Parkcrest Church is a modern evangelical house of worship in which all denominations are welcome. The organization is not affiliated to other parent churches thus denoting that it is independent. It began as Lakewood Christian Church in 1951with a modest membership base of only fifty-seven.
The institution was launched on the corner of a street; however, members worked towards owning their own property by the end of the year. When the community accomplished this goal, it changed the name to Parkcrest Church of Christ.
Thereafter, the establishment maintained the name until 1980 when it became Parkcrest Christian Church. The organization has had relatively stable leadership over the years. Its Senior Pastor is Mike Goldsworthy who has headed the Ministry for approximately five years. This occurred after his predecessor – Roger Beard – had headed the institution for 30 years.
Like most evangelical churches, Parkcrest is a Bible-based ministry. Their teachings are all derived from the holy book. However, it takes a more liberal stance on issues. Since it believes in the unity of all believers of Christ, the institution advocates for liberty in matters of opinion and love in general matters. Its belief system focuses on the New Testament, which identifies the holy trinity as central to the Christian faith.
Members will be urged to become born again as this is a central requirement to living life according to God’s plan. The person of Christ is acknowledged as the son of God in this house of worship. Followers believe in his sinless nature, his death, and resurrection, his plan to return to earth as well as his virgin birth. To members of Parkcrest, Jesus died in order to save mankind from damnation.
The above beliefs are taught in a fresh and welcoming atmosphere. When one enters the place of worship, one is likely to find a diverse array of members from all walks of life. This church does not target members of a certain racial, social background, or age group.
Their mission is to share the word of God with all who will give them a listening ear. In fact, this open and welcoming approach is prevalent in all aspects of the ministry. Even the way people dress reflects this perspective. A good number of the congregation is casually-dressed as the institution wants to shed all manner of pretentiousness.
Services are available in three platforms: Unplugged, overdrive and live venue. Each category is designed to suit the tastes and preferences of worshippers. In the Live Venue, members get to enjoy moderate but up-beat music in a celebratory manner. It is available at 8.30am, 10 am, and 11.30 am. This service is for the average church attendant who wants to see his or her spiritual leader face-to-face.
Conversely, the more unadventurous members can find their place at the unplugged service. Here an acoustic band plays while members watch the service from a screen. It has the feel of a café or coffee house. Members can even sip a cup of coffee as they do so.
This service is available at 8.30am and 10 am. On the other hand, the energetic crowd would be better-suited to the Overdrive service. Individuals in this category get to enjoy a concert-like atmosphere. Members attend the event from 10 am. However, all three services are united by the same message, which is delivered concurrently in the sessions.
This approach to ministry stemmed from a need to respond to society’s needs. Many individuals are currently seeking personal experience in faith. They want to go to a place where they will feel understood and accepted. Furthermore, they long for active participation rather than mere membership. The tone in the Church is less adversarial than one would expect of an evangelical church.
The café-like atmosphere testifies to this fact. Leaders in the church believe that the style of worship must be in tandem with prevailing inclinations in society. Failure to accommodate these changes may render the church irrelevant.
Members of Parkcrest Church are approximately 1,600. This is a relatively manageable number given the fact that it is distributed between different campuses. Furthermore, not all the members will attend church at the same time. Therefore, one can get the feel of an intimate church setting there.
Additionally, the Pastor and church leaders know many members of the congregation who participate in various church activities. Additionally, the company website and social networking sites, like Twitter, allow members to exchange messages with each other.
While some people attend the church for its sense of community or its voluntary activities, others come to the institution for the message. The Senior Pastor, Mike Goldsworthy, is a fascinating speaker who also focuses on content in his messages. His sermons are always derived from the Bible and will contain key readings from it.
Nonetheless, the Senior Pastor is not the only person who preaches in the church; several other leaders take up the mantle when he is unavailable. For instance, the first sermon in May 2013 was entitled “I denied myself nothing”. In the message, the pastor talked about how man has a propensity to choose extremes. The person may choose to deny himself everything and live a life of deprivation.
Conversely, others may not deny themselves anything and may choose to indulge in every conceivable pleasure. This excess causes them to feel void and unfulfilled as there is nothing with which to look forward.
The pastor taught that people should instead enjoy simple pleasures within certain boundaries as this would enrich their hearts, and cause them to long for an encounter with God. Such teachings are common in the spiritual organization. Leaders will use biblical scriptures and relate them to personal experiences of the members. Biblical inspiration is indeed a fundamental component of evangelical churches and Parkcrest is no exception.
Such an approach to the teaching of the word is indicative of modern ideas in spiritual life. In modernist thinking, scholars ascertain that the text of a massage is determined by the readers rather than the text.
Therefore, scriptures do not act as absolute documents; they are simply templates that preachers can use to interpret their own meanings. This allows them to exercise creativity and leadership. Such is the case with most preachers in Parkcrest as they believe in the freedom to interpret scripture.
The church aims to find outlets for members to participate in whichever way they see fit. They want the church’s influence to penetrate into members’ lives. Therefore, activities in the church do not just revolve around spiritual matters. However, teachings will always have a Christian foundation. For instance, the church has a marriage program for couples who wish to strengthen their unions.
It also has financial classes in which members can learn about wise spending, debt management, and other related topics. Several life coaching sessions are available in the institutions to facilitate personal and professional growth.
Most of the principles in all the classes stem from the Bible but are infused with professional concepts, as well. These ideas help to form a connection with the members as they can identity activities that fulfill their needs while interacting with each other.
The institution acknowledges that people have needs that can only be met by the community – centeredness. Therefore, the church has organized a series of events that help people find answers to emotional and personal issues. For instance, those persons going through a divorce may find their classes on divorce care useful. Here, they can learn how to cope with loneliness, financial issues and anger after their marriages are over.
Mothers of deviant adult children can also find support in the Church through a Hurting mom’s ministry. Here, they may learn how to cope with the situation and also pray with other members concerning the same. Caregivers for the mentally ill have a place to find support known as NAMI.
There is even a group for cancer patients called Cancer support. It is for women who want to learn how to cope with the diagnosis and understand its implications on their family members. The Church also has a recovery group known as Celebrate. It caters to all addiction problems; be they alcohol, sexual, food or drugs. Meetings are divided on the basis of the addiction as well as one’s age group. They also use biblical teachings to train members on recovery.
If one cannot find a group that is suitable to their needs, they have the option of creating a new group or pitching their ideas to the pastoral leadership. Usually, individuals can use the internet to find others with similar preferences. For instance, people with a passion for art may meet and interact with each other.
Members often ask the senior leadership to make announcements concerning these groups. Those interested in the interaction will attend meetings at designated locations in the church premises.
This community has creative ways of raising money or generating funds. For instance, it may organize retreats for couples or children and charge fees for the event. Additionally, some of the classes on offer at the premises are chargeable. One such case is the Financial Planning University, which requires members to purchase a family kit in order to be involved.
Alternatively, the Divorce care program requires individuals to purchase a workbook which costs $25. Several other programs sell books and DVDs that help to sustain them. Inside the church, the most obvious method of raising funds is the congregation’s offerings and tithes. However, members can purchase a series of, books, audio, and video CDs to serve their areas of interest.
Social responsibility is a key component of the ministry in this church. The organization believes that members can serve God in various capacities. Consequently, the church has provided members with the opportunity to carry out mission work in their City as well as in different parts of the world. For those who want to focus on the City, Parkcrest has partnered with a series of outreach programs.
For instance, it supports a homeless shelter for pregnant teens known as New Life Beginnings. Members may help by doing repair work in their premises, hosting picnics or conducting bible studies there. Additionally, it has also partnered with Habitat for Humanity where church attendants can renovate homes for poor families. They have an adoption ministry where members can assist in the placement of the children.
Other outreach centers include Long Beach Rescue, Parkcrest Food Bank and Lydia House for the homeless. Alternatively, members who have a global outlook may also find opportunities for participation in the world outreach mission. Here, individuals may work with missions in Africa, China, Samoa, and many others. The African Inland Mission, Noble Purpose and PICC are some of the partner institutions in these respective locations.
Many church goers judge the robustness of a given place of worship by the strength of the children’s ministry. Parkcrest Church realized this need and created an elaborate program for children. Each child will find a class that is suitable for their age group. For instance, the nursery program caters for children below two years. The church has a series of staff members who can even accommodate a six-week-old child.
Those between two and three years of age have the Little K program, which teaches basic Bible truths in an interactive and lighthearted way. These children will play in bouncing castles and do other fun activities while learning the gospel. Big K is the next level for children. Here, they can learn about God through creative ways like art. Children also sing and worship in a way that suits them.
Finally, the church also offers Studio K, which is a class for first to fifth graders. They have small groups where they get to learn about God in a child-friendly atmosphere. Older children can find a place in the Junior High ministry as well as the High School ministry.
Sometimes the Church may organize retreats and summer camps for these children. Many of these activities include dodge ball, lighting bonfires or watching movies. Information on the same can be found within the institution’s website.
Overall, one can assert that this is a diverse institution. It has members who have been with it since its inception while others are relatively new. Those who grew up in the Church’s children’s ministry are especially fond of it and will attend the services whenever they are in town.
Others have been touched by the community outreach programs, and feel that the church would be a great place to belong. The church is especially appealing to members of the younger generation because it has found a way to communicate with them effectively.
Outsiders may call Parkcrest liberal, but the leadership in the institution is deeply committed to conservative evangelical teachings. Its style of worship may elicit these responses because it is slightly different from the classical Christian Churches’ methods of worship.
It may be said that traditional church structures like ordination classes are not relevant, but biblical concepts like the covenant community and scriptural leadership are quite meaningful to them. It is a family church that has grown tremendously because of its relevance to modern life. This institution is accepting of diversity in today’s culture. Furthermore, it has managed to create an intimate setting in spite of its relatively large-sized congregation.