First Christian Church of Orange was founded in 1883. The town of Orange didn’t even exist in 1883. Originally located on the Plaza, the church moved to the corner of Chapman and Grand in 1887, and then to our present location in 1960.
It is related to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the oldest mainline Protestant Church founded on American soil. The Disciples trace their beginnings back to Kentucky and West Virginia. Over 175 years ago, Barton Stone, Thomas Campbell and Campbell’s son, Alexander, broke with their traditional denominations to work for the unity of all Christians. The movement they founded spread rapidly and today the denomination has 3,700 congregations and numbers almost 800,000 in the United States and Canada.
Our members come from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs. Our congregation radiates the aliveness that is found in the joy of Christian work and service.
We were founded on the concept of the priesthood of all believers. We hold that all Christians, as children of God, have the personal right to interact with the Living God through study and prayer, seeking to determine for themselves what God requires of them. Paramount in our heritage is the centrality of the Bible, a gift allowing each of us through study and prayer, to interpret Scripture as it pertains to our own lives.
We celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) each Sunday. Because we believe in the unity of Christians, the Lord’s Supper is open to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
New members are accepted through a profession of faith and baptism, by affirmation of faith (I have been baptized, but I don’t belong to a church), or by transfer of membership from another church (I am a member of another Christian congregation).