During the social and religious upheaval of the 1970s, a small group of freshman from several denominations started meeting in UK’s Haggin Hall. The students had one desire: To know God intimately and to make him known. Hungry for biblical community, they read Scripture closely and asked God to help them understand how to build his church in a way that would honor him. By 1980, these same students officially formed as Lexington Christian Fellowship.
Because of a deep commitment to church life where every member plays a part, the original team decided to plant a new church each time a congregation reached approximately 200 members. Church plants include Jessamine Christian Fellowship in Nicholasville (c. 2003-2023), and Trinity Christian Fellowship (2006-present) and Emmanuel Christian Fellowship (2018-present) in Lexington. University Christian Fellowship is the ongoing campus ministry of this family of churches.
Emmanuel Christian Fellowship was commissioned on Easter Sunday, 2018, and planted with devoted team of 30 faithful members.
Though the churches remained focused on ministry to college students, they also reach a greater portion of the body of Christ and the world. Central Kentucky’s home school community benefits from Mars Hill, a classical, Christian cooperative for junior and senior high school students. And outside the U.S. members serve their sister church, Ayutla Christian Fellowship, in Mexico.
In all of this, our commitment to knowing God and building his church through love within and without the body of Christ remains central.