Know God, Be His People, Value Others, Change Our World
On a wooded stretch of Little York Road on Dayton's north side, Christian Life Center gathers a multi-generational congregation around four lines that frame everything the church does: know God, be His people, value others, and change our world. The sentence is more than a slogan. It is the church's stated mission, taught in a four-week series called Not Lost, preached through in classes, and posted at the top of the church's main page.
Pastor Jordan Hansen, the lead pastor, and his wife Tara open the door for newcomers in a written welcome that frames CLC as a place where connection is at the heart of ministry and where everyone has something unique to contribute. Whether someone walks in on a Saturday evening or a Sunday morning, in a suit or a sweatshirt, the church's aim is the same: that the message preached from the stage and the way people treat one another in the lobby would make sense together.
The church building sits at 3489 Little York Road and is easy to find by car, with signs posted along the driveway that lead past a courtyard playground and up to the main entrance. The building holds a Main Auditorium, a West Auditorium, a Student Life Center, KidsLife rooms color-coded by age group, Cafe 1:8, and a Connection Center where newcomers can pick up a connect card, drop off a Welcome Baby basket, or grab coffee after a service.
Three Weekend Services, Three Ways to Start the Week
Christian Life Center holds three identical weekend worship services so that anyone with a packed schedule can still find a way in. The first is on Saturday evening at 5 pm, followed by two Sunday morning services at 9 am and 11 am. Each service runs roughly an hour and a quarter, with contemporary worship music and a Bible-based sermon rooted in the same text across all three services.
The atmosphere is described as relaxed and welcoming. The church makes a point of saying that people come as they are. Some arrive in tailored clothes, others in sweatshirts, and no one is expected to dress a certain way to belong. Kids, middle-schoolers, and high schoolers have their own age-appropriate services during every weekend gathering, so parents can attend the auditorium service while their children learn at their own level.
Services are livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, with a live-stream button on the homepage, a podcast version of each weekend sermon released early in the following week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and anywhere else podcasts are found, and a full archive of past series going back more than a decade.
Office hours for the church are Monday through Thursday from 8 am to 5 pm, and Friday from 8 am to noon. The main phone line is (937) 898-8811.
What to Expect on Your First Visit
First-time guests are greeted by a team of volunteers and pointed toward the auditorium doors. There is no dress code, and there is room for a wide mix of ages and stages of life in the room. Bibles are provided in the seats, and a printed connection card is available for anyone who wants a team member to follow up during the week.
For families, the driveway leads to a "Y" in the road where signs point left toward Door 2 and the KidsLife entrance. Parents check their children in at a computerized station, receive matching parent and child security stickers, and are walked to the appropriate room by a KidsLife volunteer. Every KidsLife volunteer is background-checked and trained. A Parent Room for infants through 36 months and their caregivers sits just outside the Main Auditorium, with a Nursing Moms Room beside it.
Anyone who wants to learn more before visiting can fill out a Plan a Visit form online, which prompts a team member to follow up with details about parking, what to bring, and what to expect.
KidsLife: From Six Weeks Through Fifth Grade
KidsLife is the children's ministry at Christian Life Center, designed for babies from six weeks old through fifth grade. Its stated purpose is to lead kids and empower families to know God, be His people, value others, and change the world, the same four-point mission the adult congregation carries.
Weekend KidsLife gatherings happen during the 5 pm Saturday service and both Sunday morning services. Children rotate through age-specific rooms marked by color: orange for babies through age two, green for ages three through kindergarten, and blue for first through fifth grade. Each hour includes large-group teaching, age-appropriate worship, and small-group time with caring adults.
On Wednesday nights from 7 to 8:30 pm, KidsLife Club Nights take over the same rooms. Club Nights are an energy-packed midweek gathering that extends what the kids learned on the weekend, with a deeper focus on scripture memorization, worship, Bible stories, and games. KidsLife also runs monthly outreach events with inner-city ministry partners, giving children an early chance to serve their community.
The KidsLife Special Needs Ministry exists for families whose children need a more tailored environment. Parents can fill out a special-needs intake form so that volunteers can prepare for a child's visit. Diaper-changing areas are located in the restrooms outside both the Main Auditorium and the KidsLife areas.
StudentLife: Middle School and High School
StudentLife is the ministry for students in grades six through twelve, with a stated mission to connect, grow, belong, and empower. Middle school students meet in the Student Life Center during the 9 am and 11 am Sunday services alongside the adult auditorium services. High school students meet Sunday evenings at 6:30 pm in the same space, an evening slot designed for older teens who would rather sleep in on Sunday morning.
The StudentLife schedule includes special Reach Weekends held on the first weekend of most months, with a more dynamic, outreach-focused feel, and a Silent Disco or worship-in-the-round variation a few times a year. The remaining weekends of the month are built around regular services with worship, a teaching time, small groups, and an after-party. On Wednesdays during weeks two through five of each month, middle and high school students split into smaller groups for deeper Bible study. On the first Wednesday of each month, students are invited to join the church-wide Prayer Service in the Main Auditorium, meeting in the SL Hub beforehand for a Pre-Service Hangout.
StudentLife maintains its own Instagram account, and families can email studentlife@clcdayton.org with questions.
YoungAdultLife: Third Tuesdays and Beyond
YoungAdultLife is the gathering place for young adults aged 18 to 29. The main monthly meeting happens on the third Tuesday of every month at 7 pm in the West Auditorium, with parking recommended by Doors 2 or 3. Each gathering includes worship, a short teaching or discussion, and time to hang out. The vibe is intentionally relaxed and designed for people who may not yet know anyone in the room.
Beyond the monthly gathering, the ministry hosts social events, service projects, hikes, game nights, and small groups that meet throughout the month. Communication runs through a GroupMe group, an active Instagram account, and the church's main events page. People who are 30 or older are invited to serve on the YoungAdultLife VisionTeam rather than join the gatherings.
Men's, Women's, and Married Life
Three long-running ministries serve adults by stage of life: MENSLIFE, WOMENSLIFE, and MARRIEDLIFE.
MENSLIFE is built around helping men connect with God and with each other. The ministry runs Bible studies and gatherings throughout the year, including Men on Target with Discipleship, Bible Bros, Breakfast N Brothers, and 30s/40s Life Guys Bible Study. A signature national event that the church supports is Cavetime USA, a men's gathering held in early October. Men who want to start a MENSLIFE group of their own can email pelmore@clcdayton.org to begin the process.
WOMENSLIFE offers Bible studies, fitness groups, and conversation-based gatherings for women. Current featured groups include Betrayal Recovery, The Peaceful Pursuit, Lifted Fitness, Let's Talk, and Bible studies through the books of Ecclesiastes, 1st and 2nd Peter, and Philippians. There is also a No Single Mom Left Behind group. MercyStreet registration typically opens each November.
MARRIEDLIFE focuses on couples in three distinct seasons: pre-marriage, marriage assistance, and marriage enrichment. Engaged couples planning to marry at Christian Life Center or be married by a CLC pastor are paired with marriage mentors who walk them through the SYMBIS (Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts) assessment over several sessions. Couples already married can access a Marriage Guidebook, RightNow Media's marriage library, and ongoing enrichment opportunities. Applications for pre-marriage are submitted at least six months ahead of the wedding date.
GroupLife: Growing Together in Smaller Settings
GroupLife is the umbrella for the church's small-group ministry. The premise is straightforward: weekend services gather everyone together, but the next step in discipleship happens in circles of three to twenty people who meet during the week. Groups meet in homes, restaurants, parks, community spaces, at the church, or online, and run on varying schedules.
Group registration runs in semesters, with a Fall catalog released each summer and a Spring catalog each winter. Anyone can browse the open groups, filter by meeting day or topic, and sign up online. Group questions go to grouplife@clcdayton.org. The church also encourages anyone who feels called to host a group to fill out a New Group Application, and lists partnership organizations and churches around Dayton where existing groups can serve together.
GrowthTrack, Baptism, and Baby Dedication
Three short next-step pathways sit at the front door of church life.
GrowthTrack is a four-part class held every Sunday at 10:30 am in the GrowthTrack Room. It is the church's on-ramp to membership, groups, serving, and giving, and is also a prerequisite for joining the VisionTeam volunteer corps. Each GrowthTrack session runs roughly an hour between services.
Water Baptism is treated as a public celebration of faith, in which new believers are submerged under water to identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Baptisms are scheduled on the fourth weekend of each month, and a required Baptism Orientation is held on the first weekend. Adults attend the standard orientation. Elementary-age children are walked through a KidsLife conversation. Middle school and high school students may attend with or without a parent.
Baby Dedication is offered for parents who want to publicly commit to raising their child in the Christian faith. Couples work through the process with a mentor couple and dedicate their child during a weekend service.
Celebrate Recovery, GriefShare, and a Church for Hard Seasons
Christian Life Center hosts Celebrate Recovery on Monday evenings from 6 to 8:30 pm. The program is described as a Christ-centered, 12-step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurt, pain, or addiction of any kind. Adults work through the lessons in the main meeting while their children participate in Celebration Place, a parallel children's program that mirrors the adult curriculum with games, crafts, songs, and videos. Questions about the program go to Celebrate.Recovery@clcdayton.org.
GriefShare, a national grief support program, runs in 13-week semesters at the church. The Fall semester typically meets on Wednesdays from mid-August through early November. DivorceCare support is also mentioned alongside the marriage and recovery ministries, though it is not currently listed with an active schedule.
For mental health, resources include New Creation Counseling Center in Tipp City, Wright State Physicians psychiatry services, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and True Relationships, a pastoral counseling service that offers video sessions with no territorial restrictions. Practical calming techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing, grounding exercises, a 90-second body scan, and a gratitude pause, are also offered.
OneLove Africa, Child Sponsorships, and the God-Sized Vision
Twenty-five percent of every tithe given to Christian Life Center is invested in what the church calls its God-Sized Vision, a vetted portfolio of missions partnerships around the world. The church's flagship global partnership is called OneLove Africa, a relationship with Challenge Ministries and Pastor Kevin Ward in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
The Eswatini partnership focuses on a model called In Community, By Community, or ICBC. Each ICBC is a holistic ministry hub anchored by a local church, providing evangelism and discipleship, clean water, food, education, health care, and skills training, with a special emphasis on orphan care. Sustainability projects are designed so each ICBC can become self-sustaining within two years. More than 350,000 orphaned and vulnerable children live in Eswatini, roughly 58 percent of the country's children, and one in ten households is led by a child. To meet their needs, Challenge Ministries has built preschools at each ICBC site where sponsored children receive schooling, a uniform, and a nutritious meal.
Two giving levels are available for individuals and families. A full sponsorship costs $27 per month or $324 annually, and a matching sponsorship costs $15 per month or $162 annually, with the remaining $12 or $162 matched by a generous donor. Sponsors can sign up online or by emailing clcchildsponsor@gmail.com. CLC also sends mission teams to Eswatini on a regular cadence, with at least one Playgrounds of Hope trip scheduled each year.
Other global partnerships the church lists publicly include the Schessers, the Cordovas, Jean and Iris Hurst, and the Millers, all serving in locations that the church keeps intentionally broad. A separate Above + Beyond fund channels additional giving toward global missions and child sponsorships beyond the regular tithe.
LoveDayton, Welcome Baby, and Loving the Neighborhood
The church's local outreach arm is called LoveDayton. The team signs up partners with neighborhood churches and organizations for once-a-month serve opportunities, ranging from park clean-ups and food drives to meal packing and family-friendly events. The pitch is simple and family-friendly: anyone can join when their schedule allows.
Welcome Baby is one of the church's longest-running mercy ministries. Welcome Baby of Christian Life Center partners with Hope Rising Pregnancy Center, Elizabeth's New Life Center, and Dayton Right to Life to provide baskets of baby supplies to mothers who have chosen life for their unborn children. Volunteers pick up a bag with a shopping list, fill it with items like baby blankets, outfits, diapers, toiletries, a picture frame, and a small gift for the mother, and return the bag to the church at Doors 4A or 4B. Completed baskets go into the Welcome Baby wicker bin in the Connection Center.
The church also points members toward RightNow Media, a free streaming library of more than 10,000 Bible study videos, leadership talks, marriage and parenting courses, and kids' shows, available to anyone in the church through a free account.
Cafe 1:8, ESL, and the Threads of Scripture
Cafe 1:8 is the church's in-house coffee shop, open every Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 am to 6 pm. Everything is self-serve and donation-only, with pastries, desserts, free Wi-Fi, indoor and outdoor seating, and a view of the courtyard playground. Proceeds go to the OneLove Africa Fund. The space is open to anyone who wants to work, study, host a small group, or just sit with a coffee.
The ESL Group is a free English-as-a-Second-Language program for adults, hosted in partnership with the church. Each Fall semester runs from early September through late November. In-person classes meet Saturdays from 2:30 to 4:30 pm in the 600 Hallway, entered through Door 2. A new Talk Time session on Wednesdays from 10 to 11 am invites learners to chat informally with a native English speaker at the cafe, no registration required. Student workbooks can be ordered online or purchased in person.
For Bible learning, the church hosts a long-form preaching-through-the-Bible teaching series called The Thread, with sermon notes, small-group questions, and visual resources posted online each week for people who want to study the same passage the auditorium covered.
What Christian Life Center Believes
Christian Life Center teaches a classical evangelical faith with several distinctives worth noting.
The church affirms one holy God who exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is described as the inspired, infallible, and authoritative source of Christian belief and teaching. Jesus Christ is affirmed as the virgin-born Son of God, crucified for the sin of humanity, raised from the dead, and destined to return personally in power and glory. Salvation is through belief in Jesus Christ as Lord, and the church celebrates that hope through water baptism and Holy Communion.
The Holy Spirit's role is described in unusually full terms. The Spirit is said to dwell in every believer and empower them to live righteous and holy lives. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, along with its evidences and the gifts of the Spirit, is taught as available to believers today. The church's statement on healing echoes Jesus' earthly ministry and affirms ongoing healing for physical, relational, and emotional brokenness.
Several moral positions are stated explicitly. Marriage is described as a God-ordained covenant between one biological male and one biological female, defined by Holy Scripture. Human personhood is described in the same biological terms. The church also teaches that the present age will give way to the personal return of Jesus Christ, the final judgment, and a permanent relationship with God for those who have chosen Christ.
The core values the church emphasizes include community, maximizing each person's God-given potential, cultural relevance in presenting the Bible, excellence in ministry, active faith, authenticity, becoming Christ-like, reconciliation across racial and denominational lines, intimacy with God through prayer and worship, and a Great Commission urgency to share the faith.
Getting Connected: The VisionTeam and Beyond
Anyone who has been around long enough to call Christian Life Center home is invited to take a next step through GrowthTrack 101, 201, and 301, the church's three-stage on-ramp to membership, groups, and serving. After completing GrowthTrack, members can sign up for the VisionTeam, the church's volunteer corps that staffs KidsLife, parking, greeting, the auditorium, and dozens of other service points.
Young adults between 18 and 30 can apply for the Internship Program, a two-semester, 14-week-per-semester commitment that places interns in Worship, Production, Communications, KidsLife, StudentLife, Spiritual Formations, or ReachLife. Each intern is paired with a ministry supervisor and an Internship Pastor, currently Pastor Brandon Moate. The internship is unpaid, and interns are responsible for their own funding.
The church also publishes open staff roles at clcdayton.com/careers, runs a RightNow Media account for every household, and supports a thriving ESL program, a Celebrate Recovery community, and a constellation of MercyStreet women's ministry events that come alongside the regular rhythms of the church year. The clearest through-line, from Saturday evening services to Eswatini preschools to Monday night recovery meetings, is the four-word mission printed at the top of every page: know God, be His people, value others, and change our world.