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.
Beliefs
As a part of the larger Evangelical Covenant Church, we adhere to the same affirmations and beliefs as the denomination. Click below to read more about each.
- We are an apostolic church
- We are a catholic church
- We are a Reformation church
- We are an evangelical church
- We affirm the centrality of the word of God.
- We affirm the necessity of the new birth.
- We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the Church
- We affirm the Church as a fellowship of believers
- We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit
- We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ
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.
DR. JON IRELAND
Founding & Lead Pastor
JONO SHAFFER
Executive Pastor
KACY YARDLEY
Director of Worship & Creative Arts
COSY DC JENKS
Pastor of Okids
BRANDON WONG
Director of Oceanhills Youth 5th-8th
DELANEY BALZA
Director of Oceanhills Youth High School
JOLENE WARREN
Director of Finances
MAMA G
Director of Care and Connection
MADDIE CALDERARO
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Church Co
JENNIFER HULFORD
Director of Women's 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: