Based in Irvine, Calif., we are a multi-ethnic church devoted to God-centered worship, equipping members with God’s Word, loving community and accountability, and reaching the world with the gospel of Christ.
Berean's Beginnings
Our church was planted in 1997 as Harvest Community Church. In 1999, we changed the name to Berean Community Church to better reflect our vision. In Acts 17, Paul mentions a city named Berea and commends the believers there for examining the Scriptures daily to see if Paul’s teachings were true (Acts 17:11). He praises the Bereans as more noble than the church in Thessalonica, which was an exemplary church in itself.
Berean began with a small group of high school and college students. It most certainly was not a typical church plant. We didn’t have a particular vision to reach the lost in Orange County. We did not have lofty goals. We simply met weekly for worship service and Bible study with the simple purpose of studying the Bible diligently and doing our best to obey its teachings.
For the first five years, Berean remained the same size, with very few visitors. Our focus in those years was just to make it to the next year and do our best to be faithful in the process. By God’s grace, the members of Berean—though young in age—began to grow in their faith as well as maturity and devoted more time to the building up of the church. We then began to grow in numbers, and we believe this growth directly correlated with the spiritual growth of our members.
Berean’s vision today is not any different from when we began. Our church has changed and grown along the way as the pastors and elders have learned more about church leadership and even doctrine. However, the core values have not changed from when we were 30 members to today. Through all the ups and downs, our hope and desire for the church will remain the same: to know and believe the Bible and to practice what it says.
Berean began with a small group of high school and college students. It most certainly was not a typical church plant. We didn’t have a particular vision to reach the lost in Orange County. We did not have lofty goals. We simply met weekly for worship service and Bible study with the simple purpose of studying the Bible diligently and doing our best to obey its teachings.
For the first five years, Berean remained the same size, with very few visitors. Our focus in those years was just to make it to the next year and do our best to be faithful in the process. By God’s grace, the members of Berean—though young in age—began to grow in their faith as well as maturity and devoted more time to the building up of the church. We then began to grow in numbers, and we believe this growth directly correlated with the spiritual growth of our members.
Berean’s vision today is not any different from when we began. Our church has changed and grown along the way as the pastors and elders have learned more about church leadership and even doctrine. However, the core values have not changed from when we were 30 members to today. Through all the ups and downs, our hope and desire for the church will remain the same: to know and believe the Bible and to practice what it says.