Is this how you feel about church?

We understand.

More than eight years ago, in the months before New Life was born, the believers who “planted” New Life spent their resources surveying the community to find out what Sonoma County and Petaluma were all about. They found that a large portion of the populace had been turned off to the idea of attending church due to less than desirable experiences. They found out that for many people, church equates to hypocrites, visitor badges, hymn music, holier-than-thou attitudes and being hounded for money. Even more people felt they didn’t need to go because the messages they’d heard weren’t culturally relevant, let alone relevant to their life.

Yet they also found that most people had spiritual questions or needs, even though they weren't hot on the idea of visiting a local church. They took this as a challenge, and set out to change the way people think about church. And that is our mission and challenge to this day—to make New Life a very different kind of church—a church that makes a difference because we’re Real People, serving a Real God who gives us a Real Life!

~Our History

Before launching New Life in February of 1998, the church planting team “took the pulse” of Sonoma County and more specifically Petaluma, regarding day-to-day view of the church in their lives. What they found was that many were dissatisfied with church or were choosing not to attend church. Commonalities amongst those surveyed included the feeling that currently, church had no real relevance in their lives and therefore it wasn’t worth their time away from family, recreation or other activities.

New Life Christian Fellowship was designed to respond to more than just believers, but to reach and make a difference in the lives of seekers, no matter where they were at in their life journey.