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Posted by: Staff_Writer on 09/19/2013 01:45 AM
Updated by: John_Hamilton on 09/19/2013 07:51 AM
Expires: 01/01/2018 12:00 AM
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Foothill Community Church Celebrating 25 Years At Sunday Service ~By Sarah Lunsford
Angels Camp, CA...Twenty-five years ago Foothill Community Church was founded for one reason, to share the love of God. That love has woven its way through the church since that time, running like a golden thread through the tapestry of the life of the congregation, through sermons, ministries and the people who come together to worship the Lord and support one another in the love and faith that only He can give. The seed of that vision of a church congregation based on love was a verse from Proverbs said Senior Pastor David Mattson, who was the founding pastor, who along with his wife Judy, and 23 other people founded the church with a vision to share the love of Christ with those in the Angels Camp area....
“That was our vision from the very beginning,” he said.
The Proverb that was planted was from Proverbs 29:18, “ Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
“We prayed for a group, a congregation that God would create,” said Pastor David Mattson about those early years.
That was 25 years ago and the congregation has grown from a handful of people to a group numbering in the hundreds today.
The group met in a variety of locations with the Lord providing new spaces as they needed them. Like the early church the group first met in the homes of members, then grew to fill the Bret Harte Union High School Music room, the Veterans Hall in Angels Camp, and the arts and crafts room at the Calaveras County fairgrounds, before constructing the church building at the Glory Hole location.
In order to construct the facility building a Building by Faith stewardship campaign was taken on by members of the congregation, plans included the building of a school that now houses the Christian Family Learning Center as well as serving the congregation when needed.. This campaign challenged individuals on many levels, from spiritual to financial, to help contribute to the construction costs. Because of the congregation’s efforts, there was no long term debt involved with the building project, which freed up future finances to ensure they would be available for what the Lord directed be done with them.
Beyond the church building, which was completed and dedicated in 2000, the people and the everyday ministry they give to one another, and those in the community, are the life blood of the church and the reflection of the love of the Lord. The names of the ministries have changed through the years as the congregation has changed, but their root of supporting and loving individuals has not.
Ministries need to start in prayer, Pastor Mattson said, pointing to the youth ministries, children’s ministries, the new women’s ministry, Community Bible Study that uses the church building once a week, as examples of ministries that were prayed for and the Lord brought into fruition.
In the beginning, Pastor Mattson his wife and their two children, along with just few other people, were the staff of the church. When the congregation moved into the new church building that all changed, and ministries along with the people to run them began to grow into themselves.
Love for the immediate community isn’t the only focus of the Foothill Community Church congregation, so is a deep and abiding love for God’s people and God’s land of Israel. These are as firmly embedded into the life at Foothill as the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah.
This understanding is reflected in all aspects of the life of the congregation from the annual Passover services, to the Menorah that stands on the alter along with the cross and the prayers for the People of the Lord that are offered up during Sunday services. The belief in Jesus as the Messiah is firmly rooted and grounded in the Hebrew faith, and this a cornerstone on which the Foothill congregation is built.
The overarching vision of the church remains the same as it did from the very beginning reflecting John 13: 34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
“Successful ministry is all about applying that,” said Pastor Mattson. “If you don’t have love, you don’t have anything.”
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