HISTORY
In the spring of 1999, Pastor Tim Zacharias and his wife, Stacie, moved to Branford, Connecticut, and immediately fell in love with this thriving community in the greater New Haven area. Knowing there was a need for more of a Bible believing influence along the shoreline, they began to make plans to start a church.
The summer was filled with planning and praying for the new work. On September 19, 1999, Community Baptist Church of Branford, had its first service. There were 25 people from the area in attendance, along with a few family members and friends from out of town. The church slowly and steadily began to grow, ministering to people from all backgrounds and walks of life. CBC had its charter service in November of 1999 with 15 members. The church held services at the Days Inn Conference Center for 7 years, growing to around 60-70 people regularly attending services each week.
In February of 2007, CBC moved to the Community House in Branford, allowing room for some more growth. They were there until January of 2008 when they completed a renovation project of a storefront facility at 869 West Main Street. God blessed the ministry in the storefront, and the church grew to fill the space each Sunday.
The winter of 2012 brought about the opportunity that Pastor Zacharias and the members of CBC had been praying for since the church’s inception. The church was presented with the possibility of purchasing an existing church building right in the middle of town. It was daunting, and at times it seemed as though the purchase of the property would not happen; but finally in June of 2012, God allowed the members of CBC to become the official owners of 53 Hopson Avenue in Branford. The building was built in the 1890’s, so there is a lot of history and character in the structure. The upstairs auditorium had been remodeled a few years prior, but the basement was in rough shape. The men and women of the church began remodeling the basement to make it more functional for the ministry. Churches from around Connecticut, and from as far away as Michigan and Iowa sent men to help with the project. Many churches and individuals gave financially to help as well. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful place where we can worship the Lord as a church family.
In May of 2017, CBC called Pastor Jon Bickel to replace Pastor Zacharias whom the Lord called to another ministry. Pastor Bickel and his family moved to Connecticut in June of that year and began serving at CBC immediately.
CBC seeks to continue to honor Christ through worship and obedience and to serve Christ by making disciples that do the same.