CAC is a result of the vision of First Alliance Church to share the message of Jesus with people in the Harrisburg area that they may not reach. In September 1997, the leaders of First Alliance Church sat down to begin to plan how to deal with the growth of its congregation. In February of 1998, the congregation of FAC approved an “umbrella ministry plan” in which Associate Pastor Alan Rathbun would lead a segment of people to meet separately for worship and discipleship, while still sharing the ministry of Wednesday night family night at FAC. In April of 1998 a congregational meeting of FAC was held to present the vision, values and plan for Community Alliance Church. By May 1998, 52 people (27 adults and 25 children) had indicated they would be part of the launching congregation. A worship and prayer meeting was held May 31, 1998 to give CAC to God and ask for His leading.
CAC began meeting in small groups throughout the summer and then, on September 13, 1998, we held the first worship service of CAC at Southside Elementary School on Union Deposit Rd, Harrisburg.
On December 5, 1999, CAC became a fully funded, fully accredited congregation of the C&MA. On September 17, 2000, CAC began meeting in its first leased facility at 8000 Derry St., Harrisburg. In June 2004, CAC bought its current ministry center / office at 5401 Locust Lane and returned to worshipping in a school, this time North Side Elementary School. In September 2008, we purchased a long standing church building on the corner of 46th and Derry Street. The congregation enjoys not setting up and tearing down each week and we look forward to using the saved time and energy to share God’s kindness in this community on this next step of our journey.
Our vision has been refined over the first ten years of CAC. We have made an intentional decision to focus on serving our community and the world in Jesus’ name. We believe that the best way we can serve our community is by helping people discover God’s goodness and trust God’s wisdom and by sharing God’s kindness in the community. We are beginning to understand Jesus’ words that we find our lives when we lose them for His sake and that there is far more pleasure in caring more about Christ’s kingdom than our own individual church.
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