finding a church home in Irvine California
I like connecting people to people. There, I’ve said it. Whether it’s people to God, people to resources, people to churches, people to places, it’s listening people’s question and connecting to what they’re looking for.
In a recent conversation, someone moving into the Irvine area is looking for a church. He’s been checking different churches out, but hasn’t yet found the right one. Ingredients that he’s looking for: a Bible-teaching church, a strong children’s ministry, fellowship with other Christians, a place to serve, and not too loud. A church like Bent Tree Bible Fellowship would be ideal, he said. It’s a kind of healthy church that feels like home (for certain evangelical Christians, anyways).
I ran through my mental rolodex and here’s what I came up with (in no particular order). But comparatively few right there in Irvine, surprisingly. There are plenty of great churches in Irvine, granted, but not sure all fit the description above. Perhaps you know some others and will add to this list.
Churches in Irvine (and Nearby Cities)
- Saddleback Church (which has 2 Irvine campuses)
- Mariners Church
- Irvine Presbyterian Church
- Harvest Community Church
- Voice Church
- Spectrum Church Irvine
- Christ our Redeemer AME Church
- Newport Mesa Church
- Forward Church
- Great Park Church
- Voyagers Bible Church (Irvine; cf. OC Register article)
- The Village Church (Irvine; OC Register article PDF)
- Storyteller Church
- University United Methodist Church (oldest church in Irvine, cf. this OC Register article)
- OC Summit Church
- Journey Church
- Newport Church
- Woodbridge Community Church
- Center Church
- TerraNova Church
- New Life Irvine
- Grace City Church
- Shepherd’s Grove
- Free Chapel
- Christ Church Presbyterian
- Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
- Light of Christ Lutheran Church
- St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
- Pacific Church of Irvine
- Harvest Orange County
- Christ Kaleidoscope
- Other Cities
- Ambassador Bible Church (Anaheim, Brea)
- The Father’s House OC (Anaheim)
- RockHarbor (Costa Mesa)
- Calvary Chapel (Costa Mesa)
- The Crossing (Costa Mesa)
- Fullerton Free (Fullerton)
- Emmaus Church (Santa Ana)
- NewSong (Santa Ana)
- The Main Place (Santa Ana)
- Hillsong Orange County (Santa Ana)
(I’m going to leave out the churches that weaponize the Bible and are too vocal about the faults and problems of other good evangelical churches…)
I’ve indexed more than a dozen church directories and search engines here — great reference there for anyone looking for a church anywhere.
[update May 2009] also see this list of churches with evening worship services
Check out http://www.pacificpointechurch.com
you can probably find many more… but here’s a couple.
http://www.firstharvestchapel.com/
http://www.bereancc.com/
DJ- thanks for being the super connector! not just for those of us in ministry keepin up with conferences through your eyes, ears, orange crocks, and fingers, but those who are sincerely looking for a church home. (I just had a flashback to ED Young at C3 two years back doing his “Stay in the house” impersonation of TD Jakes and Joel O’steen)….. I was with friends who travel to CA often, and they said, man, we need to find some good churches out there…we used to bar hop, but now that we’re saved we want to church hop. thanks for the info!
DJ, you’re the best connector I know, period. Cheers.
Funny you blogged about churches in Irvine, I’ll be preaching at Evangelical Formosan Church of Irvine on 7/6.
I’m adding our church – we’ve got fellowship nailed. Of course, we do have drums, so that might push us out of the running with “loud”…
http://www.pacificchurch.com/