About Our Church

During the ‘Jesus Movement’ of the early 1970s a community of young Christians began at Lighthouse Ranch on Table Bluff in nearby Loleta. It was a refuge from the wave of disillusionment that was sweeping our nation. Under the pastoring and teaching of James Durkin, Sr.¹ these young men and women began to learn the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ² according to the Scriptures.³

Gospel Outreach Reformational Church of Eureka grew from those early foundations to a congregation with three generations of believers. Today, as a congregation gathered together under the teaching and preaching of God’s Word, we believe that Jesus Christ saves sinners by His grace alone through faith in the sacrifice of His life on the cross and the power of His resurrection.⁴ There is no greater purpose and joy in life than to know Jesus Christ and make Him known.

We gather, thankful to be joined with the holy Christian Church on earth, to receive God’s grace and the forgiveness of sins through the means he provided — baptism, communion, the preaching of God’s Word, and, in the words of the Lutheran reformers, through the “mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren”.⁵ Church is not something done merely on Sundays. Rather, it is a return every day to what God did for us in our baptism — He ended the old life and began a new life in Christ. Then we go out in faith to serve our neighbors, each one in their particular God-given calling, in gratitude to God for His “fatherly, divine goodness and mercy”⁶ towards us and all people.

We also maintain an academic school for the children of the congregation’s families, with a special emphasis on music and media. (see Media link above.)