Our Mission

is to help everyone SEE, FIND, and FOLLOW JESUS!

Our Vision

is to reach our community for Jesus by discipling one person at a time.

Our Pastors

Nate & Liz Hultz

“Live for an Audience of One.” We have lived by this statement since we have been married. Along the way, Avery and Zeke made our lives even better. We are beyond thrilled to do life together and serve Jesus 24/7.

When we came to Mansfield back in 2018, we were beyond excited and thrilled to relaunch Avenue Church. As a church restart, there have been ups and downs, but God continues to remind me that He is in the restoration business. Since that moment, God has done incredible things through baptisms, commitments to Jesus, restoring marriages and families, and getting majorly involved in our community. As we say a lot around here, “The best is still to come.”

Our Story.

Avenue Church has been in the Mansfield/Ontario community for over 75 years. We were known as First Church of God for many of those years. In 1936, a small group of believers continued to grow and in 1937 called Pastor Hanes to lead the church. By that time, the congregation was meeting in a room above the old Weinbergers Drug Store on North Main Street in downtown Mansfield. Within a short time, the congregation bought a house at 265 West Third Street which became the first home for the young church. The church became a legally chartered congregation in 1940.

Reverend Hanes resigned as pastor in 1940 and Reverend Helen Wright led the congregation until she felt that a married couple would serve them best. She stepped down as pastor in 1948. It was not uncommon in the Church of God to have women pastors. At one point in Church of God history, at least 15% of the pastors were women.

Land was purchased in 1954 to build a new building where the current congregation is located on Park Ave West. Since that time, several renovations and additions have been completed. An educational unit was added in 1969. A new worship and activity center was built in 2002.

In September of 2018, we transitioned from First Church of God to Avenue Church. This became a revitalization effort to restore God’s church to live out the Great Commandments and Great Commission. Since that month, we have seen incredible life transformation and restoration take place. The best is yet to come! At Avenue Church, we want you to know that you matter to us. Our desire is that you would find the family that you have always longed for. We, in no way, think we are a perfect church. As a matter of fact, we believe that church is just that: broken people clinging tightly to Jesus Christ together. We have borrowed a phrase from another church that we think sums up who we are: Avenue Church is a place where it’s okay to not be okay, it’s just not okay to stay that way. Join us as we take a journey together.

Meet the Staff.

Nate Hultz

Lead Pastor

Jason McDonald

Executive Pastor

Bill Jones

Campus & Discipleship Pastor

Nick Truax

Production Pastor

Abram Cunningham

Student Pastor

Katlyn Martin

Kid's Ministry Director

Sabrina Smith

Creative Director

Bethanne Martin

Care Pastor

Tina Yarger

The Gathering Pastor

Kurt Strickler

ACTSion Ministry Director

Jen Dennison

Production Admin

Christina Smith

Campus Admin

Elders

Core Values.

ABIDE IN CHRIST

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

EAT WITH SINNERS

RAISE THE BAR

TRAIN EACH OTHER

Jesus is our identity, and He lives His life through us, so our chief purpose in this life is to be like Him. In our daily walk with Jesus, we learn from Him and His spirit is helping us do His will over our own will. Thus, we are becoming more like Jesus. This is what it means to be conformed to His image. This is what it means to Abide.
John 15:1-15

Jesus has set himself as the standard for how Christians are to love and care for one another. He says that “by this all people will know that you are my disciples.” At Avenue, we want to have that type of distinct love for one another. We aim to be true friends with one another that enjoy life together, not just weekly acquaintances in worship.
John 13:34-35

Jesus was always around people that others didn’t think He should be around. When He was asked about this, He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." As a church, we believe that it is our responsibility and privilege to radically love all of our neighbors in the way of Jesus.
Matthew 9:10-13

Whatever we do, we aim to do it well and with all of our might. We believe that every Christian is equipped by God to contribute to the health of the church and to the building of the Kingdom by gladly doing and resourcing the work of ministry. At Avenue, we want to position each person so that they can reach their fullest potential in God’s Kingdom.
Colossians 3:23-24

“We don’t use people to get ministry done. We use ministry to get people done.” As we look to have a culture with health and stability, we must train, equip, and help each other to be what God has asked us to be. To grow in Christ, we will do this through teaching, training, vision, and execution. Growing people grow people.
Matthew 4:18-20

Our Beliefs.

Avenue is part of a movement called the Church of God out of Anderson, Indiana (Wesleyan/Holiness Movement). Although we are a movement that has many churches all around the country and world, we are still considered a
non-denominational church.

Our staff and members at Avenue come from a variety of backgrounds including: non-church goers, Methodist, Catholic, Non-Denominational, Apostolic, Nazarene, Baptist, Assembly of God, Vineyard, Lutheran, Missionary Alliance, and many other traditions. We welcome anyone regardless of where they have been or where they are in their faith and belief. Listed on the side are some of our core beliefs.

About the Scriptures:
We believe the entire Bible is the inspired Word of God and that men were moved by the Spirit of God to write the very words of Scripture. Therefore, we believe the Bible is without error. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Proverbs 30:5; Romans 16:25-26)

About God:
We believe in one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ is the second member of the Trinity (The Son of God) who became flesh to reveal God to humanity and to become the Savior of the lost world. (1 John 5:7; Genesis 1:26; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6)

About Humanity:
We believe that all people were created in the image of God to have fellowship with him but became alienated in that relationship through sinful disobedience. As a result, people are incapable of regaining a right relationship with God through their own efforts. (Acts 2:21, 3:19; 1 John 1:9)

About Salvation:
We believe that the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the sole basis for the forgiveness of sin. Therefore, God freely offers salvation to those who place their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as sufficient payment for their sin. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, 3:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31; Hebrews 9:22)

About the Christian Life:
We believe all Christians should live for Christ and not for themselves. By obedience to the Word of God and daily yielding to the Spirit of God, every believer should mature and be conformed to the image of Christ. (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:23; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 6:14-18, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; Romans 8:29, 12:1-2)