History & Mission
The Great Falls Church of Christ (GFCC) is part of the Stone-Campbell restoration movement. To learn more about the restoration movement, check out the video below from May 28, 2023 (start watching at 29:00).
GFCC first met on May 9, 1948 through the efforts of Joe and Vera Chitwood. After meetings temporarily ended, the Chitwoods made contact with J. M. Tolle, Jr., an evangelist who had taken a one-year teaching assignment in nearby Geyser, MT. With this new connection, the church began meeting again on October 3, 1948 and has met every week since. Start watching the video below (June 11, 2023) at 26:00 for the early history of our congregation.
Shortly after Tolle left GFCC in June 1949, he connected GFCC with the Virginia Street Church of Christ (VS, in Baytown, TX). With VS’s support, evangelist L. Q. Robinson came to Great Falls, and GFCC experienced steady growth until it finally moved into its first building at the corner of 34th Street and Central Avenue in April 1951.
Over the next 19 years, GFCC held steady despite the mostly transient population who came to Great Falls via the Great Falls Air Force Base (today Malmstrom AFB). Several evangelists led the church during this period, including Ross Hinshaw, LeRoy Hines, Thomas “Tommy” Coffee, C. R. Gurley, and Lamar K. Gordon.
In December 1970, evangelist Gordon Naylor arrived, marking a turning point for GFCC. Under Gordon’s leadership, GFCC tripled in size. The church built a new building (at 3400 Central) in 1973 and finished it in 1974. Under Gordon’s leadership, in March 1976 GFCC appointed its first elders—Milton Birmingham and Bob Smith. Deacons followed later. Gordon served as an evangelist until March 1993.
Scott Laird and his family moved to Great Falls in November 1994, and GFCC continued to grow. Scott not only helped revamp GFCC’s small groups; he also helped GFCC discern its unique role in the kingdom. Situated just a couple of miles from Malmstrom Air Force Base (MAFB) with airmen always coming and going, GFCC discerned that God was calling it to “Seek, Save, Strengthen, Send! All for the Glory of God!” and GFCC became an equipping and sending church. A key piece of this vision was the GFCC Intern-/Apprenticeship that began in 2001 with Chris Crooks.
With strong LIFE Groups and a clearer sense of identity and purpose, GFCC continued growing. By 1996, it became apparent that GFCC needed more ministry space. By the end of Chris Crooks’ internship, it was clear we needed more staff. Chris Crooks moved into an evangelist role in 2003. GFCC continued to grow and send disciples out into the world. In fact, since 1995, 398 people have been baptized in GFCC, and we have sent more than 800 people (including children) into the world equipped to bless.
2016 began a season of transition in GFCC. Chris Crooks moved to serve the Belgrade Church of Christ, Scott Lukkason came on staff in a part-time role, and it became increasingly clear that the longtime vision of building a new building was cost prohibitive. In late-2018, however, GFCC was made aware of a possible building at 1300 6th St NW. In December 2018, GFCC purchased the building from Westside Baptist Church, who later purchased our building at 3400 Central. We moved into our “new” (current) building on March 31, 2019, and we had our first assembly on April 7, 2019.
You can read more about the “swap” at this link: https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2019/04/17/easter-sunday-church-swap-blesses-two-congregations/3438259002/
Along with the new building came changes in ministry staff. In September 2019, the elders invited Matt Burleson, GFCC’s seventh ministry intern, to join the staff as an evangelist, beginning on December 1, 2019. Matt accepted and is now in a succession/transition process with Scott Laird, who will formally “pass the baton” on June 23, 2024.
Like churches everywhere, GFCC was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite our challenges, much good came out of COVID-19. Among other things, Zach Schenk became GFCC’s eighth intern with an emphasis on Youth in Family Ministry. He also joined our staff as one of our Counselors in 2020. Along with the Youth-in-Family and Counseling Ministries, we have also seen God work through a new curriculum for our Bible Classes, Divorce Care, Grief Share, Journey to Heal, Blessing Bags, and many other ministries across this body. Despite the pain of this time, God was at work doing many good things.
One of the most significant events in recent church life was our “100 Days of Prayer and Share Triplets” from June-September 2022. At the conclusion of the 100 Days of prayer, we listened to discern what had emerged in our prayer. We discerned that God was calling us to follow the Word and Spirit of God boldly into God’s future (“Growing Forward”), to build on and strengthen our relationship with God (“Growing Upward”), to build on and strengthen our relationships with one another (“Growing Inward”), and to build on and strengthen our relationship with our new community on the West side of Great Falls (“Growing Outward”). We discerned that, by Growing Upward, Inward, and Outward, God would help us Grow Forward into His future for GFCC.
Living this discernment out, we added five additional Shepherds and five additional deacons in 2023. We reworked our logo, rebuilt our website, and improved our internal communication. We added a new ministry (“Heartfelt Friends”) to help us connect more internally. We became the sending congregation for Korey and Hannah Alfred. We brought on Colton Raw, our ninth intern/apprentice, in January 2024. We have been discerning how to be a blessing to our community. Through it all, God has smiled on GFCC, blessing us with more baptisms in 2023 than we have had any other year in our seventy-five years as a congregation. We are Growing Forward together.