Zanesville Neighborhood Church began in 2014 as a house church in Muskingum County, Ohio. There were three families in our initial group, six adults and six kids. We began with a vision to love God, love neighbors, and make disciples. Words that we often used to describe the kind of church we believed God was calling us to create were: simple, authentic, relational, missional.
Our church began with a vision to be a church “of the neighborhood, in the neighborhood.” Many of our charter members lived in one of two neighborhoods in Muskingum County. Therefore, we focused our efforts in those two locations. We concentrated on authentic neighboring, prayer walks, and doing good in those two locations.
In 2015, our church was officially chartered as a religious non-profit organization in the state of Ohio. As more people became interested in joining our church, it became clear that we needed to shift the way we were doing church. Though small groups continue to remain an integral part of our church, we had sensed the Spirit’s call to initiate a larger gathering for worship, teaching, food, and fellowship and over the years our church has met for Sunday worship gatherings in various locations. We currently worship at, and enjoy a wonderful partnership with, Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Zanesville Ohio.
As our church grew, it became clear that we were to be a church of many neighborhoods. That is, we were to welcome people from all over our county to our church, realizing that they would then be positioned to pray for, serve, and love their own neighborhood. During these years our vision began to solidify: we were to be a mission-minded congregation, in which every person was empowered, equipped, and encouraged to do good, love neighbors, and make disciples in his or her own neighborhood. We began defining a neighborhood as “anywhere you live, work, or play,” and began fully embracing the places and the people to whom God has called each of us.
Though we have become a church of many neighborhoods, our values and approach have not changed. We still want to be a church that is simple, authentic, relational, and missional. We are letting God lead us by his power, and not our own.