The first Home of Christ Church (HOC) was founded by Rev. Shi Yuan Kou. Currently, they have six churches in California—Menlo Park, Fremont, Cupertino, San Francisco, and now in Newark. Their purpose is to build more homes and support missions overseas.

The dedication service for the sixth HOC was held last Saturday, with one of their retired and respected pastors, Rev. Zheng Guo preaching on the establishment and saying that God "blessed [them]" with an office, a classroom, a sanctuary, and a place to preach and worship.

Marveling at the new church, he encouraged the members and the congregation to study the bible and to live Christian lives working hard for God's Kingdom. He said the members need to be the light and salt of the world, said Ping Chang, a Pastor at the new HOC.

For the Chinese congregation, Pastor Chang said the HOC focuses primarily on reaching out to families and concentrating on God's word. He said that we need to teach and those teachings need to come from what the bible says.

Right now, their main Chinese dialect is mandarin, but in the near future, they will have a Cantonese fellowship. The congregation consists of members from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and from other parts of Asia from children to seniors.

The English congregation, however, comprises mainly of young professionals and students. Brian Hui, the English ministry director said, "We want to help people live full lives in Christ and for them to be able to serve others."

The English congregation, he said, focuses on making God's teachings relevant to the community with emphasis on integrating lives with God.

Hui, who is studying to be a Pastor, also said that the new location plans to meet the needs of the community by building a bridge of serving.

He said no matter where, "We should always be a mission," and that we shouldn't rely on what is comfortable, but rather work on being faithful and aware of our surroundings while bringing an effect to the communities, whether it be at work, school, or other places.

The leaders from both congregations strongly believe in praying and holding meetings every week to discuss the concerns and the current needs of the local community.

The Home of Christ Church hopes to the be the home of Jesus Christ, "a home for all Christians," Pastor Ping said.

Although the HOC churches are spread throughout California, in this upcoming month, they will hold an annual summer retreat where all members can meet together in their Home of Christ gathering.