A Sacramento Church Since 1950
Arcade Church has served the Sacramento area since 1950, and the phrase that hangs over everything it does is short enough to memorize: it exists to help as many people as possible hear, see, and follow Jesus. The congregation gathers each week on a single campus at 3927 Marconi Avenue in the Arden-Arcade neighborhood of Sacramento, and the people who fill its Worship Center, gym, classrooms, library, and coffee cart call themselves Arcadians.
The church describes itself as a group of broken people saved by grace alone through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its mission statement is carried out by mobilizing disciple makers who bring Christlike joy to their neighborhoods, their region, and the world. Arcade is part of Venture Church Network and holds to a doctrinal foundation that centers on the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, salvation by grace through faith, and the bodily return of Christ.
More than seven decades after its founding, the church is investing in its next chapter through The Beyond, a capital campaign to renovate the facilities that serve its growing children and student ministries. The vision, borrowed from Ephesians 3:20-21, is to build a clean and safe environment for discipling kids, students, and families, so that when parents arrive at a check-in station they sense immediately that staff have been praying for their children and are prepared to tell them about Jesus.
Sunday Mornings in the Worship Center
Sunday is the rhythm that holds everything else together at Arcade. The church gathers in the Worship Center at 9:00am in person and again at 10:45am in person and online, with the second service streamed live on the Arcade YouTube channel. First-time visitors are pointed to the Welcome Hub in the Worship Center lobby, where a Welcome Packet and a small gift await.
For many Arcadians, Sunday starts earlier than the services themselves. The Arcade Coffee Cart opens in the lobby from 8:15am to 8:50am and again from 10:00am to 10:40am, offering a full menu of coffee beverages, Italian sodas, tea, donuts, and pastries. The Coffee Cart is run by a dedicated team of volunteers and managed as one of the friendliest on-ramps onto the campus.
ArcadeKids runs concurrently with both services, providing Sunday School from babies through fifth grade. Check-in opens fifteen minutes before each service, with two stations: one in the nursery and preschool building and one in the Courtyard outside the kids' classrooms. Returning families can speed things up with the Arcade app, which is available for iPhone and Android. For older students, middle schoolers meet at 9:00am in Room 601 with Pastor Andrew for SecondStory, while high schoolers gather for Coffee in the Courtyard on the second Sunday of each month.
Adults have their own parallel track of Sunday school classes, the Adult Bible Fellowships. Women of the Word and Koinonea ABF meet at 9:00am in Rooms 506, 507, and 508, while Cornerstone ABF and Faithbuilders meet at 10:45am in Rooms 508 and 601. None of these classes require sign-up.
ArcadeKids, SecondStory, and the High School Years
Family ministries at Arcade stretch from infants to graduating high school seniors, and the staff behind them describe their goal as partnering with parents to lead kids to know Jesus. Beth Whitney serves as Director of Family Ministries, working alongside Yelena Ganaga as Preschool Coordinator and a team of volunteers who shepherd the youngest Arcadians in a safe and nurturing environment.
ArcadeKids, for children from birth through fifth grade, meets at 9:00am and 10:45am on Sundays in the 400 and 100 buildings, and adds a Wednesday night gathering called Kids Connect from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the 100 building for first through fifth graders. The weekly Kids Choir rehearses on fourth Sundays and leads worship from the platform during the year. Parents can stay current through a weekly update page and the @arcade.kids Instagram account.
SecondStory is the name Arcade gives to its middle school ministry, gathering students in grades six through eight. The group meets Sundays at 9:00am in Room 601 and Wednesdays at 6:30pm in the Gym, where the evening typically includes games, music, teaching, and small groups. Andrew Northcutt, who grew up at Arcade, leads the ministry. Parents are invited into a private Facebook group, and weekly updates keep families in the loop.
The Arcade High School Group, for ninth through twelfth graders, meets Thursdays from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in the Gym under High School Pastor Nick Morlet. The ministry organizes itself around three words drawn from Scripture: Hear, See, and Follow. Students can follow along between meetings through the weekly news page, the @arcadehsgroup Instagram, and two Spotify podcasts, one that replays Thursday night sermons and another called What's On Your Mind where students put their questions directly to Pastor Nick.
The Grove: College and Young Adults
For Arcadians between eighteen and twenty-four, The Grove gathers on Mondays at 7:00pm in Room 602. Leah Stewart, the Director of College and Young Adults, describes the ministry as a community that abides in Jesus through the study of Scripture, praying for one another, and simply enjoying each other's company. The Grove runs its own mission trips, including an annual week serving alongside pastors in San Quintin, Mexico, and its members frequently lead Rooted Classes and family events at the church.
The Grove Retreat, an annual camping weekend held each August, takes the group away from campus to study a book of the Bible together, often pairing intense Bible study with hiking, meals, and late-night conversations. The 2026 retreat walked through 2 Timothy and Paul's vision for the church at Ephesus.
Rooted, Bible Studies, and the Women's and Men's Tracks
Midweek at Arcade is anchored by Rooted, a four-class pathway designed to help newcomers and longtime attenders alike find their place. The classes meet three times a year on Sundays during the 10:45am hour. The Connect class walks through what Arcade believes and how the church sees its mission; Belong explains what it means to join a local body of believers; Impact helps participants identify the gifts God has given them; and Go is hands-on, sending students into an Arcade ministry to serve alongside seasoned volunteers. All four classes are required for membership.
Women at Arcade follow a parallel calendar organized by Debbie Hardinger, the Director of Women's Ministry. Seasonal Bible studies are offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the Fellowship Hall, with a Women's Book Study also meeting on Mondays in Room 602 and over Zoom. A Women's Prayer Group meets Saturday mornings in Room 602. The women's ministry keeps a monthly e-Newsletter and active Instagram account at @arcadewomen.
Men at Arcade gather under Tom Norris, the Outreach and Men's Ministry Pastor. The signature midweek study is a seasonal Wednesday night class meeting 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The 2026 series, The King's Servants, is an eight-week study on intentional, sacrificial leadership in the home, the church, and the city. Other recurring rhythms include a Thursday afternoon Bible study at GB Gelato in Carmichael led by Dave Statton, a Friday morning study at Denny's on Auburn and Watt led by Robert Sanchez, monthly Men's Breakfasts in the Fellowship Hall, and a yearly Men's Retreat at Redwood Christian Park.
Adult Bible Fellowships and the broader list of Bible studies and classes are gathered in one place on the church's Bible Studies and Classes page, which is also accessible through the Arcade app. Classes for the wider community include the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember marriage getaway, an annual two-and-a-half-day conference where Arcade couples can receive a group discount under the team name HearSeeFollow.
Gather Groups in Homes Across the Region
Gather Groups are the small-group engine of the church. They meet in homes across the Sacramento region, from Arden-Arcade and Carmichael to Fair Oaks, North Highlands, La Riviera, the Pocket, and even a Sunday gathering in Garden of the Gods. Each group is led by a couple or pair from the church and includes people at every life stage.
The vision for Gather Groups is rooted in Acts 2 and the first days of the early church. Arcade describes the groups as moving in three directions at once: up, in, and out. Moving Up means gathering around the Word, whether through Bible study, prayer, or tackling hard spiritual questions. Moving In means loving one another in ways that confound the world, sharing real highs and lows instead of polished versions of the Christian life. Moving Out means speaking and showing the Kingdom to not-yet-believers in the ordinary stuff of life, inviting coworkers and neighbors to become participants in God's spiritual family.
Groups meet on nearly every night of the week, with multiple options on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Cole Harper, the Adult Ministries Pastor, oversees the ministry and helps newcomers plug into a group close to home.
Grief Share, Biblical Counseling, and Celebrate Recovery
Three support ministries serve people navigating some of life's heaviest burdens, and all three are open to the wider community as well as to Arcadians.
Grief Share is a 13-week, video-based grief recovery support group that runs each fall and spring semester, meeting Tuesdays at 1:00pm in the Fellowship Hall. The group is led by Mark Hall and is open to anyone from young adults through seniors; participants can join at any session and repeat the series as often as they need. The only cost is a one-time $20 workbook fee. Specialized two-hour Grief Share seminars address the unique pain of losing a spouse and the particular challenge of facing the holidays after a loss.
Biblical Counseling is offered free of charge through the Arcade Church Biblical Counseling Center. The counseling team is certified by the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) and provides both in-person and Zoom sessions, with a combined forty years of ministry experience among the counselors. Suzzanne Bonn directs the ministry and can be reached through the church office at (916) 488-HOPE (4673). The center is also an ACBC certified training center, offering a three-phase program that leads toward ACBC certification, with a Fundamentals track, a nine-month Biblical Counseling Class, and Specialties courses covering topics such as marriage, domestic violence, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.
Celebrate Recovery meets Tuesdays at 6:30pm in the Fellowship Hall, beginning each October. It is a Christ-centered program for anyone struggling with hurts, hang-ups, and habits, including addictions, codependency, grief, anger, perfectionism, betrayal, and other heavy burdens. The format combines teaching, worship, and small open-share groups for men and women. No sign-up is required to attend a meeting.
The Beyond: A Capital Project for the Next Generation
Arcade's kids and student ministries have grown rapidly, and the buildings that house them have not kept pace. The Beyond is the church's response: a capital project that will renovate the 200 building, which houses the gym and current middle and high school meeting spaces, and demolish the aging 100 building, which has served ArcadeKids for nearly eighty years. The 100 building will be replaced by an open-air space for large group games, with a sport court planned for the surrounding area.
The project has three priorities. First, it will provide clean and updated environments for kids from kindergarten through twelfth grade, with the nursery and preschool spaces already completed in 2020. Second, it will ensure families with special and mobility needs are fully included, with an elevator connecting the second floor for anyone who uses a wheelchair. Third, it will update safety and access features and refresh small-group and large-group spaces for the next generation of ministries.
The estimated cost is $3.5 million, with the church praying that the entire project will be funded through the faithful giving of Arcadians. Designs are being prepared for submission to the county, with construction expected to take eight to twelve months once bids are secured. During renovation, ArcadeKids will continue to meet in their current rooms, and the student ministries will relocate to other large spaces on campus without changes to their weekly schedules. Members can give to The Beyond Goal by selecting Beyond Goal in the Arcade app, or by contacting Brian Clifton for non-cash gifts such as stocks and qualified charitable distributions.
Missions: Local and Around the World
Arcade began as a missions-focused church in 1950, and that DNA still shapes its calendar. Tom Norris, the Outreach and Men's Ministry Pastor, leads the local and global missions efforts, and the church supports a long list of missionaries and partner organizations.
Locally, Arcade partners with the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, hosting a weekly free food distribution in the Becerra parking lot and fielding a run and walk team and a water team for the annual Run to Feed the Hungry each Thanksgiving. Other local partners include Alternatives Pregnancy Center, the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Sacramento, Hope Community Church in Antelope, and Union Gospel Mission. The Handy Helpers ministry sends skilled volunteers into the homes of widows, single mothers, the elderly, and other Arcade families for small plumbing, carpentry, electrical, and landscaping projects, with labor offered free of charge and materials typically provided by the homeowner.
Around the world, Arcade supports missionaries and church-planting families in places as varied as India, Mexico, Romania, Ukraine, Asia, France, and the inner city of Los Angeles. Annual mission trips have sent middle schoolers, high schoolers, college students, and adults to serve in Los Angeles, Mexico, and Asia, with each team raising support before departure and returning to share testimonies with the congregation.
The After School Program, the Library, and Del Norte Club
Three long-running ministries extend Arcade's reach into the surrounding neighborhood during the week. The Arcade After School Program, directed by Fatima Miller, offers a safe and nurturing environment for children and youth in the area, with a daily rhythm that includes sign-in and arrival, a meal, homework time, recreation, a snack, and dismissal. The program partners with families and schools to encourage, train, and build up the next generation of community leaders.
The Arcade Church Library, tucked inside the main campus, holds a 10,000-volume collection that includes fiction and nonfiction for adults, board books and picture books for children, juvenile and youth materials, audio books on CD, and a rotating selection of DVDs. Members and regular attenders can check out up to fifteen items at a time for three weeks. A small collection of Russian-language books reflects the congregation's Russian-speaking members. A weekly book sale offers paperbacks for a dollar and hardbacks for two dollars.
Del Norte Club, located at 6241 Fair Oaks Boulevard in Carmichael, has been a neighborhood fixture since 1957 and maintains a deep partnership with Arcade Church. The club features a modern fitness center, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis and pickleball courts, a private pilates studio, a hydrotherapy spa, a Kids Loft, summer day camps, and a poolside snack bar. Arcadians receive a special welcome through the church, including a free seven-day trial.
The Behold Podcast and Brick by Brick
Arcade produces its own podcast, called Behold, as a way of contributing to its mission beyond Sunday morning. Hosted by staff members including Beth Whitney and John Hatfield, the podcast discusses cultural dilemmas through the lens of the gospel, hears perspectives from family in Christ, and lands together on the truths of God's Word. Episodes are released weekly and are available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, with occasional live recordings on Sunday evenings.
Alongside the podcast, two Arcade staff members wrote a short catechism called Brick by Brick. The book is a holistic, formational tool, written to help every believer know what they believe, why they believe it, and how to participate in the church in a way that glorifies God. Digital copies are available on request through the church office. The catechism pairs naturally with the Rooted classes and is often used as a discipleship companion throughout the year.
What Arcade Church Believes
Arcade's doctrinal foundation rests on five non-negotiable truths, each of which the church considers essential to the gospel.
The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is accepted as the inspired, inerrant Word of God and the final authority for Christian faith and life. There is one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is the Creator and sustainer of all things. Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, crucified for humanity's sins, raised bodily from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and serving now as High Priest and Advocate.
Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, made possible by his atoning blood and resurrection. It is a gift of grace and results in regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Christ will return personally; believers will be resurrected to eternal joy, while unbelievers face judgment and eternal punishment.
The full Doctrinal Statement is available as a downloadable PDF.
Staff and Elders
Arcade is led by a team of pastors and ministry directors who serve under the oversight of a board of elders. Craig Hardinger serves as Lead Pastor, with John Hatfield as Executive Pastor. Andrew Northcutt leads middle school ministry, Nick Morlet leads high school ministry, Cole Harper oversees adult ministries, and Tom Norris directs outreach and men's ministry. Beth Whitney leads family ministries, Leah Stewart leads the Grove, Debbie Hardinger leads women's ministry, Suzzanne Bonn directs biblical counseling, Kelly Frazier directs member life and connection, and Fatima Miller directs the after school program.
The board of elders includes Alan Dianich, Craig Hardinger, Danny Kapic, John Kinney, Tim Warnes, Alex Jewell, Dan Dunmoyer, Gabe Jacob, Mason Chao, Victor Bruce, Bill Obernesser, Daniel Huang, John Hatfield, and Phil Stolarski. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30am to 4:30pm, and the phone rings at (916) 972-1617. Visitors, prayer requests, and questions are welcomed at info@arcadechurch.com.