Our Story

Awaken Church was formed in 2021 out of a merger between Coast Hills Community Church and True Vine Christian Fellowship, both of McMinnville, OR.

Coast Hills was founded in 1995 with just a handful of families. The core belief was simple. All people matter to God. With that in mind, the goal was to help create a welcoming environment that allowed people to grow in their relationship with God no matter where they were at currently. We welcomed conversations that could take place between people at various places in their faith: skeptics and believers; wounded and healed; seekers and disciples.

True Vine Christian Fellowship started in 1991 after leaving their denominational connection to become who they believed God was calling them to be.

Our hope for growth is to model Jesus' way of interacting with his followers. It is literally a journey. Jesus connected with people from all different backgrounds and walked, talked, and shared life together with them. His life changed them, transformed them, and revealed the Father to them. We believe that Jesus still invites us to journey with him now, to grow and mature our faith and our identity in Him, and to help encourage one another along the way.

Both churches have had a "nomadic journey" meeting in various spaces within McMinnville. Coast Hills continued to grow, and the day finally came when they took a bold step of faith to purchase and renovate an old theater building, which is where we meet as Awaken Church today. True Vine purchased and renovated their own building in the heart of the city with a heart for the city located on fourth street between Baker and Adams, and is used as a satellite campus for various activities.

Although both churches have grown and changed a lot over the years, many of our original values continue to guide our church today. We believe that at its core, the church is not a building or an organization. The church is a group of people who are focused on loving others with the love of God.

One of our goals is to help people discover an incredible relationship with God and their identity in Him. A relationship that impacts every area of their life — a relationship worth sharing. One that brings the kingdom of heaven to earth and a renewed sense of hope and life to every situation they face. From this, one discovers their purpose and ways in which they can become a contributing member of the church while also serving the community outside of it.

We want to live a life full of faith instead of one that is based solely on our circumstances. Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). Our "evidence" for things being true is not our circumstances, but rather, God's promises. We do not deny negative facts in our lives, but we choose to focus on a higher reality: God's truth found in His promises in the Word of God. We invite you to join us as a community of Christ followers who are pursuing the heart of God in order to transform our city and the people in it.