About Us

Our Mission

Foothills Fellowship exists to be a worshiping community of God's people whose lives are shaped by the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and who participate in the mission of God's kingdom by proclaiming the good news locally, nationally, and globally.

We accomplish this mission through the pursuit of these nine values:

Jesus Christ, the Head
We recognize that God has placed Jesus Christ as Head over the church.  Therefore, we will submit to His leadership over us.  We will seek His direction and will for our church through full devotion to His Word and prayer. 

Biblical Leadership
Foothills Fellowship will be a Christ-ruled, elder-led, deacon-served, member-engaged church.

Everyone A Minister
We know that God has blessed us in order to be a blessing.  Therefore, we will exhort and equip every member of our fellowship to be agents of redemption, renewal, re-creation, and recovery by identifying and participating in either a local, national, or global ministry.  

HOSPITALITY WITHOUT EXCEPTION
We will be a sign and symbol of the Kingdom by welcoming people of all backgrounds, lifestyles, and ethnicities into our community life.  We will provide community for people in the midst of their struggle with sin while helping them grow in a lifestyle of repentance toward Christ-likeness.

Unity in Community
We recognize that God's calling is not primarily an individualistic call.  Instead, he has always had a people whose life is manifested communally.  As we live together in ways that embody forgiveness, love, patience, peace, etc. toward one another, we will be a sign and symbol of God's reign on this earth.  We will be demonstrating the fact that we are what Scripture labels us: God's people, Christ's body, and the Spirit's Temple.  In other words, worship is a lifestyle of obedience to God lived out in the community of faith for the sake of the world in which we live. Why unity in community is so important...

Intentional Families
We will equip members to build strong, healthy, and biblical marriages and families.  Also, we recognize that the Lord has established the home as the proving ground for church leadership; therefore, men and women who lead well in their homes will be called upon to lead the church.

GLOBAL MISSIONS (EMPHASIS ON UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS)
We will be a church that participates globally in the mission of God's kingdom.  Our primary emphasis will be on people groups who are considered "unreached."  Once a church has been planted among them, we will train local leaders to evangelize, disciple, and lead their own people.

Holistic Discipleship
We will intentionally disciple and train the members of our fellowship to be worshippers of the Lord in every area of their lives.  Our teaching will be rooted in the Scriptures and mindful of our place in the story of God.  From small children to senior adults, we will ground people in the Scriptures, help them know how to live their lives in a way that glorifies the Lord, and equip them to proclaim the good news of God's kingdom to others.

Ancient/Future Worship
Ancient/Future Worship remembers God's creational, covenantal, and redemptive work in the past and anticipates God's rule over all creation.  It then actualizes both past and future in the present to transform persons, communities, and the world.  Because we are a part of the same people of God that has existed from creation (and on through biblical history and church history), we will be rooted in and will learn from the wisdom of the past, both in belief and in practice.  This will give substance to our kingdom life and call and will give us something to say in the present and future which will not ring hollow.  We will be grounded in the past but always looking forward into the future.

 

Our HISTORY

 

In 1974, veteran missionary to the Philippines, Dr. Don Benson and his wife, Alice, knelt on a vacant, cactus covered lot and prayed for the birth of a church in the growing northeast heights neighborhood. The church first met in a home, then a pre-school and, finally, in their own building completed in 1976. At that time the church was accepted into fellowship with the Conservative Baptist Association of America. By the mid 90's, the congregation outgrew the multiple-service capacity of its original facility and began seeking space solutions.

In the Spring of 2001, we moved into our present facility on Tramway and Candelaria. We also purchased the adjacent building, making it our children's building. The church supports mission work in Japan and is aggressively pursuing making disciples and establishing church communities among unreached people groups in Southeast Asia and North Africa. 

In 1992, we adopted an unreached people group in Southeast Asia where there were no known believers among the 2.4 million people.  In 1995, two men (who happened to be brothers) gave their lives to Christ.  Shortly thereafter, their entire families came to Christ, and now - after nearly 20 years of prayer, financial support, and sending our own people to live and minister among these people - we have seen a church movement explode with now over 1000 home churches meeting regularly!

In 2005, we felt led by the Lord to adopt another unreached people group...this time in North Africa.  We sent a family from our church to North Africa to live and serve these people.  Today, there are 3 known believers among this people group numbering 2.5 million.  We continue to pray, give, and send people to North Africa with the hope that one day we will see a church movement explode there as well.

 

STATEMENT OF FAITH

We believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:1; John 10:30; John 16:12-15; Matthew 28:19)

We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. (Luke 1:35; Romans 1:3-4; John 3:16)

We believe that man, created in the image of God, sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners. (Romans 1:18-20; Romans 3:9-23)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified by His shed blood. (Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:18-20; 1 Peter 3:18; Romans 5:12-21)

We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into heaven, and His present life there for us, as High Priest and Advocate. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 7:21, 25)

We believe that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God. (John 3:3-18; Romans 10:9)

We believe that the true church is composed of all such persons who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of Christ of which He is the Head. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

We believe in baptism by immersion of a believer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in testimony of his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Christ, and in confession that he is dead to sin and risen in newness of life in Christ Jesus; and that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the Lord's death until he comes. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:38; Romans 6:1-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-31)

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting punishment. (1 Thessalonians 4:15, 16; John 5:28,29; John 14:1-6; Revelation 20:4-6; 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9)

We believe in the personal and premillennial coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and that this Blessed Hope has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 John 3:1-3)

Foothills Statement of Faith, Constitution, By-Laws