North Coast Church

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North Coast Church is the largest Evangelical Free Christian church in the United States and is located in Vista, California, roughly 30 miles north of San Diego. The church pioneered the multi-site and video venue idea, and currently offers 21 worship options across four campuses in the North San Diego County area. Weekend service attendance averages at 6,500 people. The main campus on N. Melrose Dr. features multiple simultaneous worship venues and a bustling Plaza area. Attendees can choose their preferred style of worship and still view the same teaching in every venue via a big screen.

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[edit] Early History

North Coast began in 1976, when Ron and Alice Treibel answered God's call to open their home for a weekly Bible study. They couldn’t have imagined how God would use their simple act of obedience to lay the groundwork for a ministry that currently reaches over 6,000 people on a weekly basis. With the help of a young seminary student named Mike Wilkins, the ministry grew large enough to start Sunday services, eventually renting the Carlsbad Women's Club and then the Carlsbad High School Cafeteria.

In September of 1980, Larry Osborne became pastor of what was then known as the Carlsbad Evangelical Free Church. On his first Sunday, 127 adults and children gathered for worship. From there, attendance actually went down for the next few years. But it was during these tough years that God began to do something vital. Unbeknown to all those involved, He was slowly putting together the core team of staff and elders that would lead North Coast into the thriving ministry it is today.

One of the key events in those early years was the decision to build the ministry around small groups. Called “Growth Groups,” these home fellowships quickly became the hub of the ministry. Most are sermon-based, meaning they study the previous weekend’s message in greater depth. From the beginning, the goal has been to have 80% of the weekend adult attendance participating in one of these midweek studies.

[edit] Multi-Site Church

By 1990, North Coast Evangelical Free Church had grown to nearly 800 people with two Sunday services in a rented Seventh-Day Adventist church on California Street in Oceanside, California. Fortunately for attendees who have come since then, the leadership chose to stretch and make the sacrifices necessary to buy the N. Melrose property in Vista that allowed for growth. By 1998, they were squeezing over 3,000 people into four weekend services. Running out of space and lacking the funds and time to build a bigger facility, their leaders decided to provide an additional service using live worship and a video feed of the weekend message. Thus started the first Video Café (and to their surprise the beginning of a national movement known as the video venue and/or multi-site church movement).

The church is currently building a new 105,000 square foot facility with five buildings and will still include video venues and the three other off-site campuses.

[edit] List of Campuses

[edit] Beliefs

North Coast is an Evangelical Free Christian church and 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 Christian faith and life. In one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That Jesus Christ is true God and true man having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further, He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He is now our High Priest and Advocate. That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and during this age to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service. That man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is, therefore, lost and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained. That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit and, thus, become children of God. That water baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as a means of salvation. 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. That only those who are, thus, members of the Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church. That Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the Church and that every local church has the right, under Christ, to decide and govern its own affairs. In the personal premillennial and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and that this "Blessed Hope" has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer. In the bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.


[edit] News Articles

[edit] External links

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