Our History
Connection Church began in 2008 with 7 people in a pond house with a desire to see our community changed. A couple of months later we moved to an old Pawn Shop we now affectionally call the “Blue Building.” These were very humble beginnings, but God continued to do exceedingly more than we could have ever imagined. We went to 3 services in that little building and eventually made the transition to Statesboro High School. Going from a permanent facility to a mobile one definitely had its challenges, but through it all, we saw hundreds of people make decisions for Christ, get Baptized, and grow in their relationship with the Lord.
In 2012 we started the One and One Project to raise money for our current building. We didn’t want our church to be just about a “building” so we decided to raise an additional $1.5 million dollars that matched the $1.5 million we needed to break ground that would go to Missions and Outreach (for more information about One and One please click HERE). In 2014 we moved into our current building and continued to see God grow His church, but this time it wasn’t just here in Statesboro. From 2015-2018 we planted campuses each year in Vidalia, Millen, Dublin, and Savannah Georgia respectively.
Going from one campus to five in 4 years came with incredible celebrations as well as incredible challenges. In 2019 through much prayer, we felt like God was desiring for each of these Campuses to be rolled off as individual autonomous churches of their own. Planting campuses was not a mistake, but much like our own children, in order for these other churches to truly do all that God desired them to do at some point they had to go out on their own.
This has allowed for the creation of the Connection Network which is a family of autonomous churches partnering together to plant 50 churches by 2050. Our latest Church Plant is Connection Church Athens which officially launched at the start of 2021.
Our Future
During the first 10 years of Connection Church, we were laser-focused on connecting unbelievers to God and believers to each other and we believe that was a necessary part of the process. From 2019-2020 we felt like God was taking Connection through a transition process, but we didn't know all the pieces of the puzzle at once. Through that time we were able to identify three passages of scripture that we believe gives great clarity for what God has called us to as a church:
- Acts 2:42-47
- Ephesians 4:11-16
- Acts 13:2-3
We believe these scriptures give us a clear vision of what we are supposed to focus on and how we can continue to remain laser-focused. These passages provide us with our philosophy of ministry.
Philosophy of Ministry: Simple.
Vision:
Until Every Person Knows!
Mission:
To connect, equip, and send God's people.
Purposes:
Demonstrate + Declare | Equip + Encourage | Set Apart + Send Out
Strategies:
Worship Gatherings | Kids and Student Ministries | Equipping | Church Planting
Cultures:
Evangelism | Community | Serving | Generosity