A People Embracing ongoing transition
Every church has a history. We believe ours is still being written. For many years, this congregation was known as Beatrice Mennonite Church. In 2021, with the encouragement and support of our friends at Holmesville Church of the Brethren, we began a journey of renewal that eventually led us to become Summit Street Church. While the name changed, the deeper transformation had only begun.
We weren't simply changing our name—we were becoming a different kind of people. Today, we continue to see ourselves as a community in formation. Like the first followers of Jesus in the book of Acts, we believe the Church is never a finished product. The Holy Spirit continues to shape, surprise, and send God's people into the world.
We believe the Church is a movement before it is an institution. Where the two are at odds, we choose to be changed by motion. Rather than preserving what has always been, we seek to faithfully participate in what God is doing now. That means continually asking how we might embody the life of Jesus more faithfully in this particular time and place. We are not interested in change for its own sake. We are interested in faithfulness.
Our Mennonite heritage continues to shape who we are becoming. We are grateful to stand within the Anabaptist tradition and to remain affiliated with the Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. From this tradition we have inherited a commitment to peace, reconciliation, enemy-love, community-centered discipleship, shared discernment, and the conviction that God's Kingdom stands above every earthly kingdom. We believe Jesus calls his followers to live lives of courageous humility, radical hospitality, and faithful witness.
At the same time, our congregation includes people from many denominational backgrounds—and many who have no church background at all. Some come with deep faith. Others come carrying deep questions. Some arrive because they have been wounded by the church and are wondering whether Jesus might still have something to say to them.
What unites us is not a shared background, but a shared desire to follow Jesus. Jesus is the center of our story. We believe Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of God and the center of the biblical story. His life, death, resurrection, and reign become the prism through which we understand Scripture, God's Kingdom, and our own vocation. Rather than reading Jesus through our politics, preferences, or traditions, we continually allow Jesus to reshape how we understand everything else. Because of this, we reject forms of Christianity that confuse national identity with the Kingdom of God or reduce faith to self-improvement or personal success. Our allegiance belongs first to Christ and to the Kingdom he proclaimed.
God forms a people in a place. Throughout Scripture, God continually forms communities within particular places. Jesus ministered in neighborhoods. The early Church took shape within households, marketplaces, and ordinary communities. We believe the same is true today. The neighborhood is not simply where our ministry happens—it is one of the primary places through which God forms us into the people of Jesus. This conviction changes how we understand church. We are less interested in drawing people into an institution than in joining the Holy Spirit within the life of our neighborhood. We believe church happens around dinner tables as much as in sanctuaries, through conversations as much as sermons, and in everyday life as much as Sunday worship.
Church is a way of life before it is a Sunday gathering. We love gathering for worship, but we know what happens on Sunday is only one expression of the Church. The Church is a people learning to follow Jesus together throughout the week—in homes, schools, workplaces, parks, coffee shops, and neighborhoods. Wherever people are learning to embody the life of Christ together, the Church is alive.
We choose authenticity over pretense. Our gatherings are intentionally warm, collaborative, and approachable. Children are fully welcomed into the life of our community. Leadership is shared. Questions are encouraged. Conversation matters. You'll probably find people carrying coffee, lingering after worship, and discovering that church feels less like a performance and more like a family learning to follow Jesus together.
We have not arrived—and we believe that's exactly where God meets us. We remain a people in transition because we believe the Holy Spirit is still leading the Church into God's future. Every generation is invited to rediscover what it means to faithfully embody the life of Jesus within its own time and place.
That is the story we are living. And if that story resonates with you, we'd be honored to walk it with you.
We weren't simply changing our name—we were becoming a different kind of people. Today, we continue to see ourselves as a community in formation. Like the first followers of Jesus in the book of Acts, we believe the Church is never a finished product. The Holy Spirit continues to shape, surprise, and send God's people into the world.
We believe the Church is a movement before it is an institution. Where the two are at odds, we choose to be changed by motion. Rather than preserving what has always been, we seek to faithfully participate in what God is doing now. That means continually asking how we might embody the life of Jesus more faithfully in this particular time and place. We are not interested in change for its own sake. We are interested in faithfulness.
Our Mennonite heritage continues to shape who we are becoming. We are grateful to stand within the Anabaptist tradition and to remain affiliated with the Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. From this tradition we have inherited a commitment to peace, reconciliation, enemy-love, community-centered discipleship, shared discernment, and the conviction that God's Kingdom stands above every earthly kingdom. We believe Jesus calls his followers to live lives of courageous humility, radical hospitality, and faithful witness.
At the same time, our congregation includes people from many denominational backgrounds—and many who have no church background at all. Some come with deep faith. Others come carrying deep questions. Some arrive because they have been wounded by the church and are wondering whether Jesus might still have something to say to them.
What unites us is not a shared background, but a shared desire to follow Jesus. Jesus is the center of our story. We believe Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of God and the center of the biblical story. His life, death, resurrection, and reign become the prism through which we understand Scripture, God's Kingdom, and our own vocation. Rather than reading Jesus through our politics, preferences, or traditions, we continually allow Jesus to reshape how we understand everything else. Because of this, we reject forms of Christianity that confuse national identity with the Kingdom of God or reduce faith to self-improvement or personal success. Our allegiance belongs first to Christ and to the Kingdom he proclaimed.
God forms a people in a place. Throughout Scripture, God continually forms communities within particular places. Jesus ministered in neighborhoods. The early Church took shape within households, marketplaces, and ordinary communities. We believe the same is true today. The neighborhood is not simply where our ministry happens—it is one of the primary places through which God forms us into the people of Jesus. This conviction changes how we understand church. We are less interested in drawing people into an institution than in joining the Holy Spirit within the life of our neighborhood. We believe church happens around dinner tables as much as in sanctuaries, through conversations as much as sermons, and in everyday life as much as Sunday worship.
Church is a way of life before it is a Sunday gathering. We love gathering for worship, but we know what happens on Sunday is only one expression of the Church. The Church is a people learning to follow Jesus together throughout the week—in homes, schools, workplaces, parks, coffee shops, and neighborhoods. Wherever people are learning to embody the life of Christ together, the Church is alive.
We choose authenticity over pretense. Our gatherings are intentionally warm, collaborative, and approachable. Children are fully welcomed into the life of our community. Leadership is shared. Questions are encouraged. Conversation matters. You'll probably find people carrying coffee, lingering after worship, and discovering that church feels less like a performance and more like a family learning to follow Jesus together.
We have not arrived—and we believe that's exactly where God meets us. We remain a people in transition because we believe the Holy Spirit is still leading the Church into God's future. Every generation is invited to rediscover what it means to faithfully embody the life of Jesus within its own time and place.
That is the story we are living. And if that story resonates with you, we'd be honored to walk it with you.
AFFILIATIONS
We belong to a denomination called Mennonite Church USA. If you'd like to know more about our church affiliation check out these links:
WHAT WE BELIEVE
CONFESSION OF FAITH
We belong to a denomination called Mennonite Church USA. If you'd like to know more about our church affiliation check out these links:
WHAT WE BELIEVE
CONFESSION OF FAITH
Our extended family
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