FCC History & Heritage

History

In February 1953, the First Christian Church of Champaign started meeting for church in the home of Mr.& Mrs. Dean Butts. As the group grew, they formally chartered FCC with 76 people while meeting at the YMCA. In June of 1957, construction was completed and the church moved into a new church building at 1509 W. John St. in Champaign. As the congregation grew, two building expansion projects took place between 1966 and 1991. A surge in growth between 1997 and 2000 maximized the use of the John St. building with four Sunday morning services.

In January 2003, construction was completed and the church moved into Phase I of our current location at 3601 Staley Road in Champaign. The church has continued to see steady growth in attendance since 2003, particularly in the children and student areas. In August 2006, construction was completed on the new Oasis Student Center for junior high and high school students.

The first part of the Family Life Center (Phase II) was completed in February 2007. This building is home to the Oasis Student Center for Jr. High and H.S. ministries. It includes a large space for worship, as well as breakout rooms, booths, and a snack bar complete with a soda fountain. In addition, it includes a mezzanine level with video and arcade games, ping pong, foos ball, pool, and air hockey The Family Life Center also provides space for the Elementary Children's programs. The space includes a large room for group worship, and several classrooms to breakup into age-specific groups. There is also a room in the Family Life Center set aside for Senior Adults to meet for Bible study and fellowship. The Seniors' Room is purposefully placed between the Elementary and the Jr. High/H.S. in order to encourage cross-generational interaction.

The highlight of the Family Center is the indoor playground and the walking track which surrounds it. The playground and track are currently open for public use, as well as used by FCC families. The setting provides unique opportunities to introduce the community to FCC and bring them to the FCC Campus.

Heritage

First Christian Church is considered an independent, Christian church. This means that we are not part of a formal denomination. FCC is independently governed and our finances are managed independently. In addition, our beliefs and values are determined by our leadership.

At the same time, First Christian Church, as well as hundreds of Christian churches worldwide and Christian Bible colleges, trace back their roots to a movement called the Restoration Heritage movement. Therefore, similar doctrinal beliefs may be found between the Christian churches as well as the Christian Bible colleges.