The Family at the Central Church of Christ
Central Church of Christ was founded in 1939. During the first 10 years,
members met for worship and study in a variety of locations, including living
rooms across the city.
In the 1940s the congregation purchased land and established a permanent
location on First Ave in Cedar Rapids. In 1960 they completed construction on
our current auditorium. The congregation continued to grow and prosper, and in
1976 added an education wing and fellowship hall to the existing facility.
Currently, membership at Central is about 200 people, making us one of the
largest Churches of Christ in the state of Iowa, with approximately 50 who are
age 18 and under. We are led by 3 elders and 13 deacons.
We have two paid ministers. Dr. Terry Seufferlein is a graduate of York
College and Abilene Christian University. He recently was awarded his PhD from
ACU, specializing in spiritual formation. He is active in preaching, teaching,
and serves the congregation in all areas of need. He and his family have been
with Central since July of 1999. Norman Bales was minister at Central for 15 1/2
years before leaving in 1992. He has since retired from full time ministry, and
he and his wife, Ann, moved back to Cedar Rapids in 2008. He accepted a position
to serve as a part time minister and is active teaching classes, filling in on
Sunday mornings, and ministering to the church and community.
Our Mission statement expresses the desire / focus of our congregation: To
truly love God by following Jesus and helping all people to become like Him.
Or more simply, to Love God, Live for Jesus, and Lead
others to Him.
Over the years, Central Church of Christ has been very active
in serving our community as well as supporting various mission efforts. In
addition to our food pantry and other benevolence work, we hold a “Giveaway”
three times a year where members of the community are invited in to get clothing
and household goods as they have a need. Typically 400-500 people are served
each time. At our annual Thanksgiving dinner members from the congregation serve
a free meal to anyone from the community who wishes to come. We have supported
ministers in the Ukraine, Kenya, and Honduras as well as supported other
churches in the state of Iowa.
During the record floods in Cedar Rapids in 2008, Central Church of Christ
was blessed (because of our location) to be able to serve the community. First
as a staging area for the city to sent out crews to sandbag and evacuate areas
in preparation for the floods, and then as a warehouse to supply people with
necessities provided by the Church of Christ Disaster Relief organization. In
addition, we hosted the Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team (DRT) who organized
groups from churches around the country to send people to help with cleaning up,
rebuilding, and providing for people who lost homes and jobs as a result of the
floods. We continue to support the DRT as they have continued their work in
other parts of the country that are in need.
With approximately 4000 houses and countless businesses affected by the
floods, even at this time there are still a multitude of opportunities in the
Cedar Rapids community to minister to a large number of people in need.
At Central we also enjoy fellowship with each other through a number of
yearly activities. A couple of times a year we convert the fellowship hall into
a coffee house complete with poetry and/or music to raise funds to support
missions in Kenya. A couple of favorite activities are the annual sledding party
(when there’s enough snow) and the annual Super Bowl party. We’ve even had the
occasional church-wide dodgeball tournament.
About the Churches of Christ
Approximately 1,500 churches across the country and 1.25 million individuals
identify themselves with the Churches of Christ, a group of independent
congregations that are locally governed.
The church of Christ first came into existence in the first century. During
the early years of the 19th century a very strong historical movement often
referred to as the Restoration Movement was begun by several prominent church
leaders. The movement's intent was to look solely to the Bible, specifically to
the New Testament, for guidance concerning how Christians should live, the means
by which a relationship with God is established and nurtured, and how Christians
should express their faith through in worship and daily living.
Today, churches of Christ maintain much of their heritage from these early
years. Churches of our fellowship exist in all 50 states, though are most
numerous in southern states. The vast majority of local congregations consist of
100 or fewer members, though some have several thousand members.
Churches of Christ are often distinguished by the belief that the Bible is to
be literally interpreted and is the exclusive word of God. As such, many of our
practices are founded in our understanding of Biblical teaching. Bible study and
a reliance on scripture for making lifestyle decisions is prevalent.
Churches of Christ also exist throughout the world, the result of missionary
work supported by local churches. In addition, many private schools, as well as
colleges and universities, maintain ties with the churches of Christ.
