Purpose
Our purpose is to create passionate followers of Christ by cultivating three vital relationships:
- Our relationship with God (Intimacy with God)
Our relationship with each other (Intimacy within the church)
Our relationship with the world (Influence outside the church)
Statement of Faith
Click here to view our Statement of Faith. For more information about the core values and beliefs of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, visit www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs.
History
First Alliance Church was started as a church plant of the Rocky Mountain District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the fall of 1967 and became a constituted church of the denomination in 1972. There have been five senior pastors in the church’s 33-year history: William Siewert (1967-1970), Harvey Town (1970-1977), Leon Jensen (1977-79), Steve Gunderson (1979-1986), and John Reese (1986-present.)
A major remodel and expansion of the original facility was completed in 1995. This expansion doubled the size of the building, enlarging the sanctuary and adding much needed classrooms and offices. In 2003, we secured the adjacent property on 10th Avenue South, allowing the possibility of future expansion, providing a yard for activities, and ensuring our visibility on that main thoroughfare in town.
In recent years, we have implemented three major initiatives to expand our influence in Great Falls and beyond. In 2003, we began reaching out to married couples in our community through the Marriage Encounter Ministry. Since that first Encounter weekend, we have ministered to over 250 couples from Great Falls and other communities throughout Montana and surrounding states. We also were instrumental in expanding this ministry to Missoula Alliance Church beginning in 2008.
In 2006, one of our Life Groups piloted the DivorceCare support group seminar. We have currently served over 150 people in our community hurting from the pain of separation and divorce. Since we began offering this seminar, several other churches in our area also started DivorceCare groups.
To extend our influence beyond our borders, we began a partnership (along with a sister congregation in our district) with Christ Community Fellowship in Cebu, Philippines in conjunction with Church Partnership Evangelism (www.cpeonline.org). We are preparing to send our third short-term team to Cebu in the fall of 2010.
To learn more about the ministries of First Alliance, please take a moment to peruse the other pages on our site.