Welcome to our church web site. We invite you to browse all the areas listed. That way you can decide if we might be the kind of church you are looking for. 

With the last days of summer upon us, our focus is turning toward the fall. On Sunday, September 5, our Sunday morning worship will go back to its usual time of 10:30. Sunday School for adults will begin at 9:30. Children's Church during the worship hour will expand to include three different age groupings. And, of course, nursery childcare will continue as well. We are excited about using a new progressive Chrisian curriculum for our children. Our goal is to teach them a form of Christianity that is healthy and holistic so they will not have to unlearn in adulthood what they learned at Spirit of Joy. 

We are a small congregation numerically, but not spiritually. As such we do not have the resources larger churches do for "programs," but then, that is not how we understand what it means to be church anyway. Our belief is that churches are called to do ministry, not programs, and that our primary task is helping people grow into mature Christians. Whenever we gather, therefore, we try to spend our time focused on that great challenge and avoid as much as we can being sidetracked by things that don't contribute to this end.

Becoming mature Christians involves many things, to be sure, but we believe it begins with a spirit of welcome to everyone. We think social barriers such as race, color, nationality, sexual orientation, or theological points of view are contradictory to following Jesus. We also believe spiritual maturity includes doing whatever we can to show compassion to people outside the church. In many respects the theme of our overall ministry is reconcilation because we believe that is the foundation for peace and justice in the world.

Some people ask if we are a denominational church. The answer is Yes. Spirit of Joy is a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). You can read more about our denominational history and polity by clicking on http://www.disciples.org. We think you will like what you read, the fact that we welcome diversity rather than simply tolerating it, encourage open and honest discussion on all issues, whether they be theological, social, or political, and do not believe differences have to become divisions.

Other places on this website will help you get to know us better. Thank you, again, for visiting us online. What would be even better is if you attended one of our services in person. We look forward to that possibility. And, if you do, tell us you first met us on our website.