About Us

Welcome!

We’re so glad you have visited Bible Community Church’s website. Whether one of our church members told you about it, you found us on a web search, or you got the web address from one of our brochures or business cards, we hope that it gives you an interest in visiting us.

We are a church, but sometimes that word can be misunderstood as just a building or a service. With God’s help we are striving to be what the Bible identifies as a church – a group of people who trust in Jesus and repent of our sins so that together we can love God and love others.

We seek to learn and grow that love from our study of the Bible. We learn through sermons, individual Bible studies, Sunday school, and a variety of other ways. We offer opportunities for children, teens, and adults to learn the Scriptures in groups of peers in addition to our corporate worship services.

Throughout this website you will find portions of the Bible that will explain further what we believe the Bible teaches about life’s most important questions: who we are, why we are here, and where we are going.

There’s more about Bible Community Church than this website can convey, so I hope that you will come visit us and learn first-hand how we are “growing in Christ because of the Cross.”

History of Bible Community Church

The first service of Bible Community Church of North Mentor was on April 24, 1949. Pastor James Rohler led six-nine people in worship at the pavilion at Mentor Township Park. On May 15th, forty persons signed Profession of Faith and became charter members of the church.

Within a few months the church moved to the American Legion Hall on Hopkins Road, and on September 6, the church purchased 1.25 acres of property at 5733 Hopkins Road at a sheriff’s sale for $300. Ground was broken on October 21, 1950 to erect a one-room building on the property, and the first services were held there on Christmas Eve, 1950.

Pastor Rohler resigned in April of 1952, and Rev. John E. Ashbrook was later called to that pastorate, preaching his first sermon on November 16, 1952. About this time a church constitution, which still serves Bible Community Church, was adopted.

In 1953, three classrooms, restrooms, a kitchen, and a boiler room were added to the original structure, and a 240-seat auditorium was added in 1958. Three classrooms were added in 1968 to accommodate Mentor Christian School, which opened in 1967 with a kindergarten class of nine students.

It was soon apparent that a larger facility would be needed.

The church was able to purchase a total of 15 acres (in 5 transactions) nearby on Lake Shore Boulevard. A new building, still the home of Bible Community Church, was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1970.

The original facility on Hopkins Road was retained for a number of years as home to the first five grades of Mentor Christian School. In mid-1977, a modular school building in Xenia, Ohio, built after the 1974 tornado, was purchased. August 27, 1978 was the day of dedication for the building that still houses grades K-12 of Mentor Christian School. (The Hopkins Road property was eventually sold to the Cleveland Institute of Medical-Dental Technicians.)

On July 8, 1984, ground was broken for a gymnasium, and the structure was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1985.

John Ashbrook served Bible Community Church as senior pastor for 46 years and as Pastor Emeritus for 13 years until his passing in 2011. Stephen Spence served as senior pastor 1998-2007, and Joshua Scheiderer served 2008-2014.

(Most of the above was taken from “The First Forty Years, a Brief History of Bible Community Church” by John A. Ashbrook)