About Us
Joy Community Fellowship is a family increasing in our love for God and devoted to becoming real people who are growing in real faith that is impacting real life through God’s Grace.
Becoming Real People
We are committed to view ourselves and others as God views us. We are valuable beyond measure to God and He loves us with unending, unconditional love. Real people live with authenticity and value healthy and loving relationships with others. Real people live with honesty knowing that although we may miss the mark at times, we can come to Jesus for acceptance and reconcile with others when needed. Real people live with simplicity as we are not seeking to impress others or protect an inflated view of self. Real people are free to be who God has called us to be.
Growing in Real Faith
We are committed to growing in faith that guides all of life. This faith is more than mere knowledge or an abstract idea, but an exciting and interactive relationship with the living God. Faith builds faith and a growing faith grows as it is proven through trust in God. Real faith is passionate in worship of God, diligent in learning His Word and dedicated in prayer. Real faith is based in humility as it trusts God over self. Real faith is always growing.
Impacting Real Life
We are committed to seeing God make a difference not just at church, but in and through our everyday lives. We are committed to reflecting Christ at work, home, school, and in our free time as we build bridges into our communities. We are also committed to making a difference in our world around us as we care for those that are in need. Real life means that we want our growing faith to be practical and to make a difference in not only our lives but the world around us.
Through God's Grace
We are committed to communicating and celebrating the grace of God in all that we do. No amount of effort, programs, or skill can make any difference in real life, but only through this amazing undeserved love of God can anything be of value. We are nothing without the love and acceptance of our God.
Our Mission
We are called to lead our community to new life in Jesus by God’s grace as this grace lives in and through us.
Our TEAM
Elders
Mark Savidge, Pastor
Frank Jackson
Howard Mehrer
Ed Proulx
Chris Sargent
Deacons
Anne Caridi
Ginny Jackson
Kim Sargent
Tyler Sargent
Staff
Carol Seymour, Church Secretary
Chris Sargent, Worship Director
Our Core Values
As a church, there are certain principles and attitudes that we strive to embody as God leads us. These values are the foundation from which we trust Jesus in mission for us. It is the way, we believe, God is actively using us to draw people to himself and then empower them to live the kind of life Christ promises.
REAL
We value being open and honest before God and man as we embrace who He has made us to be in Jesus.
RELATIONAL
We value loving, healthy relationships with others and our community as a vehicle for growing together in Jesus.
RELEVANT
We value God's perfect word as it's relevant to daily life as it speaks truth and gives guidance regarding whatever needs and issues people may face.
RESPONSIVE
We value corporate and individual response to God's leading through passionate worship, repentance and obedience in following Jesus.
Mark Savidge, Pastor
Mark grew up in Haddon Heights and loves his hometown. Mark has been in ministry since 1991, serving at churches in both Arizona and New Jersey. He came to Joy in December 2009, and loves His church family. Mark desires to see Joy grow in an authentic and practical faith that transforms individual lives, families, relationships and ultimately the community through the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
Mark loves spending time with his wife Debbie, daughters Rachel and Rebecca. He is also an avid fisherman.
Our Beliefs
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for
salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should bejudged. therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in
repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
