By Chris Moon
Christ’s Church of the Valley in San Dimas, Calif., is changing its name to ONE&ALL Church.
The rebranding effort comes as the church expands its mission to reach beyond its Southern California turf. The megachurch that averaged almost 6,700 in 2018 has formed partnerships with congregations in New Zealand, Australia, and elsewhere and is working on additional ones.
Lead pastor Jeff Vines said the church looked at changing its name as it realized its mission was expanding geographically.
Vines has multiple connections with church leaders in New Zealand and Africa because of his 20 years of missionary work in those locations. Vines’s overseas radio program also connects CCV to congregations over a wide area. Quite simply, churches have expressed a desire to share in the ministry of CCV, he said.
“We’re in the early days,” Vines said. “We changed the name because of all this interest.”
The church already has formed partnerships with Highway Church on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, Teamuto Community Church in New Zealand, ONE&ALL Church in Bahrain, and Harvest Church in Suva, Fiji Islands. Those churches will incorporate the ONE&ALL name and mission and use curriculum from the church, but each will remain autonomous. Vines says the connection is akin to the Restoration Movement where churches share an identity and mission but remain independent with their own local leadership.
ONE&ALL is in talks to form partnerships with other congregations, including one in New Delhi, India, and one in Zimbabwe.
Vines became pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in 2008. His vision for the church was to have multiple campuses to minister to the area. But about eight years ago, he began teaching church members to reach out to nonbelievers on their own, believing that evangelism is done best one on one.
“If you want to grow over time, you have to motivate people in the church to assume responsibility and have a passion to help someone who is far from God come near to God,” he said.
About three years ago, the church’s conversion growth began to take off, Vines said. That was coupled with the reach of Vines’s radio program and his connections around the globe.
A marketing firm connected with Hillsong assisted in coming up with the new name.
So far, the change has been well-received, Vines said. He believes that is because the new name matches so closely with the church’s ongoing mission of reaching nonbelievers one at a time.
“One Savior died for all people, and all people are welcome,” Vines said. “It was amazing we had little to no pushback. I guess it’s a testimony of where God is taking our church.”
Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.
Author: Christian Standard
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