A French-Replica Chapel in the Central Valley
Hickman Community Church sits on I Street in the small community of Hickman, California, about fifteen miles southeast of Modesto in the heart of Stanislaus County. The white-steepled building that the congregation gathers in each Sunday is a replica of a small French chapel. Mrs. Hickman and her daughter, while traveling in France, were so taken with the chapel they visited that they had plans prepared on the spot, then financed the construction of an exact replica back in Hickman with the help of relatives and other neighbors. Building began about 1888 and the structure was finished in 1891. On May 31, 1892 the property was deeded to the Trustees of the Presbyterian Hickman Church. The congregation was incorporated in 1956. Through the decades the church has had its slow seasons and its crowded ones, with as many as three Sunday morning services at peak. Today the church describes itself as a non-denominational evangelical community church and a constitutional Article III statement reads, "This congregation is a Non-Denominational Community Church uniting with other conservative Evangelicals to further the Kingdom of God."
What to Expect on Sunday Morning
Visitors are welcomed at three Sunday services. Worship Service #1 begins at 9:00 am, Worship Service #2 at 10:45 am, and an Evening Service at 6:00 pm. Each service opens with prayer, Scripture reading, and about fifteen minutes of congregational singing, followed by a forty-five minute sermon. A typical Sunday runs a little over an hour.
Parking is easy. The main lot, the South Parking Lot, sits to the right of the buildings, and a visitor says the same: "we have plenty of parking." The dress code is informal, with jeans and t-shirts sitting alongside shirts and dresses, and the only stated standard is modesty. Mobile devices are welcome for note-taking and Bible use, as long as they are silenced before the service begins, and free guest wifi is available on the campus. Ushers are on hand to help guests find a seat.
For first-time families with small children, the nursery is open during both morning services and during the evening service. The 0-to-3 nursery accepts infants through potty-trained toddlers in the morning and infants through kindergarten in the evening. Children older than three worship with their parents at the start of the service and are released partway through to age-appropriate teaching in the Heritage Center. Strict pickup policies are in place, and children are only released to parents and approved contacts with the assigned pager.
Between the two morning services, fresh coffee and tea are served during the fellowship time. Twenty minutes after the start of each morning service, the Hickman Bible Institute offers three adult classes designed to dig deeper into the Word of God. Topics rotate, and the church invites visitors to find a current list of groups and locations.
The Spanish Ministry
Alongside the English services, Hickman Community Church runs a Spanish-language ministry, Ministerio en Español, that meets on the same campus. The Spanish service is held Sundays at 9:00 am, with a Bible class at 10:45 am, and the ministry also gathers during the week for men and women. The Spanish ministry is rooted in the same call that drives the rest of the church: to exalt Christ through the preaching and teaching of His Word, the fellowship of His people, and a walk of obedience by His grace. The congregation includes families from Waterford, Turlock, Denair, Keyes, Modesto, and Oakdale. Miguel Alcantar leads the ministry, and Miguel Reyes is also involved. A Spanish-language sermon archive is posted on YouTube.
Children's Ministry
Children's ministry is a high priority, with the conviction that "children are the Church's future generation." The philosophy of the ministry is to come alongside parents and support their calling to raise a godly offspring (Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:6-9). Sunday School follows the Generations of Grace curriculum, a chronological, three-year walk through the whole Bible designed for the whole family. Generations of Grace classes meet at 9:20 am and 11:05 am on Sunday mornings for children whose parents are attending the adult service. The nursery runs during both morning services and during the 6:00 pm evening service. A Vacation Bible School is held in June each year. Children's choirs are not currently meeting, owing to the two-service morning format. Andrew Callaway oversees children's ministry as a children's ministry elder, with Chris Shore leading the Generations of Grace work, Joseph Acosta leading the Adventure Club program, and Daniel and Alyss Castrejon overseeing the nursery. A formal children's ministry application process, a child protection policy, and a nursery procedures manual are all in place for the protection of every child.
Student Ministry
Two parallel ministries serve the teens. Doxa is the high school ministry for students in grades nine through twelve, and Impact is the junior high ministry for students in grades seven and eight. Both groups meet on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8:00 pm in the Family Center, with games, snacks, fellowship, worship, teaching, and discipleship. On Sunday mornings, Doxa meets at 9:00 am in the portable classroom, and Impact meets in the library classroom. The Doxa group works through the Gospel of John in the fall semester, and Impact walks through the book of Revelation. The student ministries are led by Josh Taylor and Jeff Porter, and the aim of the program is to assist parents in the evangelizing and discipling of their teenagers, with the desired result of lives conformed to the image of Christ. An outreach program called Ascend meets weekly to reach unchurched youth, and a monthly social event runs during the summer.
Men's Ministry
The men's ministry gathers men young and old around the call of 2 Timothy 2:1-2, to entrust the faith to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Wednesday nights at 6:30 pm are spent working through the book of Colossians with Pastor Andrew Callaway. A separate Wednesday night Bible study led by Miguel Alcantar meets during the same hour for the Ministerio de Hombres. On the second Saturday of each month at 7:00 am, the men meet around The Peace Maker, led by Sam VanDyke and Zach Gravel. The ministry also hosts a winter dinner in the Family Center in January, a father-daughter dinner in August, the ISI Conference in early May, a fall Man Camp, and a fall trap shoot. The ministry is led by Bill Richards.
Women's Ministry
The women's ministry is structured around the Titus 2 call for older women to teach and train the younger. A Wednesday morning Bible study meets from 9:45 to 11:15 am in the Family Center during the school year, and a Wednesday evening study meets from 6:30 to 7:45 pm in the Fellowship Hall. A third study meets Thursday mornings, and a separate summer meet-up runs during the warmer months. Childcare and a supervised school room are available during the Wednesday studies. The ministry also coordinates meals for new moms for the first two weeks after birth, and church-wide bridal showers for engaged women. The most recent women's retreat and conference theme is "Grace Upon Grace." Sandy Sanders leads the Wednesday morning study, Joanna Gravel leads the Wednesday evening study, Diane Ziettlow leads the Thursday morning study, and Ciara Jamison coordinates summer activities. Shirley Griggs oversees the ministry as a whole.
Music Ministry
Music at Hickman Community Church is a teaching ministry, not a performance. The philosophy is rooted in Colossians 3:16-17 and John 4:24, calling the congregation to worship "in spirit and in truth." Songs are chosen to focus primarily on God, His character, and His works, with lyrics that are accurate, rich in thought, and understandable. Singers and musicians are expected to be both skilled and teachable, and the worship leader is accountable to the elders for both music selection and the music philosophy. Adult and children's choirs are part of the strategy, even though children's choirs are not meeting at present. Josh Pritchett leads the music ministry. He came to Hickman in 2000, and he and his wife Gina have six children.
Outreach and the Food Pantry
The outreach ministry, called Love the Lost, is built around the conviction that sharing the gospel is "a normal, regular and ongoing way of life" for followers of Christ. Individual evangelism is encouraged, and church-wide outreach events are offered throughout the year for training and practice. Monthly local outreach opportunities are posted for those who want to be trained, then go out as a group to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the surrounding area. A food pantry, led by Russ Caton and supported by elder Gary Acosta, also functions as a major evangelistic platform. The deacons run the practical service ministries of the church, including benevolence, helps, encouragement, hospitality, and care of property, under the oversight of the elders. Jacob Keiper leads outreach and also serves as the contact for the deacon board.
Counseling and Stewardship
Counseling at Hickman Community Church is Biblical counseling, in the nouthetic tradition. The conviction is that the Bible is sufficient for counseling, and that the only true standard of human values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior is Scripture. The ministry's stated goal is to train the church as a whole in the biblical philosophy of counseling, to provide a course on the fundamentals of Biblical Counseling, and to encourage those in pastoral leadership to pursue advanced training, whether through The Master's College or the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors. The aim is to see lives transformed by faith in God's Word correctly applied.
The church's philosophy of stewardship holds that everything belongs to God and that the Christian is to use money, time, gifts, and resources to magnify His name. The spirit-controlled giving described in 2 Corinthians 9:7 is the model: cheerful, sacrificial, and purposeful. A weekly benevolence offering is taken for needs within the congregation and the local community, and an annual budget is presented to the membership for affirmation at the December business meeting.
Family and Teaching
The family is treated as the basic unit of discipleship. The family ministry philosophy states plainly that "Christianity begins at home. Discipleship begins in the home." Parents are taught to lead family worship, and the church offers the Preparation For Marriage God's Way course to engaged couples and the Parenting for Life training course as part of the discipleship track. The teaching philosophy of the church holds that the Word of God is sufficient to transform lives, bring salvation, produce growth, bring maturity, equip for service, keep from sin, and resist evil. Primary teaching from the pulpit is expository, and the elders see teaching as the equipping work of Ephesians 4:11-12, with the result that believers grow up into the image of Christ.
What the Church Believes
The church's statement of faith is a detailed doctrinal document that affirms the verbal, plenary inspiration and inerrancy of the sixty-six books of the Bible, the literal grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture, and a young-earth reading of the Genesis creation account. The Trinity is one God in three Persons, and Jesus Christ is affirmed as virgin-born, fully God and fully man, who accomplished redemption through His substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, who now mediates at the right hand of the Father, and who will return to receive the Church at the rapture and to reign on the throne of David. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, grounded in the atoning work of Christ, and the once-saved are kept by God's power. Speaking in tongues and the sign gifts of the apostolic era are understood to have ceased with the completion of the New Testament canon. Marriage is defined as the lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and the church teaches that any sexual activity outside of that union is sinful. Communion is observed monthly and is open to all who profess faith in Christ. Baptism is by full immersion, following a public confession of faith.
Leadership and Government
The church is led by a plurality of elders, who govern by complete unanimity and who are accountable both to one another and to the congregation. The Lead Pastor is Andrew Callaway. The elders include Gary Acosta, Josh Taylor, Arthur Dykxhoorn, and Joseph Acosta, with Darryl Shakeshaft serving as Elder Emeritus. Jamie Strehle is the office secretary, and the diaconate is chaired by Mike Ernst, with Michael Strehle overseeing maintenance, Trevor Souza serving as Assistant Treasurer, Russ Caton leading the food pantry, and Tyler Jamison serving as secretary. Miguel Alcantar leads the Spanish ministry, and Josh Pritchett is the music minister. The church operates under an elder-led, congregational form of government, free from external denominational control, with decisions implemented through the elders and major matters receiving a two-thirds affirmation from the members at a called meeting.
Visiting and Connecting
Sunday mornings and evenings are the main gathering times, with three weekly services in English and one in Spanish. A livestream of the morning and evening services is available, and giving can be done online. Recordings of recent messages go back many years, with both audio downloads and full sermon archives organized by book of the Bible, series, topic, and speaker. Visitors looking for a community group, a men's or women's Bible study, a place to serve in the children's or youth ministries, or a way to participate in outreach can connect through the church office, and the church family would describe itself simply as people who love the Lord Jesus Christ and whose desire is to know God more and make Him known.