Larry Sessoms
Our community church continues to grow along with our PebbleCreek community. This past month we welcomed eight new members. Interestingly, while some are new homeowners we have only recently met, others have attended our services and fellowship activities for some time, reaffirming that formal membership in our community church is not a requirement to joining with us in sharing of Christ’s love. Thus, a significant portion of the people who sign our guest registers each Sunday identify themselves as regular attenders or visitors, as opposed to members or associate members who maintain their membership in a church back home. All are welcome as we enter our 23rd year in PebbleCreek.
Several things make our community church a bit different from others. One, of course, is that we don’t own a building. Rather, we enjoy the privilege of renting facilities, including our Eagle’s Nest Ballroom on Sunday mornings, from our PebbleCreek HOA. Thus, our services are convenient to our residents. This also allows us to commit 25% of our donations to local, national and international missions. This past year our Missions Committee has supported programs within PebbleCreek, local needs such as Agua Fria Food and Clothing Bank and Phoenix Rescue Mission, and broader missions such as Samaritan’s Purse, Alaskan Christian College, JOY Brazil, Caribbean Deaf Ministry and many more.
To learn more about our church, check out our website at www.pebblecreekchurch.org. You will find there our 2017 annual report, together with our statement of faith, covenant of fellowship and underlying ordinances. These statements reflect our desire to serve the Christian-based needs of all our residents. What is a community church? In our case, it is a Bible based church reaching out across underlying beliefs to serve the Christian-based needs of all who desire to join with us in PebbleCreek. Our residents are generally mature in years; some are mature in their religious beliefs, some not. All are welcome.