Pittsford Community Church is a Baptist congregation at 421 Marsh Road in Pittsford, New York, known for biblical preaching, relational small groups, age-specific discipleship, and mission service that reaches from the surrounding community to the wider world.
Sunday Worship on Marsh Road
Pittsford Community Church gathers on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. for worship, with a Spanish-language service at 4:00 p.m. The morning services are rich in music, prayer, and expository preaching directly from the Bible, and are normally kept to around one hour.
- 9:00 a.m. Sunday worship, with a livestream.
- 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship, with a livestream.
- 4:00 p.m. Spanish-language worship.
On arrival, the Welcome Ministry team greets people, shares information about the church, and can help newcomers find a seat. The church welcomes anyone to bring a Bible; extra copies are available in the pews, and a Welcome Center host or church leader can provide one. The congregation's simple guidance for dress is to come as you are.
Both morning services can be joined through the church's livestream.
From Two Bible Studies to a Marsh Road Congregation
On January 9, 1983, two Bible study groups met under founding pastor Dr. W. Millar Crawford at the Pittsford Recreation Center and formed Pittsford Community Church. The congregation moved to St. John Fisher College in July 1983. That September, an overnight retreat at the Watson Homestead was used to discuss doctrine and form a constitution, while home Bible studies remained an important part of church life. Pastor Dana Goodnough joined the ministry team in September 1985.
In early 1990, Winton Road Baptist Church joined PCC, and the church became part of the North American Baptist Conference. Later that year, Crawford retired and Goodnough was elected senior pastor. The congregation moved to Marsh Road in May 1991, and an addition with a Family Life Center was completed in 2003. PCC planted Victor Community Church in 2008. Its history also includes supporting missionaries around the world, commissioning missionaries from its congregation, sending members on short-term mission activities, and ordaining pastors who continue to serve the area.
Renewing People Through the Gospel
Pittsford Community Church describes its mission as renewing people through an encounter with Christ and the power of the gospel, and its vision as mobilizing the church for the advancement of God's kingdom in the surrounding community and the world. Its Articles of Faith summarize essential truths of historic Christianity: the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired, inerrant in the original writing, and authoritative in faith and life; there is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man; and his death, resurrection, ascension, return, and work as High Priest and Advocate are central. The church also affirms humanity's creation in God's image and fall into sin, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the church's call to separation and gospel witness, and the bodily resurrection and final destiny of the just and unjust.
Those beliefs are expressed through a practical set of values:
- Gospel Clarity: Christ's life, death, resurrection, and hope shape decisions, doctrine, and daily life.
- Sacrificial Generosity: Time, talent, and treasure are used to care for physical and spiritual needs and advance God's kingdom.
- Holy Spirit Dependence: Scripture, prayer, and spiritual gifts equip the church for service.
- Biblical Fidelity: The Bible guides worship, service, and the church's ongoing examination of its teaching and methods.
- Authentic Community: Humility, self-awareness, vulnerability, empathy, patience, and grace shape life together.
- Generational Discipleship: Parents are the primary, though not sole, contributors to children's spiritual growth, with family ministry central to the work.
- Personal Responsibility: Followers participate in service inside and outside the church and care especially for people who are poor, oppressed, marginalized, or in need.
- Missional Strategy: Followers of Christ are equipped to make disciples through the relationships of everyday life.
- Cultural Relevancy: The church seeks to be a distinct community in Pittsford that expresses the ethics of God's kingdom and responds to cultural issues biblically.
- Global Mentality: The gospel of reconciliation in Christ moves the church to take good news to all people everywhere.
LifeGroups, Classes, and Prayer
Small groups are described as micro-communities where people share life, build close friendships, and pursue Christ together. PCC Groups fall into four categories: LifeGroups, Bible Studies, Discipleship Classes, and Prayer Groups. Meetings may center on fellowship, prayer, spiritual enrichment, or service, and their relational format is offered as a primary way to become connected to the church.
Serving is another major pathway. Volunteers greet first-time guests, teach classes, participate in outreach, set up and tear down equipment, and share Jesus with children. Classical discipleship through Sunday School classes is also presented as a way to grow. The broader group approach reflects the church's value of authentic community: humility, growing self-awareness, vulnerability, empathy, patience, grace, and the conviction that every person has a next step in spiritual maturity.
Digital tools extend the same connection. The Church Center app supports event registration, group enrollment, giving, and access to past sermons, while RightNow Media provides more than 2,000 educational and entertainment videos through the church's subscription. Past messages are also available in a free sermon audio archive, and giving can be made in person, by mail, or online. The church describes giving itself as an act of worship and uses gifts to support ministries in the church, community, and around the world.
Children: Belong, Believe, Become
Children's Ministry has a three-part mission: Belong, showing children they are an important part of the body of Christ; Believe, helping them decide to believe in Jesus Christ; and Become, teaching them to live as followers of Christ. The church emphasizes dedicated rooms, caring adults and teens, small groups for relationship building, and Jesus and the Bible at the center.
Sunday morning programs serve infants through fifth grade in nursery, preschool, and elementary spaces. From age two, children take part in lessons with activities, worship, a Bible story, and games. Families also receive help building supportive friendships through Family Focus events and outreach.
Midweek Awana is for ages three through fifth grade and meets Wednesdays from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. during the school year. Its teaching combines Bible memorization, a large-group Bible story, and games. The annual Christian Summer Camp is a week of music, games, Bible teaching, crafts, science experiments, and time focused on growing faith. Good News Club, a Child Evangelism Fellowship ministry, meets after school at Jefferson Road Elementary School on Tuesdays from 3:05 to 4:05 p.m. during three six-week sessions in the school year, focusing on Scripture memorization, knowing Jesus, and serving others.
Vertical Youth and the Next Generation
Vertical Youth serves grades six through twelve and meets Friday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. during the school year. A typical gathering includes large-group games, worship, prayer, a Bible-centered message, and student LifeGroups led by trained volunteers. Its three pillars are baptism, service, and multiplication. Students also join a Sunday morning discipleship class during the 9:00 service hour and a Monday Bible study from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Young Adults: Coffee, Study, and Shared Life
The Young Adults Ministry seeks to renew and inspire young adults through the love of Jesus Christ. Its Sunday gathering includes coffee and discussion at 10:30, while a Tuesday night Bible study at PCC encourages people to bring an open mind and open heart as they wrestle through faith together. Monthly activities build relationships, and the ministry also maintains a Discord server for ongoing connection.
Women Together and Strong Men for Service
Women's Ministry, led by the Women Together team, seeks a sincere, diverse, and unified community of women rooted in God's Word, flourishing in their identity in Christ, devoted to prayer, and serving on mission with Jesus. Its three verbs shape the work: engage women in every season, background, and generation; encourage them through discipleship, Bible studies, and mentoring; and equip them to connect, grow, and serve.
Men's Ministry connects men to God and one another through connection, service, and growth. Side-by-side events create a non-intimidating setting for relationships. Other gatherings include Sunday morning meetings, men's breakfasts, and discipleship challenges, with a focus on purpose, healthy community, service to family and community, Godly humility, and the strength of Christ.
A Missionary Heart for Pittsford and the World
Missions is central to Pittsford Community Church. The church defines missions as the work of sending, supporting, and serving in special settings, often across cultures, and organizes that work through Community Outreach and Global Outreach teams. Its partners extend the emphasis from local ministry in the United States to ministry around the world. This outward emphasis continues a long history of supporting and commissioning missionaries, sending members on short-term activities, and pairing an active community concern for Pittsford with a global concern for people throughout the world.
Baptism, Membership, and Child Dedication
Water baptism is taught as an outward picture of inward baptism by the Holy Spirit and as a public testimony of salvation, not a means of salvation or a requirement for it. It represents obedience following salvation, identification with Christ and his church, and the reality of what Christ accomplished at the cross.
Membership classes are offered periodically to explore spiritual formation, the church's mission, a member's role, and the steps toward joining. They present membership as joining a family with both shared benefits and responsibilities.
Child dedication is offered as a parent's willingness to partner with God and the church in raising a child physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. The church explicitly describes dedication as not a sacrament and says it cannot impart grace or salvation.
Pastoral and Ministry Leadership
Reverend Chris Arcadi is Lead Pastor. A Rochester native, he earned a ministry degree from Roberts Wesleyan College, a master's degree from Northeastern Seminary, and spent five years as a campus missionary with CRU. Pastor Bob Glim is Executive Pastor. He earned a Master of Divinity from Kairos University and previously served as Vice President for Church Investors Fund, a finance ministry affiliated with the North American Baptist Conference.
The ministry team includes Tom Adams, Worship Director; Austin Evans, Student Ministry Director; Michaela Darling, Assistant Student Ministry Director; and Bethany Oppedisano, Children and Family Ministry Director. Jonathan Bransford and Rich Oppedisano serve as elders. Together, their listed responsibilities cover worship, students, children and families, elders, and the wider church at Pittsford Community Church.