In the fall of 2003, God birthed a dream in the hearts of a group of discerning men and women, boys and girls. What would it look like to build a great church for God in the South Hills of Pittsburgh—a community of faith with Christ at its center and a firm conviction that men and women together reflect the image of God, a community that focused its resources on the mission of God, prioritized relationships, and created a welcoming environment for people who did not resonate with a traditional church context?

 

Empowered by their God-given convictions, this group established Christ Community Church of the South Hills in 2004 with Terry Timm as its lead pastor. This community of faith would be a small church with a big reach. We believed God would do great things, far beyond our imagination, through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of committed Christ followers.

 

Recognizing that relationships are at the heart of the Christian life, we saw our mission as helping others connect more fully with God, one another, and our world. Our relational foundations are grounded in critical New Testament teachings that call God’s people to be loving, accepting, hospitable, encouraging, and forgiving. These Five Ways of Being shape our values as we live out our relational responsibilities with one another. We have nurtured these relationships through the creation of three specific kinds of environments: worship, learning, and serving. We created learning environments in homes, coffee shops, and other public spaces scattered throughout the South Hills. And early on, we prioritized serving, believing that we are never more like Christ than when we take up the towel and serve others in His name.

 

We emphasize spiritual formation—the Spirit-directed process of Christ being formed in our lives. We collaborate with the Spirit by ordering and opening our lives to God through a unique way of life. The image of a trellis is a primary metaphor for growth in our community and serves as a picture of a Christ-follower grounded in the Five Ways of Being; guided by the practices of Scripture, Sabbath, examen, service, and prayer; and held together by the rhythms of solitude and community.

 

Today, Christ Community Church remains true to our original intention. We live out our call by creating a worship environment with engaging music and relevant messages from God’s Word. However, our worship gatherings are but a starting point for our participation in God’s work. Our learning environments for children, youth, and adults help us make meaningful connections and become more deeply rooted in the way of Jesus. And our missional activity occurs throughout the week as we accept God’s invitation to make the world as it ought to be in the places we live, learn, work, serve, and play.

 

Moving into the future, our desire is simply to become more of who God has called us to be. As we continue to live into the story that God is writing through our community of faith, we believe that God will indeed do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine, according to the Spirit’s power at work in us and through us!