Ephrata Community Church Ephrata PA

Welcome

Our heart at Ephrata Community Church is to connect people with God and others. Everything we have done and will do—in our congregation, in our community, in our region—flows from that core desire.

Doctrinal Statement

SECTION I – THE PERSON OF GOD

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:6; Genesis 1:26; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1)

FATHER:

We believe God the Father is eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. God is absolutely holy, righteous, and just. His love, grace, mercy, and justice were manifested in the atoning death of His only begotten Son on Calvary, giving to all who believe salvation through faith. (Isaiah 9:6; Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 147:5; Psalm 139:2-4, 7-10; Psalm 62:11; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 36:6; John 3:16; Romans 5:6-10)

SON:

We believe in the absolute deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the absolute humanity of our Lord through His virgin birth. We believe in the perfectly sinless life of our Lord though tempted at all points in His humanity. We believe in His vicarious sufferings and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in glory and power. (John 1:11; Acts 2:22; John 1:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Hebrews 4:15; Isaiah 53:4-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-5; Acts 2:22-23; Ephesians 1:20- 22; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16)

THE HOLY SPIRIT:

We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, who convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. He is the agent of God in the regeneration of the lost. He is the gift of Christ to the church indwelling all believers, sealing them in the body of Christ unto the day of redemption. He is the divine teacher who guides believers into all truth. He imparts the gifts of the Spirit as found in Scripture. (John 16:6-15; Titus 3:5-7; John 14:17; John 15:26; Romans 8:11; Ephesians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

SECTION 2 – THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, inerrant and infallible in their original writing. They are the supreme and final authority for faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 3:16)

SECTION 3 – MAN

We believe that man was originally created in the image of God, but the entire race of man was separated from God through sin. We believe no man can reconcile himself to God. Therefore, man remains separated from God until he is regenerated, through faith in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 3:24; Romans 3:23; Romans 3:9-12; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:1,10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

SECTION 4 – SATAN

We believe that Satan is the author of sin and the instigator of the fall of man. He has been defeated by the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, and he and his angels will be punished eternally at the coming of Christ. (Genesis 3:17; Colossians 2:14-15; John 12:31-33; Revelation 20:10)

SECTION 5 – SIN

We believe sin is every lack of conformity to the will of God or transgression of the law of God. Sin is manifest in the selfishness, rebellion, and total depravity of man’s attitude, conduct, and behavior before God and man. (James 4:17; Romans 14:32; 1 John 3:4; 1 John 5:17; Romans 3:9-18; Ephesians 2:1-3)

SECTION 6 – SALVATION

We believe salvation to be the whole counsel of God, and it is the gift of God by grace, received through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This faith is manifested in works pleasing to God. (1 Peter 1:3-12; Ephesians 2:8-10)

SECTION 7 – THE KINGDOM OF GOD

We believe the Kingdom of God to be God’s right to rule, which was prophesied through the law and prophets, and came to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus to be the King in the Kingdom, which is working for consummation at the end of this age. (Mark 1:14; Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20; Luke 17:20-21; Revelations 19:11-16; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Revelation 11:15)

SECTION 8 – HEAVEN AND HELL

We believe that heaven is the throne of God manifested in His Kingdom on this earth. Hell is a literal place of eternal separation from God for those who are not redeemed. (Isaiah 66:1; Acts 7:49; Matthew 6:10; Luke 16:19-31; Revelations 20:11-15)

SECTION 9 – THE CHURCH

We believe that the church is composed of all born-again believers everywhere. We believe that the local church is comprised of born-again believers who come together in commitment to the Lord and one another for mutual worship, instruction, conformity to the Lord’s will, and Christian service. We believe all believers are placed by God in specific local churches. (Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 12:26; Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 2:4-6; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Corinthians 3:9-11)

SECTION 10 – MISSION OF THE CHURCH

The mission of the church is to demonstrate the power and reality of the Kingdom of God on the earth, specifically through the transformation of people’s lives into the likeness of Jesus by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit. The biblical means of accomplishing this is evangelism and discipleship. God fulfills His purpose for His church through local churches. (Matthew 5:13-16; Ephesians 3:10; Matthew 28:19; Colossians 2:19)

SECTION 11 – SACRAMENTS

A sacrament is a formal act that is sacred as a sign or symbol of a spiritual reality, which was instituted or recognized by our Lord Jesus Christ.

BAPTISM

Water baptism, the immersion of the believer, is a visible testimony to the work of regeneration and a mark of identification and union with Christ. It is an appeal to God for a good conscience, hence should be administered to those who, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have realized the forgiveness of their sins and have the assurance of acceptance with God, having turned from their past lives to follow Jesus. (Acts 2:41; 1 Peter 3:21; Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38)

THE LORD’S SUPPER

The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein, by giving and receiving the bread and the cup, according to the appointing of Jesus Christ, His death is proclaimed. Those who worthily partake, in remembrance of Him, feed upon Him to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, have their union and communication with Him confirmed, and testify and renew their thankfulness and commitment to God and their mutual love and fellowship with each other as members of the same body. (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)

SECTION 12 – BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is distinct from the new birth. It is the initial filling of God’s power for witness and godly living. (Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 19:1-7)

SECTION 13 – HOLINESS

God demands that His people be holy, as He is holy. His holiness is produced in us, His people, by the Holy Spirit, as we believe and obey His Word. (1 Peter 1:2, 13-16)

SECTION 14 – MARRIAGE AND HUMAN SEXUALITY

We affirm as a church the biblical definition of marriage as between one man (husband) and one woman (wife) to be the only acceptable definition of marriage. God has designed sexuality to be expressed only within such a marriage. While we believe this defines the biblical standard of marriage and sexual expression, we also affirm that we are called to minister to all who fall short of God’s standards with love and compassion. (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

 

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Ephrata Community Church began in 1977 with 12 people. It moved into a converted barn in 1979. In April 1981, Barry Wissler was installed as the pastor. Since then, a growing team of elders and pastors has been raised up to help lead and pastor the church.

At a church retreat in 1990, the congregation adopted the ancient church of Antioch as its model for development. This vision expanded to become a sending and receiving church that has a regional vision and a heart for missions and community transformation. In 1993, ECC planted its first sister congregation, providing a foundation for the relational network of churches, ministries, and kingdom businesses born out of ECC in 1994 and called HarvestNET International.

Also in July 1994, during a special time of corporate prayer and fasting, the church began to experience a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Many area pastors and churches enjoyed the outpouring; the renewal meetings and conferences impacted the whole region.

ECC grew and in 1999, plans for a new building were developed for the site adjacent to the barn. In 2005, the new facility—including a 750-person auditorium, a café, a children’s ministry area, and banquet rooms—was opened, ready to accommodate the harvest. The new building also houses HarvestNET’s headquarters and hosts many of its conferences and events.

The desire to transform the region and a larger campus also gave birth to several multichurch ministries under HarvestNET’s banner. The Kingdom Ministry School, originally known as the Equipping Institute, launched in the fall of 2005 to train leaders for ministry in the church and marketplace. KMS has served over 1,100 people from over 140 churches who have taken classes. Gateway House of Prayer began in 2006 to honor God with prayer and worship and went 24/7 in November 2008. The prayer room is staffed by volunteers from over 40 local churches. The Gift International was launched in 2009 to coordinate mission’s partnerships that minister to the poorest of the poor in several nations by caring for orphans, installing clean water systems, and feeding the hungry.

Ministries within the church also continued to grow during this time. Although missions have always been an important part of the work of both ECC and HarvestNET, between 2004 and 2006 there was significant increase. In February 2010, ECC hosted its first international missions conference for missionaries to share with the congregation what God was doing in their region. They continue to hold these conferences every year and a half as well as send several mission teams each year to different countries around the world. ECC continues to look for new places and ways to expand their mission efforts both locally and internationally.

In 2009, ECC also expanded its youth ministry by hiring their first full-time youth pastor in order to prioritize reaching the younger generation, and then added a part-time children’s pastor in 2011 to shepherd their growing flock. Each year the church puts on a kids camp, a youth retreat, and a variety of programming aimed at connecting the younger generation to the heart of Father God. ECC has also participated in birthing counseling ministries such as Breathe of Life Ministries International and Deeper Still Lancaster County to help bring others into a revelation of the Father heart of God as well. Both ECC, HarvestNET, and their ministries have continued to grow, both in the number of those connecting to their visions and in their influence in this region and beyond. They have also continued to plant churches while still seeing grown at a rate of 10% annually in the last few years. Looking forward, in 2011, ECC purchased three lots next to the existing building to prepare for future expansion. In 2012, they also widened their tent pegs by adding a third service each weekend to make more room for whoever may come.

Ephrata Community Church’s heart is to connect people with God and others, and everything they have done and will do—in their congregation, in their community, in their region—flows from that core desire.