The Christ Fellowship Story
A new beginning
Christ Fellowship was founded in the year 1997 by our founding pastor emeritus, Gary Hartley. Alongside Pastors Loretta Efstahiou, Reggie Mayers, Bill Rimondi, and Raul Burgos, they laid the foundations that would guide Christ Fellowship for over two decades.
We started with no building, no equipment, and no office space, but the community quickly came together, acquiring instruments and a sound system, supplies, and all the things needed for our first Sunday worship service.
We met that first Sunday, July 06, 1997, in the auditorium of John E. Dwyer Technology Academy in Elizabeth.
A new home
In 2002, we purchased the old Liberty Theater on Elizabeth Ave, which was condemned and in ruin at the time. The community once again came together, donating time and experience and supplies to restore the dilapidated theater. It took 7 years to complete, but through the work of volunteers, the Liberty was brought back to life completely debt free, literally by the hard work of the church members.
Christ Fellowship’s first worship service at home in the Liberty Center. Oct 11, 2009.
We moved into the new Liberty Center in 2009 for our very first worship service in our own home.
A new era
In 2014, a succession plan was put in place and preparations began to be made. Then, in 2017, Pastor Gary retired as senior pastor of Christ Fellowship and passed the mantle on to then-youth pastor, Carlos Cedeño.
Pastor Carlos, as lead pastor of Christ Fellowship, has led the church since then in a new era of community service, reaching the lost, and setting up Christ Fellowship for its next 20 years of work in the City of Elizabeth.
Today, Christ Fellowship sits as a center of the Elizabeth community, right in the heart of midtown in the Liberty Center. Our goal is to love God, make disciples, and change the world.