History
Occoquan Bible Church has proclaimed the good news of Jesus in Northern Virginia since 1995. We exist to glorify God in life together, by magnifying Christ from all the Scriptures, maturing saints for every good work, making disciples from all nations, and moving out to all places with the good news.
As a local church, our story began as a church plant in 1995 with four families meeting together in a living room. As God added families, the home was outgrown, and a church in Springfield, VA began to host our Sunday services. In August of 1995, we began meeting at Rockledge Elementary School and took the name Occoquan Bible Church.
Occoquan means "head of the waters," and is a Algonquian name given to the Occoquan River and the surrounding area by the Tauxenent tribe, as first encountered by John Smith in the 1600s. The town of Occoquan emerged in the early 1700s. As Occoquan Bible Church, our name and our branding points to local history, but more than that, we look to Christ as our head, and our true source of living water (John 4:10).
When school buildings were renovated, sometimes we had to relocate and meet in other places like the Chinn Center (pictured on the top right). After a decade in school buildings and rental spaces, the Lord provided what was needed to purchase our current property in 2000, construction began in 2004, and our building was completed in 2005.
God is faithful to his people, and we have seen his faithfulness at Occoquan Bible Church through the years. God has provided shepherds for the flock he has gathered at OBC. Among our current elders, this would be Rod Fillinger (2002), Jared Bridges (2009), Ben Purves (2010), Jeff Dionise (2013), David Schrock (2015), and Sean Oxford (2022).
During the 2020 COVID shutdown, we paused services briefly, and we have repented of that. We restarted services outdoors and committed ourselves to obeying our Lord in assembling to worship Him each week. In addition to this, we shifted from a monthly to a weekly observance of the Lord's Table. Returning indoors, we reconfigured our church sanctuary to add more seating and shifted from holding two services to one so that we could unite our church family into one gathering.
In 2022, OBC partnered to launch Christ Over All. This ministry exists "to edify the church with evergreen content that will help the church think in biblical categories and apply Christ’s preeminence to all areas of life."
Over the years, we have seen God’s gift of faith and new life as many have come to believe in the gospel. We have had the privilege of seeing one another grow and mature in Christ, and flourish in the discipleship of our church family through the years. The transience of the DC area is very real as families come and go. The Lord has brought brothers and sisters to us from far away places, whom we have loved and served with for a season, and then He has sent them out again. We have seen births, adoptions, and weddings. Children have been raised up in the Lord, marriages have been strengthened and restored, and beloved saints have gone home to be with the Lord in glory. Jesus is faithful. He is building his church, and he is sanctifying his bride. We rejoice in his kindness and faithfulness to us over the years.
In all these things, may Christ be our all in all, and may our boasting be only in his cross. “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1).
As a local church, our story began as a church plant in 1995 with four families meeting together in a living room. As God added families, the home was outgrown, and a church in Springfield, VA began to host our Sunday services. In August of 1995, we began meeting at Rockledge Elementary School and took the name Occoquan Bible Church.
Occoquan means "head of the waters," and is a Algonquian name given to the Occoquan River and the surrounding area by the Tauxenent tribe, as first encountered by John Smith in the 1600s. The town of Occoquan emerged in the early 1700s. As Occoquan Bible Church, our name and our branding points to local history, but more than that, we look to Christ as our head, and our true source of living water (John 4:10).
When school buildings were renovated, sometimes we had to relocate and meet in other places like the Chinn Center (pictured on the top right). After a decade in school buildings and rental spaces, the Lord provided what was needed to purchase our current property in 2000, construction began in 2004, and our building was completed in 2005.
God is faithful to his people, and we have seen his faithfulness at Occoquan Bible Church through the years. God has provided shepherds for the flock he has gathered at OBC. Among our current elders, this would be Rod Fillinger (2002), Jared Bridges (2009), Ben Purves (2010), Jeff Dionise (2013), David Schrock (2015), and Sean Oxford (2022).
During the 2020 COVID shutdown, we paused services briefly, and we have repented of that. We restarted services outdoors and committed ourselves to obeying our Lord in assembling to worship Him each week. In addition to this, we shifted from a monthly to a weekly observance of the Lord's Table. Returning indoors, we reconfigured our church sanctuary to add more seating and shifted from holding two services to one so that we could unite our church family into one gathering.
In 2022, OBC partnered to launch Christ Over All. This ministry exists "to edify the church with evergreen content that will help the church think in biblical categories and apply Christ’s preeminence to all areas of life."
Over the years, we have seen God’s gift of faith and new life as many have come to believe in the gospel. We have had the privilege of seeing one another grow and mature in Christ, and flourish in the discipleship of our church family through the years. The transience of the DC area is very real as families come and go. The Lord has brought brothers and sisters to us from far away places, whom we have loved and served with for a season, and then He has sent them out again. We have seen births, adoptions, and weddings. Children have been raised up in the Lord, marriages have been strengthened and restored, and beloved saints have gone home to be with the Lord in glory. Jesus is faithful. He is building his church, and he is sanctifying his bride. We rejoice in his kindness and faithfulness to us over the years.
In all these things, may Christ be our all in all, and may our boasting be only in his cross. “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1).
