About Stonebridge

Who We Are and What We Believe

Our Mission is to walk alongside each person we meet as they take their next step with Jesus.

Our History

In 1957, Free Church Central District Superintendent O.W. Johnson developed an interest in planting a church in Cedar  Hills, a new residential area on the west side of Cedar Rapids. A survey was developed and a team established to investigate the possibility of securing land in the area. A 2.5 acre plot was purchased with contributions from several families, churches and businesses.

In 1958 the first building was constructed on Lewellen Drive. It housed a chapel on one end and an apartment for a parsonage on the other. On October 26, 1958 the first service was held in the new chapel. Five young couples formed the core of the new congregation. On February 21, 1960, forty-one charter members were received to establish the new congregation. In 1968 a sanctuary with basement classrooms and a fellowship hall was built on West Post Road. From these humble beginnings came Cedar Hills EFC, a thriving church community.

On October 5, 2008, Cedar Hills Evangelical Free Church relocated to Stoney Point Road and became Stonebridge Church. God continues to pour out His grace and we seek to proclaim Christ as Lord in eastern Iowa and beyond.

Reaching Cedar Rapids and Beyond!

Our calling to walk alongside each person we meet as they take their next step with Jesus doesn't stop here in our own community. Jesus told us to be witnesses and make disciples of all people groups -- whether in our own city or around the world.

   We believe that everyone at Stonebridge has a role to play in completing the commission that Jesus gave so that there will be people of every tongue, tribe, and nation worshipping God throughout eternity!

Global Partners

Global Partners

Global Partners are organizations and missionaries who are supported and resourced by Stonebridge. No matter their location on the globe, our partners are focused on making disciples and reaching their communities with the Gospel of Christ. 

Local Outreach

Local Outreach

At Stonebridge, we share the gospel of Christ and show his mercy to our local community in several ways. Our Local Outreach Team is made up of our coordinators who lead and mobilize our members to meet various needs in our community.  

What We Believe

EFCA Statement of Faith

Stonebridge Church holds these EFCA statements with absolute conviction, without compromise or wavering. 

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.  

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.  

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.  

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.  

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.  

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.  

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.  

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.  

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.  

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen. 

Operating Convictions

In addition to our statement of faith, Stonebridge Church has a number of important convictions that impact the way we operate as a church. While these are not essential beliefs of the Christian faith (and therefore allow room for disagreement among faithful Christians), they are important and we want you to be familiar with them. In each of the following areas we have sought to establish our convictions upon our clearest understanding of God’s Word.

The gospel is the good news of what God has done to establish his kingdom and deal with our sin through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. It affirms to us that sin really is sinful, and God’s grace in Jesus really is sufficient to deal with our sin. Being gospel-centered means recognizing that everything flows out from and points back to what God has done for us in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. The gospel is not only a message for non-Christians; it is also the power of God for growing in faith and walking with God every day. The same grace of God that is at work by the Spirit to rescue us from sin’s penalty also transforms, equips, and strengthens the whole of Christian life and mission (Tit. 2:11-14). We never outgrow our need for the gospel.

God has given us his Word as the foundation and supreme authority over his church. Therefore, not only do we commit ourselves to studying and applying Scripture in every ministry, we place significant weight on gathering around and under the preaching of God’s Word. We make it our aim to preach from the whole counsel of God, both Old and New Testaments, in such a way that the message and aim of the sermon are driven by the message and aim of the biblical passage being preached. This is what’s called biblical exposition. Whenever God’s word is declared from the pulpit, that message should be faithful to Scripture, obvious from it, centered on Christ, and brought to bear on daily life in a clear and compelling way.

Our denomination (Evangelical Free Church of America) is committed to a congregational form of government as stated in our Articles of Incorporation: "The Evangelical Free Church of America shall be an association and fellowship of autonomous but interdependent congregations of like faith and congregational government…" For that reason, each local church governs its own affairs (as opposed to more hierarchical traditions), and final governing authority in all matters is vested in the congregation, consisting of all voting members. At the same time, as a congregation, we delegate operational authority to a team of Elders, who are responsible for the spiritual well-being and direction of the church, including oversight of paid staff and other elected leaders. We also believe in the biblical values of interdependence and cooperation, and therefore willingly and eagerly associate and collaborate with our denomination, its mission, and its leaders.

We believe that the spiritual unity of the Church transcends its structural or organizational expressions. Therefore, while we belong to the EFCA, we eagerly work with other Christians and other denominations of like-minded faith in common goals and ministries to accomplish the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, including supporting various missionaries and missions organizations.  

We believe that God has gifted his church with various spiritual gifts (e.g., Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12–14; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11), and that those gifts exist for building up the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:12, 26; Eph. 4:12-13). While we acknowledge the good work that God is doing in many Charismatic churches and we fellowship with Charismatic brothers and sisters in Christ, Stonebridge is not a part of the Charismatic movement and we do not practice prophetic proclamations or speaking in tongues in our services.  

We believe that every believer should follow the Lord’s command to be baptized in Matthew 28:18-20. It appears in Scripture both by the meaning of the word “baptize” (to dip or to immerse), and by most baptismal accounts (i.e., Mark 1:9-11), that the usual mode of baptism was to immerse a person who believes in Christ into the water. The imagery of Romans 6:1-14, where baptism is spoken of as identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, appears to confirm this method. For these reasons, our practice at Stonebridge is to baptize believers in Jesus by immersion. While we encourage believers’ baptism for everyone, we do not require someone baptized as an infant or in another church tradition to be re-baptized for membership.  

We believe in the equality of men and women before God and one another, as those created in his image and co-commissioned to share in his creational mandate to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it (Genesis 1:27-28). At the same time, we recognize that God has designed men and women with certain distinctions, and has woven his creational order into his pattern for leadership in both the home and the church (1 Cor. 11:3-12; 1 Tim. 2:13-14). Just as God asks husbands to provide godly leadership in the home (Eph. 5:22-33), so he asks qualified men to provide elder leadership in the church (1 Tim. 2:11-15; 3:1-7). For this reason, our conviction and practice at Stonebridge Church is that only qualified men hold the office or perform the functions of elder and/or pastor. We open every other ministry opportunity and office to both men and women, and are committed to supporting and equipping every member in using their gifts and abilities in the service of Christ.  

EFCA Conference Resolution: Biblical Sexuality and the Covenant of Marriage  

Whereas, the EFCA Statement of Faith affirms that “God created Adam and Eve in His image” (Article III.3); and  

Whereas, when God created Adam and Eve, He said, “‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’ . . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them” (Genesis 1:26-28a); and  

Whereas, this means that God has created human beings uniquely as male and female as part of the divinely created order, and that this biologically sexed difference is foundational for human identity and ought to be recognized and valued; and  

Whereas, Jesus refers to this difference in describing God’s design for marriage by declaring, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh” (Mark 10:6-8; cf. Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:31); and  

Whereas, God’s creation of human beings as male and female provides a biologically sexed identity grounded in God’s good design;  Now, therefore, it is hereby resolved as follows: 

The Evangelical Free Church of America affirms that God created human beings uniquely in His image as male and female, and He has designed marriage to be a covenantal relationship between one man and one woman.  

This Resolution on Biblical Sexuality and the Covenant of Marriage is an important affirmation of the truth of the Bible, as articulated in the EFCA Statement of Faith.  

Visit Where We Stand in the EFCA: Denials and Affirmations to learn more.   

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