Our Story
Encounter Community Church began with a simple but powerful conviction: following Jesus is more than just a Sunday morning experience. Faith was never meant to stay inside a building—it was meant to shape the way we live every day and extend far beyond the church walls to the ends of the earth.
From the very beginning, ECC carried a deep desire to be an outward-focused church. We believe every person—anybody, anywhere—is an image bearer of God. Because of that, every person matters and deserves dignity, respect, and genuine love. Our heart has always been to love people the way Jesus did—authentically, compassionately, and without conditions.
At the center of everything we believed was Jesus’ final command before ascending into heaven: to go into the world and make disciples. Discipleship mattered so much to Jesus that the majority of His ministry was spent investing in twelve ordinary people, teaching them how to follow Him and helping them become who God created them to be.
That same passion shaped ECC. We believed that following Jesus means continually growing in Him and learning to live out His teachings in everyday life. Community Groups became a vital part of that vision—creating spaces where people could grow together, study Scripture, encourage one another, and pursue Jesus side by side. The formation of Encounter Community Church was fueled by an insatiable desire to follow Jesus more passionately with our lives. We wanted to give Him everything we had and invite as many people as possible to join us on that journey.
Over time, God continued to clarify and deepen that mission. As the church stepped into a new season, it became clear that the vision needed a renewed expression—one that captured the heart of who we are and what we believe God has called us to do.
In February 2026, Encounter Community Church entered that next chapter and became 22:Thirty. The name comes from Ezekiel 22:30, where God says He searched for someone who would stand in the gap on behalf of the land. It reflects the heart of who we believe God has called us to be—a church willing to stand in the gap for others. We stand in the gap through prayer. We stand in the gap through love. We stand in the gap by pursuing people who feel far from God. Most importantly, we stand in the gap because Jesus first stood in the gap for us—laying down His life so that we could experience forgiveness, freedom, and new life.
Today, 22:Thirty exists to love God wholeheartedly, love people intentionally, and live on mission wherever He sends us. What began as Encounter Community Church continues with the same passion and purpose—only now with a renewed vision to see even more lives changed by the power of the gospel.
And the story is still being written.