Fair Oaks, CA

Beliefs and Values

Different Views on the Nature of Hell

Updated May 15, 2022 There’s an old saying that the church should be “reformed and always reforming.” This means that we’re “reformed” in the sense of holding to the authority of God’s Word above all else, and we’re “always reforming” by not assuming any doctrine is true simply because it’s traditional for us. Instead, we seek to be good Bereans (Acts 17:11) by searching the Scriptures to see…

The Gospel, Racism and the EFCA

The Orchard is part of an association of churches known as the Evangelical Free Church of America. This is an abridged version of a statement released by the EFCA: We in the EFCA are grieved by the events last week in Charlottesville, Virginia. The EFCA stands firmly on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are committed to uphold the truth of the…

Sexual Issues

[Updated July 29, 2021] Sexuality is a gift from God. We’re wonderfully created with a capacity and desire for intimate relationship and companionship. We’re able to unite with another person in a way that affects us physically, emotionally and even spiritually, and God invites us to be part of the very creation process through reproduction. But Scripture also teaches that the most…

Core Commitments

Graciously and uncompromisingly evangelical Everything we are and everything we do is rooted in, centered on and permeated by the evangel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before anything else, we are worshipers of God, disciples of Jesus Christ; we seek to love him with all of our hearts, souls, strength and minds. Scripture remains our highest authority and the standard for our faith and lives…

Beliefs

We are followers of Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus taught us, in his life and words, what it means to truly worship and serve God. We believe he took on himself the inescapable consequence of our sin—death—and that he rose from the dead. Because he took our death, we can now receive his life. We accept the New Testament Gospels as faithful accounts…