About Palm Valley Church
While we’re living in the most connected time in all of human history, the truth about life today is that it’s hard to find a group of people who accept you for who you are. To find that group, you need a place with people who look, act, and even struggle like you. We believe Palm Valley Church could be that place for you. We get it – maybe you don’t have the best view of the Church. That’s okay! At some point, we’ve all been in your shoes and nothing you’re feeling or believing will shock us. We’d love the opportunity to earn your trust and show you what Jesus is really all about. We believe it’s worth the effort to give church a chance because, while life is messy, we were made to be in community with each other. At Palm Valley, we take Jesus seriously but not ourselves. We believe in having fun and we don’t believe in boring. Our services last about an hour each week. You can wear whatever you want and we’ll have an exciting experience for your kids and students as well. The first step to finding your place at Palm Valley is to engage with a service. Whether online or in-person, experience one of our services so you can get to know who we are and what we’re about. Then, when you’re ready, we have multiple opportunities for you to get involved and start building the relationships you’ve been craving. Through this process, we believe you’ll find a group of people who accept and love you just as you are. We know walking into a church for the first time can be scary, so we invite you to watch one of our past services online so you’ll know just what you’ll see when you get here on a weekend. And if you’re still not sure? Check out one of the stories of people who were in your shoes who made the decision to try something knew and found exactly what they were looking for. It’s time to trade a life of isolation and anxiety in for one of hope and purpose. We can’t wait to meet you!
Our Core Beliefs
At Palm Valley Church, our Core Beliefs are what unite us as a church family.
We affirm the Holy Bible as the inspired Word of God, and as the only basis for our beliefs. Below is what we believe about…
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The Bible
The Bible is God’s word to all men. Human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit wrote it. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because God has inspired it, it is truth without any mixture of error.
II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20,21; II Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5
Man
Man is made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. He is the supreme object of God’s creation. Although man has tremendous potential for good, he is marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called sin. This attitude separates man from God.
Genesis 1:27;Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1, 2
Eternity
Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence.
John 3:16; John 2:25; John 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; Matthew 1:8; Matthew 2:44, 46
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven’s glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
Matthew 1:22, 23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1;1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14, 15; I Corinthians 15:3, 4; Romans 1:3, 4; Acts 1:9-11; I Timothy 6:14, 15; Titus 2:13
Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8, 9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1
Eternal Security
Because God gives man eternal life through Jesus Christ, the believer is secure in the salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives this security.
John 10:29; II Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 10:10, 14; I Peter 1:3-5
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His control daily.
II Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16, 17; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:1
Sexuality
We believe that God creates each person biologically male or female. The two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. We believe God intends sexual intimacy to occur between a man and woman who are married to each other. Any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. The term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture.
Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4
Final Authority For Matters Of Belief And Conduct
The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe (2 Timothy 3:16-17). For purposes of Palm Valley Church’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Elders are Palm Valley Church’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.
Our Story
Palm Valley Church launched with a vision to provide a church in the West Valley where people could invite their unchurched friends. Since October of 2000, Palm Valley continues to be a place where people matter to us because they matter to God. In our history, we’ve met in a living room, a movie theatre, and a high school. No matter where we’ve met in the past or where we will meet in the future, we keep one thing central: the church is not about a building. We like to say that we don’t go to church, we are the church.
In July of 2010, we moved into our first permanent location, what is now our Goodyear Campus. Within a few short months, God sent waves of people that led us to explore additional options to accommodate the growth. By 2012, our new facility was filling up, but God provided again. In September of 2013, we launched our first multi-site campus in the city of Buckeye. This allowed us to create more seats for more people to hear the Gospel while bringing a PVC Campus to a new location. Currently, Palm Valley Church welcomes over 4,000 people to our campuses each weekend. Each one of those 4,000 people is important because they represent a changed life. At Palm Valley Church, people matter.
Founding Pastor
Greg Rohlinger (December 11, 1969 – December 6, 2015), along with his wife Lori, are the co-founders of PVC. Greg was a graduate of Southwestern Bible College in Phoenix. He spent five and a half years as the youth pastor at Desert Springs Community Church in Glendale until feeling the Lord’s call to plant a church in the Goodyear area. God has grown Palm Valley Church from a core group of four couples meeting in a living room to a church with weekend attendance of 4000 people under his leadership. In the spring of 2011, Greg was diagnosed with Multiple Systems Atrophy, a disease that eventually forced him to retirement. In December of 2015, Greg passed away and is forever in the presence of the Lord. He has been healed in an eternal way. He left a legacy that continues to change lives and glorify God.
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