Fountain Valley church focuses on younger congregation

Torus Tammer

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- After 36 years, the Community Bible Church of

Fountain Valley is no more. But the religious institution hasn’t gone

away, rather it changed its name and image in the hopes of attracting new

members.

The church, now known as the Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, wants

to break the stereotype that church is a boring place to be. According to

Head Pastor Karl Vaters, this plan has been on the drawing board since

his first day on the job.

“I came out here to become the head pastor eight years ago,” Vaters

said. “Although we only had 35 people in the congregation, we still were

able to have a vision.”

Vaters said the challenge of making changes in the church’s approach

is more difficult than it appears.

“The challenge lies in making the church a place you want to be at, as

opposed to the last place you want to be at,” Vaters said. “So our job is

to update the image and environment, while making sure the content stays

the same.”

About two years ago, officials realized the church was attracting

young couples with children. That was when they were inspired to change

the church’s focus to appeal to younger people.

“A lot of the churches in the area were reaching older people who were

mostly over 35,” Vaters said. “Since we were already reaching youngsters,

we realized that it is what God wanted us to do. While still serving our

current congregation, we also decided to continue focusing on attracting

young people between 18 and 35, mainly, those who don’t usually attend

church.”

But anyone is welcome, said Gary Garcia, the church’s youth minister.

He remembers sitting with Vaters and discussing who the church would

like to attract.

“We open this new program officially” on Sunday, Garcia said. “We are

introducing a one-hour church service, from 9 to 10 a.m., for people who

aren’t familiar with church or have a bad church experience.”

Regular services will continue to be held at the usual time of 10:30

a.m. Sundays. Garcia said that besides being directed toward

non-Christians, the 9 a.m. service will also introduce some fun breaks

from traditional service.

“There will be a band playing contemporary music,” Garcia said. “You

can also get up in the middle of a service and get yourself a free cup of

coffee.”