both worlds.) While we may not be growing by leaps and bounds numerically, we are growing by leaps and bounds in terms of quality relationships with God and each other. Jesus did tell us to reproduce spiritually. The ability to reproduce comes with maturity. That’s what our focus has been and that’s what we are seeing. Grace overcoming legalism. Love for God overcoming love for the world. Putting off the old man and putting on the new. Pretty awesome.
The Future
Some say that it takes about two years of building a church before significant growth begins. Obviously God doesn’t have a time table for these kinds of things which is why we aren’t too concerned about it. Our goal isn’t numbers, our goal is more disciples. We arent after nickles and noses, we are after new creations. We are praying for the Lord to use us in our community, to be missionaries in our own home town. We don’t have a lot of the bells and whistles that many other churches might have or that some people might look for. Some of that is by choice, some of it isn’t. We do have a strong desire to see people get into God’s word, to see God’s word get into people, and to see people’s lives get dirty as they follow in the dust-trail of Jesus.
Last updated Aug. 15, 2008
A Brief History
Calvary Christian Fellowship was established in 1997 as a Calvary Chapel style church in Forest Grove, OR. Between 1997 and 2006, CCF met at a variety of places around Cornelius and Forest Grove. Like many churches it grew, it shrank, ministries came, ministries went.
In late 2006, early 2007, a change of leadership occured. As is often the case, with new leadership comes new vision and new focus. Every ministry was shut down. Existing leaders were asked to step down. It was a time to regroup and rebuild after a difficult season. It was like remodeling a house; things needed to be torn down in order to be restored and rebuilt.
At the end of 2007, Calvary Christian Fellowship, which had been trying to function as Calvary Chapel Forest Grove, was renamed as The Exchange Church. We had effectively replanted the church. We needed a new identity in our community. A fresh start as it were. We restarted essential ministries with a paradigm shift toward deliberate discpleship. We had new ministry leaders. We didn’t have a worship leader so we worshipped with tracks from CDs. It taught us that worship comes from the heart, not from whoever is in the front of the room. (We now have a “human” worship leader and are enjoying the best of both worlds.) While we may not be growing by leaps and bounds numerically, we are growing by leaps and bounds in terms of quality relationships with God and each other. Jesus did tell us to reproduce spiritually. The ability to reproduce comes with maturity. That’s what our focus has been and that’s what we are seeing. Grace overcoming legalism. Love for God overcoming love for the world. Putting off the old man and putting on the new. Pretty awesome.
The Future
Some say that it takes about two years of building a church before significant growth begins. Obviously God doesn’t have a time table for these kinds of things which is why we aren’t too concerned about it. Our goal isn’t numbers, our goal is more disciples. We arent after nickles and noses, we are after new creations. We are praying for the Lord to use us in our community, to be missionaries in our own home town. We don’t have a lot of the bells and whistles that many other churches might have or that some people might look for. Some of that is by choice, some of it isn’t. We do have a strong desire to see people get into God’s word, to see God’s word get into people, and to see people’s lives get dirty as they follow in the dust-trail of Jesus.
Last updated Aug. 15, 2008