Two Sunday Services on Hunt Street in Gig Harbor
Believers Fellowship fills two Sunday morning services at 4112 Hunt Street NW in Gig Harbor, Washington, with roughly five hundred to six hundred people spread between the two gatherings. The church has no denominational ties and is proud of that independence. What it has chosen to be known for, instead, is its strong biblical teaching, its top-notch children's and youth ministries, and the small group culture that holds the intergenerational community together. Families with young children, middle schoolers, high schoolers, college-age young adults, empty nesters, and retired members all share the same building and the same mission: to worship God in spirit and in truth, grow in authentic relationship with God and one another, and share the life-changing truth of Jesus with grace.
The church's vision is short and intentional: disciple the people in front of us. Services take place in person and are broadcast online at the same hours, and the building has expanded in stages since the mid-1980s to accommodate a steady growth in attendance. Office hours run Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and a phone line and an email inbox are staffed throughout the week. Visitors are encouraged to stop by a Welcome Desk in the foyer on Sunday morning, fill out a visitor card online, or subscribe to the church newsletter to learn the rhythms of the place.
From a Tacoma Living Room to a Gig Harbor Building
Believers Fellowship began in November 1978, when a small group of young baby boomers, most of them new Christians from high school and early college, started meeting at a home in Tacoma for worship and teaching. They were looking for something different from the traditional churches they had grown up around, and what they wanted was a simple church committed to New Testament patterns of body life. In January 1979 the group incorporated as a church. The name itself was borrowed from two Dallas-area congregations they admired: Believers Chapel, known for its strong teaching ministry, and Fellowship Bible Church, known for its plurality of leadership structure. The formative years were also shaped by pastor-teachers Gene Getz and Ray Stedman.
By 1979 the church had no denominational backing, no mission statement, no outside funding, no resources, no training in church planting, and no leaders over the age of twenty-six. What it did have was an earnest love for God and a handful of people dedicated to making the dream real. In 1980 the decision was made to establish the church in Gig Harbor, even though none of the members lived there at the time. Like many young ministries they met at odd hours in odd places, including Gig Harbor High School and Burton Park, until they bought property and spent two years building the first phase of a facility on Hunt Street NW. They moved into that building in the fall of 1985, added a larger worship space in 1997, and added a children's ministry and youth wing in 2004. The same no-denominational posture still defines the church, although members note with relief that they now have a mission statement and a little more maturity.
Sundays at Nine and Eleven
Sunday gatherings take place at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., and both services are also livestreamed on the Sermons page and on YouTube under the Believers Gig Harbor channel. The order of a typical Sunday is built around the whole family being in the room together for worship, with children's programming, youth programming, and nursery care taking over once the teaching time begins. There is no offering plate passed during the service. Two collection boxes sit at the back of the worship space for anyone who wants to give by check or cash, and online giving is available through the Church Center app. Visitors are not asked to stand up, identify themselves, or be put on the spot. They are welcome to slip in the back, take it all in, and get more involved whenever they are ready.
The dress code is intentionally casual. People come in shorts, jeans, and slacks, and the church is comfortable with any of those. The musical worship style changes week to week. The staff describes it as participatory, intergenerational, and intentionally diverse. The musicians and worship leaders vary, the songs change, and the goal is not a particular sound but a gathered people singing truth together. If gathered worship is the destination, music is the vehicle that gets the church there.
A Team Teaching Model
Biblical teaching at Believers Fellowship follows a team-teaching model. Pastors rotate through books of the Bible and topical series rather than working through a single curriculum. Lead Pastor Johnny Pearson and Gary Albert carry the majority of the teaching load, with other elders and ministry leaders filling in. The intent is to keep the pulpit anchored in Scripture while drawing on the different voices the congregation has been given. Sermon recordings are posted to the Sermons page and the YouTube channel, so anyone who missed a Sunday can catch up or follow along during the week.
Children from the Bunny Nursery to Fifth Grade
Children's Ministry is widely regarded as one of the strengths of the church. The Children's Ministry Director, Heidi Kempston, oversees a team that walks alongside parents from the nursery through fifth grade. A well-staffed nursery is available at both Sunday services for infants and toddlers, with the Bunny Nursery serving children from newborn through eighteen months and the Bear Nursery serving children from eighteen months through two years. Caregivers, books, toys, music, and a welcoming atmosphere make the space safe and easy for new parents.
Children ages three through kindergarten learn favorite Bible stories that reveal God's love and care. First through fourth grade students walk through both the Old and New Testaments twice, seeing God's plan in chronological order and learning motions that help the stories stick. Fifth grade is treated as a special bridge year, with a dedicated class that studies the Gospels and who Jesus is for the entire year, searching out the scriptures for themselves in order to write a personal belief statement. The fifth grade program also includes extras like a corn maze outing, lunches after Sunday school, and an end-of-year retreat to help students build friendships before moving up into youth group. Children's Ministry meets during both Sunday services, while the fifth grade class and middle school meet during the 11:00 service only.
Safety is taken seriously. Every adult volunteer is required to have six months of attendance at Believers Fellowship and a national background check. Staff members are present in classrooms, parents are welcome to stay and help a child get acclimated, and a Children's Ministry Policies and Procedures Manual keeps everyone current. A nursery and children's check-in system, accessed through the Welcome Desk on a first visit or set up ahead of time through the Church Center app, keeps drop-off and pick-up secure.
Special events dot the year. A Harvest Party fills the fall with giant inflatables, game booths, and candy. Vacation Bible School runs in the summer every other year. Family Valentine's and Christmas parties bring generations together. A Daddy Daughter Date Night is on the calendar, as well as class parties and a fifth grade retreat. Bringing friends to any of these is always encouraged.
Middle School on Sundays and Thursdays
The Middle School ministry, part of Believers Fellowship Student Ministries, gathers in two places. On Sunday mornings during the 11:00 service, students head upstairs to the Upper Room for about forty minutes of creative teaching, breakout groups, and the occasional ice-breaker. The teaching is designed specifically for where they are as young teenagers. On Thursday evenings during the school year, the same students meet in the Upper Room again, this time from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., for the mid-week program called Upper Room. The Thursday night format extends the Sunday lesson, adds small group time, and gives students a regular midweek touchpoint with adult leaders and friends. A summer calendar adds Bible studies, camps, and missions opportunities during the off months.
High School Connections on Wednesday Nights
The High School ministry also gathers in two rhythms. On Sundays the students stay in the main service for the teaching time. The decision to keep high schoolers in the larger worship gathering is intentional, both to connect them with the wider church body and to slow down the post-graduation drift that often follows students out the door. On Wednesday nights during the school year, BFSM High School Connections runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with a full meal, a time of worship, a short message, and small groups. Adult mentors are present, relationships across grade levels are encouraged, and the tone is fun, lively, and serious about Jesus at the same time. A parent email list keeps families in the loop on weekly details, and a school-year calendar of retreats, camps, and events runs from September through May.
Skyler Koontz joined the staff in September as the new High School Director, moving to the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Alycia, after several years on a church staff in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Skyler graduated from Lancaster Bible College with bachelor's degrees in Biblical Studies and Pastoral Ministries and brings a balanced approach to ministry that emphasizes both evangelism and discipleship while honoring parents as the primary spiritual influencers in their kids' lives.
Women's Ministry and the Seasons of a Woman's Life
Women's Ministry at Believers Fellowship is built around the conviction that women love being together. Small groups, Bible studies, fellowships, and service groups give women of every age and stage a place to love, grow, serve, and connect. Mom's groups meet in living rooms across the region. Bible studies work through books of the Bible and seasonal topics. Fellowship events bring women together for coffee, conversation, and encouragement. Service projects give the group a way to put faith into action, including partnerships with local ministries and global mission efforts. Emily Roy, the Women's Ministry Director, oversees the work and welcomes questions from anyone looking for a place to land.
A recent season of that ministry has been the Girl Church and Girl Project, a partnership with a member named Grace Maina to provide feminine care products to women in her home country of Kenya, in honor of her late aunt Deborah. The project aims to send six months of products for five hundred women, partly through donations shipped from Gig Harbor and partly through kits assembled with the Days for Girls network. The packing and ship date for the fall collection sits in October, and donations can be dropped at the church, ordered through an Amazon Wish List, or given directly with a Combat Period Poverty designation.
Men's Book Study and Precepts
The men's ministry keeps things straightforward and rooted. A men's book study meets early on Wednesday mornings, and a precepts study meets on Monday evenings. Both groups work through Scripture and conversation in a way that lets men challenge one another in the faith and laugh together over a great cup of coffee. Details for each group live on the Church Center Registrations and Groups pages. Johnny Pearson is the staff contact for men's ministry, and a regular calendar of men's events is woven into the year.
MomCo: A Place for Moms of Young Children
MomCo, formerly known as MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), is the ministry for moms with young children. The local chapter, facilitated by Chelsea Ratcliff, gathers on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month from September through May, 9:30 to 11:15 a.m., for speakers, warm coffee, food, and conversation with other moms. On the first and third Tuesdays of the same months, the same time slot becomes a Bible study. Childcare is provided at both gatherings so moms can focus on the morning. The national MomCo organization describes itself as a nonprofit that encourages and equips moms of young children to grow as mothers, women, and leaders, in relationship with Jesus and in partnership with the local church. The chapter at Believers Fellowship is a clear expression of that vision, with a strong sense that motherhood is not meant to be done alone.
Life Groups Across the Region
Life Groups are the connective tissue of the church. Groups meet in homes, restaurants, and online, all across the Gig Harbor area, and study the Bible, a book, or a sermon-based curriculum. Some are geared to specific stages of life, such as young adults, young families, empty nesters, or married couples. Others gather around shared interests. The Life Groups page on Church Center is the easiest way to browse open groups, request to join, or sign up. The church believes that the healthiest way to grow is by connecting to a spiritual group, and Life Groups are how that conviction becomes a weekly habit for many in the congregation.
What Believers Fellowship Believes
The church stands firmly within historic Christian orthodoxy and embraces the teaching set forth in the historic creeds. Beyond that foundation, the staff describes an open-handed posture on issues the Bible does not address specifically and a close-handed posture on issues it addresses clearly. The full doctrinal statement, available under the Doctrine menu, is built around thirteen statements of faith.
The church confesses belief in one God who eternally exists in three distinct yet equal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God and without division of substance. God the Father works in history distinctly from yet in continuous cooperation with the Son and the Spirit, sending the Son to redeem and adopting believers into the family of God. The church affirms that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, fully God and fully man without sin, who died a literal sacrificial death, rose bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven, and now reigns as high priest, intercessor, and advocate. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son, convicts the world of sin and righteousness, regenerates and permanently indwells believers, and distributes spiritual gifts for the common good.
The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are received as the complete written record of God's self-disclosure, breathed out by the Holy Spirit, true and infallible in what they affirm, and of supreme authority in matters of faith, practice, and doctrine. The church confesses that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing and made human beings, male and female, in his image and likeness. Sin entered the world through human rebellion and now affects all creation, separating humans from the relationship for which they were designed. Salvation is a free gift, received by grace through faith in Jesus, securing redemption, justification, adoption, and reconciliation, and setting believers on a lifelong path of sanctification. The church is the body of Christ, made up of everyone who has received that gift, distinguished by the proclamation of the gospel, the practice of sacred ordinances, and love for God and neighbor.
Two ordinances are central: baptism, as a visual demonstration of union with Christ in his death and resurrection, and the Lord's Supper, as ongoing participation in the new covenant established through Jesus' broken body and shed blood. The church also shares a written conviction on the Gospel and Human Sexuality, rooted in the biblical confession that God made human beings male and female in his image. Sex is described as a wonderful gift to be enjoyed within the lifelong commitment of marriage between a husband and wife, and singleness is upheld as a beautiful and holy calling. The church welcomes anyone, regardless of where they are on the journey, to come and see, and seeks to extend both grace and truth in every conversation.
The church looks for the imminent, personal, physical, and visible return of Jesus, the bodily resurrection of the dead, one judgment for the just and the unjust, and the hope of a new heaven and new earth in which sin and death are no more.
Baptism and the Lord's Table
Believers' baptism and the Lord's Supper are practiced as visible and tangible expressions of the gospel. The church celebrates both ordinances on a regular basis. Adults and older students who have placed their faith in Christ are baptized as a public demonstration of their union with him in his death and resurrection. Communion is observed in gathered worship as a participation in the new covenant and a proclamation of the Lord's death until he comes.
Counseling, Prayer, and Local Partners
The Resources page at Believers Fellowship is built around the conviction that healthy relationships are central to human flourishing. Elders, Women's Ministry leaders, Life Group leaders, and others in the body can be sought out for support. The church also recognizes the role of professional counseling and maintains a Counseling Fund that provides partial reimbursement to members who need it; the fund can be replenished anonymously through designated giving. Two lay counseling coordinators, Chad Van Someren and Camille Wade, are available to talk confidentially about benefits, billing, or partial reimbursement and to hear feedback about counselors in the area. Short-term, non-clinical lay counseling is also available through Chapel Hill Church in Gig Harbor for adults facing non-clinical concerns such as grief, anxiety, relationships, parenting, or anger.
A prayer team receives requests submitted through the prayer page or sent to prayer@believersfellowship.net. The Resources page also gathers a directory of community partners for shelter and housing, food, utilities, mental health, and transportation, including the Harbor Hope Center for teens, the Metropolitan Development Council, the Tacoma Rescue Mission, Bridges of Love NW, The Coffee Oasis youth shelters, the FISH Food Bank, the Key Peninsula Bischoff Food Bank, and Comprehensive Life Resources. For mental health emergencies, 988 and the crisis text line at 741-741 are available.
Leadership and the Shape of the Church
The leadership of Believers Fellowship is structured around two complementary offices. Elders serve the congregation as shepherds and overseers, leading, guiding, guarding, teaching, and praying, and they give special attention to governing the church, keeping it focused on its mission, caring for the spiritual welfare of its people, and supporting the staff. Some elders also serve on the staff in pastoral ministries. The deacons complement the work of the elders by managing practical matters: worship logistics, the Lord's Supper, facilities, finances, special projects, and caring for individual and family needs as they arise.
The staff team carries out a variety of leading, serving, and administrative functions. Johnny Pearson serves as Lead Pastor. Gary Albert teaches regularly. Skyler Koontz directs the High School ministry. Heidi Kempston, the Operations Director, leads the committed staff and volunteers on Sunday mornings and coordinates what happens at the church during the week. Emily Roy directs Women's Ministry. A Children's Ministry Director oversees the nursery and the children's wing. Department and ministry directors oversee the men, women, students, children, life groups, and other areas, and a long list of small group leaders, Bible study leaders, worship leaders, and volunteer teams make the Sunday rhythms work.
Joining the Story
Getting involved at Believers Fellowship usually starts with a Sunday visit and a stop at the Welcome Desk for brochures, answers, and a friendly face. From there the Church Center app and the Church Center website are the home base for everything else. Life Groups and volunteer teams list open sign-ups and request-to-join options. Men's and women's Bible studies, the MomCo chapter, student ministries, and seasonal events all register through the same platform. Online giving is safe and easy through the app, and giving statements are sent in January. The newsletter is the best way to keep up with what is happening, and a private prayer request can be sent to prayer@believersfellowship.net at any time.
The building at 4112 Hunt Street NW has been the church's home since 1985, expanded to a larger worship space in 1997 and a children's and youth wing in 2004. The same no-denominational posture, the same love for the Word, and the same openness to new generations that launched a small group of young friends in a Tacoma home more than forty-five years ago still shapes the place today. The baby boomer echo and its children have filled the spaces, and a new generation has begun to flow into the same rooms with a heart for making a difference in the world for Christ.