About Us

A Faith Community Centererd on Jesus

Our motto is simple: Love Everyone Always! Our mission is simple: More wholehearted followers of Jesus. We are an intergenerational community of ordinary people desiring to live extraordinary lives. We are committed to bring heaven to earth – one life, one family, & one opportunity at a time.

Our Six Affirmations

As a part of the larger Evangelical Covenant Church, we are connected to over 1000 churches who hold the same six affirmations. Click below to read more about each.

  1. We affirm the centrality of the word of God.
  2. We affirm the necessity of the new birth.
  3. We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the Church
  4. We affirm the Church as a fellowship of believers
  5. We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit
  6. We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ

A Deeper Dive Into The AffirmationsLearn More About The ECC

History

Oceanhills is a Covenant Church in Santa Barbara, CA founded in 1998 by our lead Pastor, Dr. Jon Ireland, who planted it with support from Montecito Covenant Church. We shared our first office with McDonalds and met in the Veterans Memorial Building for the first three years before moving to The Marjorie Luke Theater.

We believe church is not a building, it's a people. Church on the Beach is a longstanding tradition during the summer! As is Church Under The Stars on Christmas Eve in The Rotunda by the beach.

Staff

To learn more about any of our staff members, click on their profile picture.

When Oceanhills Church Is At Its Best

The lost are rescued, the curious are welcome, the ‘ouches’ are forgiven, and the marginalized are included,
The hurting experience healing, the drifters experience anchoring, and the sin patrol experience grace,
The worried become trusting, the self-righteous become humble, and the self-absorbed become servants,
The fearful become free, the discouraged become joyful, and the consumers become contributors,
The skeptic finds faith, the cynic finds hope, our kids find roots, and the lonely find friendships.
The next generation become Jesus followers, authors, artists, philanthropists, leaders, and cultural influencers…
The Boomer generation become prayer warriors, intercessors, encouragers, role models, examples, and mentors.

How? HIM!

We worship the Living God – his name is Jesus and He is bigger and better than we think.
He hears our prayers - old ones and new ones, last year and last night… he hears our cries, our longings and our fears…
He pursues us with goodness and unfailing love so that those walking in darkness can follow the Light that leads to life.
He empowers us by the Holy Spirit to love to well and live generously.
He gives us a God family - brothers and sisters, moms and dads - to love and be loved, to teach and be taught, to lead by example so a child-like faith is caught.
He unites us together – young and old, brown and white, rich and poor, left and right.
He is the life-giver: the Light that leads to life, the bread of life, the resurrection and the life, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
And slowly, gradually, over time, everyone is Becoming…
A Christ-like multiplying disciple-maker.
We embrace the messiness of real life and seek to help each other grow in grace despite our differences. We are a Jesus centered church – not an issue centered one. We value relationships over rules and we don’t tell our people how to vote or guilt them into giving. We don’t think we are a perfect church, but we do think we are different from most.

Ministry Partnerships

We are focused on living out our God-given marching orders to love everyone always, across the street and around the world. We are dedicated to serving regularly with our local and global partnerships:
  • Franklin Elementary School (Reading & Mentoring)
  • Alameda Park Monthly Meal Share
  • Team World Vision
  • Westmont College
  • SB ACT
  • AMOR Outreach
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