Chapel Hill branched from Hillcrest Chapel in September 1994 with about 100 adults. A new beginning; a multiplication! In 1995 we formulated our vision – to be:
A community of people, committed to following Jesus Christ, and bringing others to know him.
We had three rented locations over five years while we bought land, built this building and began as Chapel Hill in September 1999. It was a hard time, and we saw God work among us.
In September 2006 Northgate Community Church branched from us with 50 adults. Another new beginning; another multiplication! At that time we revisited our vision and four themes emerged as shown to the left below.
In 2008 we saw how God had graced us with significant ministries to children; Sunday Safari and Livewire, Playgroup, Mainly Music and the Chapel Hill Kindergarten – some 400 children a week passing through our Chapel Hill campus. The majority of these children and their families are not members of our church. We will seek to fulfil God’s call to us to serve our local community through these ministries.
Now in 2009, moved by Ephesians 4:12, a guiding philosophy for our church is that our people are ministers. This may not sound radical, particularly in a Brethren church where ‘the priesthood of all believers’ is a commonly held understanding. What it means is that the task of the church is to prepare and equip God’s people to be servants wherever they are. Our vision, then, is to help you fulfill the vision that God has for you.
Imagine this:
Every single person at Chapel Hill is taking extraordinary love, unrestrained acceptance, and outright forgiveness into their world – into every place they find themselves.
Imagine if our lives and our homes were so welcoming of each other that we could all say with hand on heart: “Being in God’s family is the greatest freedom I’ve ever known!” And what if unchurched people, being so loved and accepted by us, began saying exactly the same thing!
What if Sunday morning was regarded by no one as the main event? We became the main event. God’s love through us became the main event. And Sunday was simply the joyful Pit Stop that refreshes and refuels us to go out and spread more main-event love to somebody.
Copyright ©2009 Chapel Hill Community Church. All Rights Reserved
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