In the winter of 2004, an ad was placed in the Fayette County Union inviting people to attend a meeting to explore the idea of an Evangelical Free Church in West Union. A small group met with Kent McKinnon (church planter for the Central District EFCA) during the next several months working through the necessary details to becoming an Evangelical Free Church. In the Spring of 2005 Faith Bible Fellowship came under the Evangelical Free Church banner. During the next nine years, the church fluctuated in size as they had several part-time Pastors serve the church.

In the Fall of 2014, the church moved from its meeting place of nine years to the library in the NFV High School. In May of 2015, the church voted in Dan Doebel as their Pastor. He and his wife Kim moved to West Union and became an active force in the community.

Five years later, in August of 2020, the church purchased the building where we currently reside as a body.

In early 2022, after faithfully serving the church, Pastor Dan departed from Faith Bible Fellowship. Tennis Heuton was appointed as interim pastor and the church began seeking a new full-time pastor.

In mid-2023, the congregation voted to extend a call to Ethan Bogan for the position of Senior Pastor. He and his wife, Charity, moved from Kansas and began their ministry in October 2023.

The Evangelical Free Church came to the US from Scandinavia, where “free” meant free from state control. It now means free from a central controlling governing body, which means the denomination doesn’t govern the local churches. They, instead, depend on the active participation of pastors and laypeople in their own churches.

The term “evangelical” refers to our commitment to proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and our commitment to the authority of the Bible for guiding faith and practice. Today the term “evangelical” is used as a broad category for churches with these same commitments.

The mission statement of the Evangelical Free Church is to glorify God by multiplying healthy churches among all people. In 2014, the EFCA reported a weekly attendance of 371,191 in 1,500 congregations. In the United States, there are 1,314 EFCA churches and 176 church plants with 270 multi-ethnic churches and 102 multi-site or second language services. Close to 550 missionaries serve in more than 80 countries. As of 2000, California had the largest number of congregations with 175. However, membership is primarily concentrated in the Midwest. The Central District was founded in 1898 and currently serves the churches of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and SE South Dakota. Currently, there are 131 churches in the Central District with 12 others in different stages of joining. The doctrinal position of The Evangelical Free Church of America is summarized in our ten-article Statement of Faith.

The core beliefs of this statement are:

• That the scriptures, both Old and New Testament, are the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings.
• That there is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• That Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He died on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins. He arose bodily from the dead. Only those who place their trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone for their salvation are true members of the body of Christ, and thus able to be members of the local church.
• That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and to indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.

1. See yourself from God’s eyes
   • Romans 3:12   “All have turned aside, together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.”
2. See Jesus for Who He really is:
   • Savior – John 14:6   “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through the Son.”
   • Lord – Mark 14:62  “Are you the Christ? Jesus responded I AM”
3. Surrender yourself to Christ –
   • John 1:12 – “But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be called sons of God.”
   • 2 Cor 5:15 – “And he died for all, so that’s those who live should not live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
4. Surround yourself with things of God
   • Read His Word, that’s God’s way of speaking to you. (Ps 119:105)
   • Spend time with other believers in the church and out of the church. (Heb. 10:25)
   • Confess your sins every day. He will forgive you and help you to fight temptation. (1 Jn 1:9)
   • Share Jesus with others who need to know Jesus like you know Jesus. (1 Peter 3:15)
   • Talk to Him often . . . That’s prayer which is your walking of talking (Mt 6:5-8)