Berean Baptist Church
Mansfield OH

Berean Baptist Church is a community of Christ followers enjoying God together, growing in grace and truth, and taking life in Christ to the heart of Ohio and beyond.

 

https://bereanfamily.com/  

 

In 1979 a core group of 40 adults and children became interested in starting a new Baptist church in Mansfield. They felt the need to establish a church focused in a positive way on the life-changing power of Christ. They called a young youth pastor and his wife, Dave and Sher Pound, to be their senior pastor.

In December 1984 we moved from the local Christian school where we had been meeting to our first building on Middle Bellville Road. Cornerstones: “Christ in you, the hope of glory Colossians 1:27” and “2 Corinthians 4:5” (“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”) We outgrew this facility, which could accommodate approximately 225 people in the worship area, on the first Sunday. In 1986 we added a secretary and one year later Bill Heaton was hired as the Associate Pastor. We began hosting two services each Sunday morning.

In 1989 Phase II, our current sanctuary with its first floor classrooms was constructed. Cornerstone: “Acts 20:24” (“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”) Soon we had a youth pastor on staff, Tim Armstrong, and in the summer of 1995 our first children’s pastor, Nate Meiers, brought the number of pastors to four. At this point our attendance had grown to over 600.

Also, in 1995 Pastor Bill took his first trip to Ukraine which resulted in our current sister relationship with Grace Baptist Church of Brovary, Ukraine.

In July of 1996 we planted our first daughter church, Crossroads Community Church on Park Avenue in Mansfield, Ohio. We sent 37 adults to serve with Pastor Tim Armstrong in this exciting and quickly growing congregation.

God continued to bless, so in 1998 Phase III was completed which added a full-size gym and a dozen adult classrooms to the physical plant. Cornerstone: “Philippians 3:14” (“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”)

In 2002 we planted our second church, New Hope Community Church, in Loudonville, Ohio with Charles Hill as pastor.

Construction of Phase IV which included much-needed office space and a two-floor youth wing was finished in 2005. We are currently about two years away from paying off this expansion and being debt-free!

Through every step of our history we have desire to be a church that has kingdom-impact by loving God and loving others. We pray that this would continue to be our legacy as we move into the future.