Christ Church on the Eastside
Christ United Methodist Church sits on Zettler Road on the east side of Columbus, Ohio, in a neighborhood the church has quietly served for years. The building, the people, and the rhythms of the week revolve around a single, simple banner that the church places at the top of its front door: Connect, Grow, Inspire. Sunday morning worship begins at 10:00 a.m., and the service is livestreamed on Facebook so that members who are traveling, ill, or simply away from home can still gather around the same sermon and prayers. The church's mission statement, posted on its main page, is short and direct: "to make disciples for the transformation of the world."
What makes Christ Church distinctive is not a single program but a posture. The congregation understands itself as a beloved community, a phrase drawn from the Book of Acts and the work of theologian Willie James Jennings, and that framing shapes nearly everything the church does. Visitors arriving for the first time are likely to hear references to welcome, belonging, and the Spirit's habit of pulling strangers into family.
A Pastor Whose Pulpit Travels Far Beyond the Building
The senior pastor is Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson, an elder in the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church and a third-generation educator whose ministry has spanned Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri, and Ohio. Before coming to Christ Church he served as senior minister of Living Tree Church in Columbus and Wellspring Church in Ferguson, Missouri, both urban parachute church plants. He is widely recognized for his prophetic, faith-filled work on social justice and racial understanding, and he is the author of Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community.
Johnson's writing and commentary have appeared across an unusually wide range of venues, from The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2018 and 2019 to Preaching Black Lives (Matter), I'm Black. I'm Christian. I'm Methodist., the Gardner C. Taylor anthologies, USA Today, and TIME Magazine. Trained in both education and nonprofit management, he counsels ecclesial leaders, annual conferences, churches, and nonprofits around the country. Locally and beyond, he is known as a scholar-practitioner whose work moves easily between the pulpit, the classroom, and the public square.
His preaching at Christ Church tends to stay in that same register. Sermon series draw on Scripture as a living text that speaks to current realities, and the teaching weaves together biblical commentary, theological reflection, and questions about how a congregation might embody its faith in everyday life.
Beloved: Six Weeks Through the Book of Acts
The clearest example of the church's theological and pastoral priorities is Beloved, a six-week guided discipleship experience that walks through the Book of Acts. Each week pairs a pair of chapters with a short video teaching from Pastor Johnson, a set of reflection prompts, a journaling question, and a weekly prayer. The course draws heavily on Willie James Jennings's commentary on Acts and asks two guiding questions across the entire study: "What if we became the beloved community God calls us to be?" and "How might your life and relationships look different if you truly lived out this calling?"
Week One, "Beloved Before the Beginning," reads Acts 1 to 2 and centers on Pentecost. The teaching emphasizes that the Spirit does not erase identity or make everyone the same; instead, the Spirit honors difference while creating belonging. Week Two, "Who Gets In?," works through Acts 3 to 4 and uses the healing of the man at the Beautiful Gate to ask where the congregation has grown comfortable with exclusion. Week Three, "Integrity, Interruption, and the Table: Becoming Beloved Community," reads Acts 5 to 6 and lays out four practices for the journey: honesty and trust, listening to the margins, shared power, and public witness.
Week Four turns to Acts 7 to 8, following Stephen and Philip and the Ethiopian traveler, with prompts about scattering, mentoring, and the places where God may already be at work beyond the boundaries of the listener's imagination. Week Five, "Crossing Over," moves through Acts 9 to 10, the conversion of Saul and Peter's encounter with Cornelius, and pushes readers to consider who the "Sauls" and "Corneliuses" are in their own lives. Week Six reads Acts 11 to 12, where the gospel crosses the Rubicon into Gentile territory and the church in Antioch becomes the first place the word Christian is used. That final session closes with a charge: "You are beloved. Now go and live like it."
The full transcripts of each session are published online so the study can be used on a walk, in the car, at a kitchen table, or in a small group. The series has been a defining piece of Christ Church's recent teaching ministry and a way to extend the congregation's reach well beyond its zip code.
Sunday Morning Worship and Accessibility
The single weekly gathering is Sunday Morning Worship at 10:00 a.m., and the service is intentionally accessible. The congregation provides a dedicated ASL interpreter on the first and third Sundays of every month, welcoming members of the deaf community to join on those Sundays. The service is also livestreamed on Facebook, making it possible to participate remotely for anyone unable to attend in person.
Visitors can expect a warm, welcoming environment. The church's own description of its worship underscores that it sees itself as a community for people exploring their spirituality as well as for long-time Christians seeking a sense of belonging, and the Sunday gathering is designed to reflect both. The music and teaching style are best described as blended and contemporary, sitting comfortably within the United Methodist tradition while drawing on prophetic preaching and a strong emphasis on Scripture.
Ministries for Every Stage of Life
Christ Church describes its ministries as designed to support and enrich the spiritual lives of all ages. Children's programs and youth groups sit alongside adult Bible studies, prayer groups, and small group ministry. The church lists family workshops among its offerings, along with events meant to promote fellowship and spiritual renewal, and it points explicitly to counseling services as part of its pastoral care.
Music is woven into the life of the church as well. Worship is supported by a music ministry, and the congregation has hosted movie nights on Friday and Sunday evenings as a form of shared fellowship. Those weekly movie nights have been temporarily paused, but the church continues to host the 24/7 Eyewitness Bible Series as a stand-in, giving the community an always-available online resource for learning the story of Scripture.
A Heart for Local and Global Outreach
Outreach is a central pillar of the church's identity. The congregation's own description of its ministries points to local and global missions that spread hope and compassion, and giving to the church is framed in those exact terms. The giving page features Luke 6:38 from the Common English Bible ("Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion, packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing, will fall into your lap") and asks members to partner in maintaining ministries, supporting outreach, and providing resources for those in need.
The Beloved study reinforces that same outward-facing posture. Across the six weeks, members are asked not only to learn the story of Acts but to put the lessons into practice: identifying practical ways to open gates for others, breaking down barriers, and offering concrete acts of welcome in their own neighborhoods. The church understands the work of justice and the work of worship as part of the same calling.
Facility Rentals and Pastoral Care for Hard Seasons
Christ Church also serves the wider community through its facilities. A dedicated rent space page lays out the process for facility use, with requests to be made at least seven business days in advance and a non-refundable 10 percent deposit due within 48 hours of event confirmation. A pricing PDF is available for events hosted on site.
The church also walks alongside families during times of loss. A funeral procedures page outlines how to plan a service at Christ Church, and a separate bereavement notice form is available for collecting the necessary information. Together these resources make the practical side of end-of-life ministry clear and accessible for grieving families.
Ways to Connect Throughout the Week
Beyond Sunday morning, the church offers a number of regular touchpoints. Two ways to give online are available, through Givelify and through Vanco, so members can tithe in whatever way is most convenient. The contact page invites prayer requests, questions, and general inquiries, and frames itself around Matthew 7:7 ("Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you"). An email contact is available for those who prefer to write directly.
For ongoing formation, the Beloved study materials, including the weekly teaching transcripts, are available online and continue to be a resource even for people who did not participate in real time. The church's YouTube channel hosts additional videos, and the Facebook page carries the Sunday livestream and announcements. A calendar of upcoming events, including movie nights, Bible study gatherings, and special services, is available on the events page.
A Beloved Community in Practice
What holds all of this together is a particular conviction about who the church is called to be. Christ United Methodist Church reads Acts as a living document, one in which the Holy Spirit is still in the business of pulling strangers into family, transforming fear into courage, and calling ordinary people to extraordinary witness. The congregation sees itself as a place where that work happens week by week: in the welcome at the door, in the sermon that wrestles with hard questions, in the study that asks members to read Scripture with their own lives in view, and in the simple acts of generosity that keep the ministries running.
For anyone looking for a United Methodist congregation in Columbus that takes seriously both the life of the mind and the life of the neighborhood, Christ Church offers a clear, lived answer. It is a community that wants, in the words of its pastor, to be a people who listen deeply, share what they have, and open their table and every circle to every heart. Connect, grow, inspire, and live like someone who is, in fact, beloved.