ABOUT US

OUR STORY / OUR HISTORY / OUR PEOPLE 

OUR CHURCH VENTURE STORY


Our current and founding and current pastor, Kerry Thrush, served as an ordained United Methodist Pastor from 1995 - 2013 in both Kentucky and Ohio. He was the founding and lead pastor of a brand-new United Methodist Church between 2004 - 2012 in Hamilton Township. During that time Kerry, his wife Betsy and their then school age children Zee & Elle fell in love with the Hamilton Township! In 2014 Kerry heard God calling him to start another church, one that would tell the simple yet powerful story of the hope we can find while following Jesus Christ. That spring a collection of people created Church Venture!

Church Venture will turn 10 years old in March 2024! We began weekly worship at Great Wolf Lodge on Kings Island Drive in 2014. That summer we moved into the strip mall just south of Kings Island on Western Row Road. We evolved as a congregation there until the winter of 2023 when we purchased 11 acres of land in Hamilton Township and relocated our worship experience to the Little Miami High School.

Today Church Venture is an incredibly welcoming community of faith who are engaged in the arts, passionate about serving, and enjoy worshiping every week. We exist to Love God & Love People. We value Authenticity, Bold Hope, & Creativity.Today Church Venture is an incredibly welcoming community of faith who are engaged in the arts, passionate about serving, and enjoy worshiping every week. We exist to Love God & Love People. We value Authenticity, Bold Hope, & Creativity.

What makes Church Venture unique is our commitment to all people...Conservative, Liberal and Moderate thinkers and believers. We all have two things in common... a commitment to Jesus Christ and how we live our faith on a daily basis by serving others.

What makes Church Venture unique is our commitment to all people...Conservative, Liberal and Moderate thinkers and believers. This diversity is not what unifies us as a church. As a matter of fact, this diversity is a challenge, an important challenge to be sure especially in today’s cultural climate where many are riled up about their side of any issue.

What unifies the people of Church Venture is twofold:

- A Commitment to Jesus Christ

- A passion for living our faith daily by serving others

We are a Hamilton Township Church that connects people of all walks of life to Jesus Christ

Consider yourself invited to join us for 10 AM worship any Sunday. You will find a fantastic cross section of people! We are casual in our dress; we offer professional childcare during worship as well as Sunday morning “Kid Venture” for kids 4 years old to 5th Grade.

OUR PRESENT

In January 2023 Church Venture purchased 11.494 acres of land in the heart of Hamilton Township located at 200 Stephens Road in Maineville. We moved out of the strip mall we called home in February 2023 and moved our worship experience to the Little Miami High School Atrium space. Combining both our monthly mortgage on the land and our rent we cut our overhead expenses by 60%!

Join us for worship at 10 AM at the Little Miami High school. Park near the tennis courts – you will see the signs on Sunday mornings helping you to find the entrance nearest the Atrium!

OUR FUTURE

Our prayer is to develop a Community Center Church located on our 11-acre property at 200 Stephens Road! We consider our church to be a gift to the community! We have no desire to be a building within Hamilton Township that is only open on Sundays. We have no desire for only our congregation to use our future facility. Church Venture is a Gift to Hamilton Township and we want our facility to a place the community gathers for team dinners, book clubs, realtor seminars and blood drives...or simply a place to meet your friend to talk things over and have a cup of coffee.

We envision ball fields, pickleball and basketball courts a walking trail in the woods and so very much more. We would LOVE for you to dream a pray right alongside of us. Come join our community of faith, come let us know about a need that a Community Center Church could fulfill.

OUR MISSION


“WE ARE A HAMILTON TOWNSHIP CHURCH THAT CONNECTS PEOPLE OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE TO JESUS CHRIST .”

OUR BELIEFS


  • We believe that god is three in one...God the father, god the son (jesus christ) and god the holy spirit.

  • Jesus is god...100% human and 100% god. This is incredibly difficult to wrap our heads around but we know this is how god wants to connect with us... Through jesus. Jesus lived among people, died for the forgiveness of our sins and lives today as our pathway to be reconnected to an over-the-top loving god.

  • The holy spirit is god’s presence on earth today. Through the holy spirit we communicate with god in prayer and in everyday life. The holy spirit is god living in us, giving us the strength and hope to be christ followers.

  • Baptism is one of two holy sacraments – an opportunity to be intimately connected to jesus christ. We believe that one baptism is enough! There will be no need to be “re-baptized” at church venture. We believe adults who are willing to publicly proclaim that they want to be a christ follower can be baptized. We also believe that infants can be baptized. These infants must have guardians who are christ followers, who are willing to claim responsibility to raise their children in the church, and who will give their children the opportunity, once they are older, to decide for themselves whether or not to become a christ followers.

  • Holy communion is one of two holy sacraments – an opportunity to be intimately connected to jesus christ. Bread and grape juice or wine represents the body and blood of christ. Through holy communion offered by jesus christ forgiveness can be found, and an intimate connection can be made. At church venture, anyone who desires to take holy communion will be served!

  • The word of god is jesus christ, and the words of the bible tell us about that word. Therefore, when we study the words of the bible we always look behind, in, and through those words for god’s word – jesus christ. The bible is a faith book. The bible is not a math book, or a biology book, nor is it a diy book. The bible is a faith book, which is god’s timeless word to humanity. The bible was delivered through the holy spirit to ordinary people to help us understand the story of god and our relationship to jesus christ. We believe that no christ follower has a monopoly on understanding the words of scripture. We will surely arrive at different understandings of portions of scripture and that will not disturb god as much as it will some of us. Different biblical understandings can remain among us, but we can still be warm friends. In fact, as we grow to better understand our differences, we can grow in our appreciation of one another.

OUR TEAM


Leadership Team

Tech Team

Leadership Team

Leadership Team

Tech Team