FAQ

We Are NOT Another Church

The term “Church” here symbolizes the concept of family. In the context of our website, “Church” refers to a collective of ALL believers and denominations who share a relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and with one another. CHURCH SANTA CRUZ transcends this website; it is a community of like-minded individuals who operate both within and beyond the conventional church setting, striving to fulfill the vision and mission that God has entrusted to us. We like to believe that these align with Christ Jesus’ Vision for One Church, albeit expressed in a manner that delineates how this can be initially achieved within our local area before extending to the wider world. While Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:19-20 advocate a balanced approach to growing the Church of God, we draw inspiration from Nehemiah, emphasizing the importance of local believers and their role in rebuilding the spiritual foundations in their own homes and lives. This principle played a pivotal role in Nehemiah’s remarkable wall restoration journey as remnant Jewish people reconstructed the walls in front of their homes, supporting one another. This story offers numerous lessons, with a deeper exploration of the fruitful outcomes resulting from Nehemiah’s prayerful obedience awaiting further discussion. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Nehemiah was not a religious leader but a humble man of God, who revered and loved Him more than his own life. Nehemiah’s example instills hope that each of us can play a significant part in God’s restorative narrative for Santa Cruz and beyond.

In conclusion, Church Santa Cruz is not confined solely to traditional churches; it encompasses all church and family ministries, both within and outside the traditional church premises. The term “Helping Ministries” may not be a perfect descriptor for what is often referred to as a “Para Church,” and we may consider changing the name in the future. However, for now, these two words succinctly encapsulate their purpose: they are ministries that provide assistance. They serve in a multitude of ways, every day, directing people towards Christ Jesus. Regardless of denomination, they feed the hungry, care for the sick, educate, disciple, pray for, offer recovery support, and provide financial aid, among numerous other services that can sometimes be overwhelming for us to track. The creative force of God working through all believers generates an infinite array of possibilities to aid all of God’s people in knowing, loving, and serving Jesus Christ. We hope this clarifies our mission, which is to support existing churches and ministries, without competing, judging, or seeking to replace them.

If you still have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@churchsantacruz.org.

In short, Church Santa Cruz supports local churches and ministries across the county through various levels of assistance:

-We pray for churches/ministries throughout the region. Our desire is fruitfulness in all of your efforts.

-We support “all church & ministry” events, such as the Boardwalk Blitz. True Love Christian Festival, and the Back to School Bash event hosted at Monte Vista Christian School.

-We want to see churches and helping ministries succeed and can promote your efforts through this website and all Church Santa Cruz social network platforms.

We can honestly say it has been decades to a lifetime to bring us together for this point in history. God has uniquely prepared us, and possibly yourself, to be a part of Church Santa Cruz. This website, for example, has not been done before, and it has already gone through many changes for what you see today, with probably changes yet to come. We pray this website is only the beginning of how we may use this new tool, as God is already showing us many more things we can do with it. When Covid hit, the original founders had already developed some wonderful friendships where we began to discover our mutual passions for the lost and God’s lost Church. With over 50,000 denominations, decreasing church attendance, increasing spiritual darkness, we pray for revival, while asking God what we can do. We asked questions such as, “how can we continue to celebrate the uniqueness of many churches, while still at times coming together to love, support, and encourage one another.” Our vision and mission came from these discussions and answered prayers. We also asked, “what beliefs can bring us together”, which resulted in our statements of faith. This was really difficult and took many years as we did not want to be known for what we are against, but what we are for. Additionally, God showed us over two pages of very achievable opportunities we could do as One Church to help grow the spiritual and physical depth of our local churches and Helping Ministries.

For starters, we wanted to build a website to capture a picture of how active the body of Christ is in Santa Cruz County. There are many faithful Jesus followers in this county who are praying for God to save, heal, and restore the hurting and broken in our cities. Next, we wanted to partner with like minded believers who see the possibility of what could happen if the church started to stand for what they agree with instead of what they are against. Many have said that only 7-10% of people in Santa Cruz County are active and engaged in the local church. We believe that if this 10% worked together on projects that reached the city there would be a great need met. So we have built and partnered with events such as the Boardwalk Blitz, True Love Christian Festival, Back To School Bash, to name a few practical things that we can do together.

Start by signing up your organization on this website platform. Click here to sign up and register your organization.

We would love to promote your church or ministry event. 

FIRST, make sure you have registered your church or ministry. If you have not registered your organization, click here.

NEXT, sign into your account (top of the home page).

Finally, click this link to tell us about your church or ministry event. An administrator will review your event submission and get back to you  shortly if we need any additional information.

We wish you well in all of your kingdom advancing efforts, always.

We (at Church Santa Cruz) are believers in Jesus who have an extensive background in church leadership and tech. We want to promote your ministry and/or church so people can find you and discover what you are doing in the community. No information from this website project will ever be sold to another 3rd party. What you provide here will simply become available to promote your ministry publicly.