Who We Are

The Reformers stated that the church is creatura verbi — a creation of God’s Word.
We believe that it’s God’s Word that gives us definition as a church,
along with the heartbeat and breath for life in our community. 

We are a Christian Church

embracing the historic Christian faith, believing the timeless truths held in common by the church in all ages and places. We confess and believe all that is taught in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which are the inspired and infallible Word of God. We affirm the classic doctrines as defined by the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.

We are a Reformed Church

believing the biblical teachings that were restated during the Protestant Reformation. This great renewal of the church in the 16th century has given us a common heritage as summarized in the classic “Solas”:

Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone)
Sola Fide (through faith alone)
Solus Christus (in Christ alone)
Sola Gratia (by grace alone)
Soli deo Gloria (glory to God alone)

We are a Confessional Church

as a member church in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), an evangelical denomination that holds to the historic Reformed doctrines of grace and to presbyterian church government. Our particular confession is found through the words and teachings captured in the Westminster Confession of Faith. 

Our Story

Our history began in Santa Barbara in 2000, when Christ Presbyterian Church sent church planter Roy Bennett to nurture a study group in Ojai, CA into a PCA mission church. By the summer of 2001, a committed team was formed and ready to launch. Christ Church Ojai held its first public worship service on September 9, 2001 to establish the initial steps of gospel ministry in Ventura County. Then, in the spring of 2004, a second mission church formed in Ventura and began public worship on January 8, 2006. Christ Church Ojai/Ventura was particularized as a multi-site congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America on June 4, 2006, and Roy Bennett was installed as Pastor. A year later, the mission sites merged into a single congregation meeting for worship as Christ Church Ventura. For sixteen beautiful and storied years, Pastor Roy Bennett pastored Christ Church Ventura until the day of his retirement on May 31, 2022.

All the while, another study group emerged in Camarillo, CA through the assembling of Cal and Bora Wong in the Spring of 2015. As they continued to gather people toward prayer and fellowship, these prayer meetings eventually led to biweekly Bible Studies. And with the conviction toward a deeper nurture through God’s Word, by the summer of 2017, there developed the desire and feasibility to form this growing community into a church. From there, Sun Kwak was called to be the planting pastor of Redeemer Ventura County, which held its first service on September 9, 2018, and Jon Kim was called to serve alongside as assistant pastor in June 2021.

In Tim Keller’s paraphrased words of wisdom — in order to reach the entire city, we must learn to work cross-denominationally and in gospel unity. With minimal PCA and Reformed presence in both Camarillo and Ventura County, in the spring of 2022, Christ Church Ventura and Redeemer Ventura County began exploring the possibility of a merge, with the firm conviction that we were and are better together. It’s our desire to fill a void while coming alongside many others tilling the soil in gospel partnership and cooperation. We are eager to engage in these next steps of our church’s life together, as we trust our God who walks with us and has never left our side. On May 28, 2023, our two congregations set out for life together as a unified body of Christ as Christ Our Redeemer PCA.

And as the steps of these two churches are now merged into this newly assembled community, our story is just beginning. We’ve faced a number of challenges and have been dealt unexpected hands. And yet, at any moment and in every which way we turn, our comfort lies in a traveler who came from a faraway land to make his dwelling among us. And it’s his story that we commit to gather around. We rest in the truth that the presence of Jesus will never leave our pages as long as he remains both the author and perfecter of our faith and of this church. So, we face the unexpected and step forward, knowing that he has seen this journey through. Trusting in his guidance, protection, and presence, in whatever season, we know this church will be in good hands. What now persists is the initial outlook of those who continue to gaze into the far-reaching land called “What if.” And so, we celebrate the work of God‘s hand that’s moved the people, servants, and churches in years past. And yet, we dream toward the land of “What if,” seeking to join those faithfully serving as gospel ambassadors in our city and county. And we invite you to join us to help write out these next chapters in our ongoing plot line. We trust, we pray, and we eagerly anticipate this developing story of Christ Our Redeemer PCA. To God be all the glory forever and ever.