We strive for our services to be straightforward, warm, and welcoming! There is nothing you need to know ahead of time, no dress code, and no putting you on the spot. Kids are definitely welcome too. Check our Plan on Visiting Page for more specifics.

That depends on where you’re at and where God is calling you to grow! Maybe your next step looks like making church a habit. Maybe your next step is understanding the Bible or theology better. Maybe your next step is a mission or service project. Maybe your next step is getting involved in the worship team. If something captures your interest, ask around and let’s plug you in. When in doubt, know that our pastor has never drawn a blank when asked “what can I do around here?” And know that there are two formal ways to get more involved here. The first is to become a member. We have no exclusive members-only benefits here. But, membership is a great way to make your commitment to the church known. From there, the second thing is to be installed as an elder or deacon, a formal and public way of showing your commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ expressed here at First Christian Church. That said, no one needs to give you permission to love folks well, to study and grow, or to serve others. And those are always great next steps.

We used to! First Christian Church has been in El Paso since 1885. But, in 2023, we sold our downtown cathedral and moved in with First Presbyterian Church. The simple truth is that there is only so much time, money, and energy in any of our lives and we felt called to direct more of it towards loving, serving, growing together, and being the best disciples of Jesus Christ we could be rather than using all that to maintain a property. Things may change some day in the future, but right now we are very happy to partner with First Presbyterian Church and use more of our time, money, and energy on what we sense God is calling us to do.

Over the course of our ~150 years as a church in El Paso, we have been big, we have been small, and we have been everywhere in between. But, how many people there are in the room on Sundays has never been our main focus. The truth is that some churches grow big because they’re doing all the right things. But other churches grow big for all the wrong reasons. Some churches stay small or even shrink because they dare to do the right thing when it isn’t the popular thing. All that is to say, the size of a church’s roster is not an indication of whether or not they are doing God’s will. So, for us, right now, we are a smaller, family style church. And, we’re happy with that if it means we’re doing things the right way. To be clear, new folks are always welcome. In fact, you are not just welcome here, you are really wanted here. But know that, on purpose, we don’t plan and program to attract as many people as possible. We don’t take the broad approach to church. We take the deep approach, one person at a time. As a church, we want to focus on loving others deeply, thinking and studying deeply, and serving deeply. Hopefully that doesn’t run anyone off! But if it doesn’t make us the biggest thing in the world overnight, that’s ok too.

An old Disciples of Christ saying goes like this: “Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” In other words, we intentionally do not delve into controversy and the latest hot take of the day. Or, maybe we should rephrase! We don’t shy away from exploring controversial issues. But, when we explore them, we like to lay out the views in a way that is honoring to our faith and honoring to reason. It is not uncommon for us to explore the details of an issue while letting each decide for themselves their own conclusion.

In short, yes! Know that there is definitely more in the world than we could ever affirm and celebrate. And there is probably more bad in the world than we could ever take on and hope to see transformed. And further, know that as a church, we are proud of our diversity and our ability to to come together from different places on all our non-essentials. So, that said, we try to stick to the essential things here. There is plenty to our faith, Christian love, and missional service that we can do before we ever would need to look for more options! And further, know that you do not need the church to rubber stamp any good you do. To put that all together, chances are your particularities and niche interests won’t divide us here. They’ll make you fit right in.

The Disciples of Christ were born out of the second great awakening, with a significant happening being the Cane Ridge revival. There and then, it was not uncommon to restrict communion to only the folks in your particular denomination, who supported your specific and lengthy creed. But, at Cane Ridge, it was observed that the Holy Spirit was working through all Christians, regardless of denomination or creed. This inspired our founders to flip the script and make a church that started with the assumption that you are welcome, and that God is up to something in your life. From there, we take next steps, educate, serve in mission, and grow together. So, still to this day, we have weekly communion as a way of recalling that Jesus Christ calls us all to the table of grace, and we are in no position to keep people out via manmade rules and customs.

The one you’ll actually read! Here, we tend to use the NRSV as a reflection of the preference towards it from serious Bible scholars. But, translations like the NIV and ESV are often good too. Even paraphrase versions like the Message or the Voice can be helpful. The few that we would recommend against are ones like the Passion Translation where the translators definitely let their views seep into what the Bible says rather than letting what the Bible says inform our views.

No! We believe that baptism is between you and God, not you and any particular church or denomination. So, while we baptize by immersion (fully dunking folks under water rather than sprinkling water on your head) and offer baptism for believers (rather than baptizing infants), we acknowledge and affirm all forms of baptism. What God has started within you in the waters of baptism, whatever they looked like, God has also promised to see through completion in Jesus Christ.

Yes! Rain, sleet, snow, or wind; we will be here. If it is 10 AM on Sunday, we will have a worship service. If you are a member or visitor and do not feel comfortable driving to church during that weather, we encourage you to join us online. If you are participating in the worship service and do not feel comfortable driving to church, please inform the pastor.

Watch out for these! “Phishing” emails refer to scammers sending emails claiming to be someone they’re not, trying to get money or sensitive information out of you. These scammers especially like to target churches and exploit the trust built in here. So, they are inevitable. But, know that you do not have to respond. Know that the church is grateful for all tithes, gifts, and donations but will never solicit money or sensitive info from you. And know that you can always call, text, or email the church with the information you have saved already (not the new person contacting you) to confirm if it is legitimate.

Planned giving does two major things, one for the church and one for yourself. For the church, planned giving, pledges, and other means of making known how much you anticipate giving ahead of time helps us to create a budget and estimate where we ought to direct those funds in the upcoming year. For you, it helps create a spiritual discipline of putting God first, even in your finances. To that end, while tithing (giving 10% of your income) has its biblical merits, you are encouraged to plan ahead and just start somewhere. Consider planning to give 5% or even just 1% of your income for now. Get in the groove of doing it, and adjust the figure over time.

We are deeply grateful for any and all gifts, whether that be through your time, your talents, or your treasures. Reach out to us if you feel called to give something to God through the ministries here at First Christian Church. That said, for giving of tithes, gifts, and offerings; not all means of giving are made the same. First, if you are retired, check with your financial adviser about setting up a possible above-the-line tax free disbursement. Next, for the rest of us, cash or check is usually the best means of giving. But note that cash given without some way to identify who gave it will not be reflected on your end of year giving statement. God still appreciates it but the IRS is another story! Finally, our online giving is very much still appreciated but be aware that a small portion of what you give will be directed to the giving platform itself, not the church. This transaction fee is the price we pay for keeping things secure and convenient, and it will not effect the total amount you give but will effect the total amount received on our end. This fee can be reduced if you use your bank ACH info rather than your debit card info.