Affiliation

Berean Fellowship of Churches

The name Berean comes from Acts 17:11 where the people in the city of Berea "received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily."

Northbridge Community Church is a member of the Berean Fellowship of Churches. The theme of the Berean Fellowship is "Plant a Church, Make Disciples, Reach the World." The Berean Fellowship is a family of churches committed to reaching people with the Gospel. Churches in the Fellowship enjoy flexibility in methodology while agreeing on a clearly defined doctrinal statement, a common constitution, and a shared vision for worldwide impact. Though we are an independent, evangelical church, we also have an association with other Berean Fellowship churches that makes us interdependent as far as our mission to reach people for Christ. Every Berean church is independent, in that there is no denominational control. For example each church chooses its own pastors, builds its own buildings and assists and determines its own ministries. 

The History of the Berean Fellowship Roots of the Berean Fellowship date back to the 1930's, when Ivan Olsen became the first pastor of the Berean Fundamental Church in North Platte, Nebraska. As others witnessed the blessing of God on his work, they began to come to him for counsel and assistance to plant churches in other communities. God's blessing on those efforts allowed for the establishment of a number of Berean Churches in just a few years. The name, Berean Fundamental Church Council, Inc. was chosen to become the legal organizational name for this new Berean Fellowship of Churches. Since those early years, many more churches have been planted. Today, the Berean Fellowship comprises 60 churches in 8 states across the Midwest, Northern California and Southern Oregon, as well as Canada.