Our Vision

Churches in St. Charles County

AP ST. LOUIS ..... DATELINE 2008

Ten years from its initial launch, Celebration Church has become one of the most influential churches in the West Metro area. From its humble beginnings in a borrowed facility with twenty in attendance, the church has grown to nearly 2,000 members who worship in the park-like setting of their 20 acre campus.

"Our mission today remains what it was ten years ago," says Joel Aurand, founding pastor of Celebration. "We exist to invite people into a relationship with Jesus Christ and become his disciples. Then we train and equip them to invite, train, and equip others."

Apparently the strategy has worked. Celebration has not only built its membership to nearly 2,000, but it has financed and started three other churches in West Metro. "We don’t exist to be self-perpetuating, but to be replicating," says Aurand, "We train and send out a team to plant a new church every few years. Our whole purpose is to reach those who believe in God, but who don't believe in the Church. Interestingly, of the current membership, over 60% have had no previous church relationship and over 50 people are baptized each month.

But the church doesn’t just shuffle the members in and let them get along as best they can. Aurand shared, "We believe the road to discipleship is through education and ministry. Before anyone becomes a member at Celebration, they have to complete a membership class and agree to a Membership Covenant. The class teaches them what we're about and gives them a grounding in the basics of the spiritual disciplines. Completion of the Membership Class is the beginning of a growth process that can last years. "At Celebration, we believe that every member is a minister." says Joel, "We have three goals for people's lives, 1) that they make a decision to become a follower of Christ, 2) that they grow up into spiritual maturity, and 3) that they be released into the ministry for which God has made them. Our Spiritual Growth University is the key in helping people grow into the ministry of their choice."

Astonishingly, the church has little formal structure, preferring to allow people to interact and participate in their chosen ministry through small groups and purpose teams. "At this point 100% of the leaders and 85% of our members are actively involved in small groups," reported Steve Staicoff, who serves as the Fellowship Team Coordinator. "We believe participation in small groups is crucial to building a relationship with God and with others."

But participating in a small group is only the beginning of a member's responsibility; they're also expected to be involved in ministry. "Our Missions Mall is staffed before and after every worship service to help get people incorporated into ministries in the church and throughout the West Metro area," said Lori Ponder, the Missions Team leader. The Missions Mall is located in the lobby of the worship complex. It's filled with kiosks and booths that beckon with opportunities to serve in causes from Goodwill Industries to Habitat for Humanity. Celebration has a number of booths themselves, but the Missions Mall is open for any charitable non-profit organization that's been approved by the Service Coordinating Team.

When visiting Celebration, the variety of shops, schools, and ministry offerings is almost overwhelming. Celebration hosts a Christian preschool and low-cost, afterschool program, a sports and health facility, an extensive book store, a library, seminar facilities, a spiritual retreat center, a food bank, a thrift shop where everything is free (available to qualifying persons), a recycling station, a counseling center, even a small food court. "We are a 'seven day a week' church," says Aurand. "Many of our people bring their families here in the evening after work. The food court was a solution to the 'how do we get to church and cook a meal?' problem that presents itself to so many two career families."

Celebration is nothing, if not family friendly. "We're like the gang from the movie West Side Story," says Education Director, Gail Aurand, "we care for each other from womb to tomb." Celebration has most comprehensive Christian Education offerings in the area, offering a full range of opportunities for toddling children through senior adult on all aspects of Christian Living. "We want to help people live better, more fulfilled lives," says Smith, "this is why education plays such a large role in this congregation."

Of course, the most impressive structure on the campus is the worship complex. With seating for 1,000, the congregation that meets here worships amidst uplifting music, dedicated prayer, and inspiring messages from the Bible. "Everything we do is wrapped around scripture and filled with prayer," says pastor, Joel Aurand, who still delivers most of the addresses in the worship services. "And everything we do in worship is done with the assumption that those in the worship space have never been in church before. We keep it simple and we try to never stray from our purpose."

Folks have taken notice of Celebration's innovative worship style. Twice each year teams from other churches come to Celebration for a three day Leadership Conference where they are given the tools to analyze the ministry needs in their own area and encouraged to develop unique ministries that meet needs in their communities. "Celebration definitely leads the pack in innovation and need meeting ministries. They consistently see, develop, and implement ministries most never think of," says Greg Rae, General Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), of which Celebration Church is a member. "They offer their learnings and expertise to other congregations with an energy and cooperative spirit that is rare in modem congregations."

Celebration attracts people from all walks of life. In worship and in their membership there are people of all colors, ages, classes, and in all stages of spiritual development. "Although we've aimed our ministries at the irreligious and the unchurched born after 1960, our ministries touch people of all kinds in all sorts of places. We believe everyone is a child of God and worthy of Gods grace and our love."