A Family of Five Families on Sand Canyon Road
Church of the Canyons began in 1969 when five families in the young community of Canyon Country, on the north side of Santa Clarita, decided to start a church together. Three years later the congregation affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America, and in 1980 it moved onto its present campus at 28050 Sand Canyon Road, tucked into the mouth of Sand Canyon just past the railroad crossing off the 14 Freeway. More than fifty years on, the church still describes itself the way it began: one large extended family.
The congregation has lived through four senior pastors. Donald G. Botsford served from 1973 to 1985 and oversaw the purchase of the land in 1977 for $56,000 and the construction of the new building in 1980, built by seventy-five families for under half a million dollars; under his leadership church membership tripled. Jim Harris served from 1986 to 1990 and elevated the teaching and theology of the church, also teaching Bible and theology at The Master's College. Charles W. Smith, known as C.W., served as interim pastor from 1990 to 1995, providing stability through the transitions between senior pastors. Bob Childress began in 1995 and, over twenty-five years, formalized the church's identity as a teaching, discipling, and sending church before retiring in 2020. The fourth senior pastor, Kris Ullman, was called in 2023 to carry that legacy forward.
Three convictions have remained constant: a love for the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, a commitment to expository preaching, and a willingness to send people out. In the last thirty years, the church has been involved in the training of six senior pastors, five associate pastors, four worship pastors, four church planters, five youth pastors, three seminary professors, two Bible college professors, and seven missionary families, many of them sent directly from Church of the Canyons.
What Sunday Morning Looks Like
Worship begins at 10:00 AM in the Worship Center and runs about ninety minutes. Senior Pastor Kris Ullman preaches most weeks, and other pastors and leaders fill in when he is away. The preaching is expositional: sermons walk through a passage of Scripture verse by verse and typically run between thirty and fifty minutes. Before the service, at 9:00 AM, the whole church gathers for Family Sunday School in the Multipurpose Modular, with classes and discussion for every age from nursery through adult.
Music is led by a worship director, vocalists, and musicians, and the congregation's own voices are central to the sound. Songs range across centuries: classic hymns, gospel songs, and newer worship songs sit side by side, and lyrics are projected on a large screen so visitors can follow along. Greeters hand out bulletins at the door, and no one is asked to stand up for an introduction. Most visitors describe the atmosphere as friendly and casual, and the dress runs from shorts and jeans to the occasional suit.
On the first Sunday of each month, the congregation shares the Lord's Supper together. Communion at Church of the Canyons is open: anyone who is a member of the global body of Christ is welcome to partake. Individual servings of gluten-free bread and juice are passed during a brief devotional, and the church also practices believer's baptism a few times a year at the close of a service for those who have recently professed faith.
Children from Nursery Through Fifth Grade
Children's ministry at Church of the Canyons is built around the conviction that parents are the primary disciplers of their kids, and the church wants to come alongside them. From birth through pre-K, little ones are cared for in the Nursery in Rooms 1 and 2 during the 10:00 AM service so parents can focus on the worship gathering. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade begin the service with their parents in the Worship Center and are dismissed partway through to Children's Education classes held in the CE Modular. Each class is led by two teachers who are members of COC and who have gone through an extensive screening process, including a background check. The curriculum used is Answers Bible Curriculum (ABC), taught in age-appropriate ways in thoughtfully arranged classrooms.
The whole family is invited to come at 9:00 AM for Family Sunday School, where there is something for everyone from nursery through grandparents. The check-in system runs through Planning Center Online, and first-time visitors can pre-register their children online before they arrive. A quiet nursing mothers' room near the nursery offers a video feed of the sermon for parents of infants.
Students in Grades Six Through Twelve
The Youth Ministry exists to support parents as they raise teenagers (sixth through twelfth grade) to be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ committed to the local church. Students meet on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM in Modular 2 for Bible study and fellowship, and small groups give teens a place to ask honest questions, pray for one another, and grow alongside peers and adult leaders. Throughout the year the youth ministry also hosts retreats, service projects, youth nights, and outings that build community and put faith into practice.
The Rest of the Week
Worship is not only on Sundays. The church's weekly schedule fills Monday through Saturday with Bible studies, community groups, and ministry meetings, most of them held in homes or in the Family Center and Mod 1 on the church campus.
Mondays bring the Canyon Country Community Group, a fellowship and study group that meets every other week at 6:00 PM in the Moreno home. Tuesdays are for women: the Joy of Living Bible Study meets at 9:00 AM at the Gassman home, and Women of the Word meets every other Tuesday evening at 6:30 PM in the Family Center. Wednesdays are the church's midweek anchor: Scripture for Living meets at 6:30 PM in Mod 1, alongside the Youth Group in Mod 2. On Thursday evenings the Sand Canyon Community Group gathers every other week at 7:00 PM in the Gassman home, and on Saturday mornings the Men of the Word Bible Study meets every other week at 8:00 AM in the Family Center.
Men's and women's ministries also host their own small groups and seasonal events, including retreats and gatherings that encourage fellowship outside the regular Bible study rhythm. During the summer, most classes take a hiatus from meeting.
Worship Ministry and the People Who Make Sunday Possible
The music ministry at Church of the Canyons is rooted in Colossians 3:16: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, sung with thankfulness, that are theologically rich and musically excellent. The team includes a choir, a praise band, instrumentalists, vocalists, and the audio/visual crew who run sound, lighting, and the livestream every Sunday. Greeters, ushers, and hospitality volunteers care for the congregation from the moment they step on campus. The Tech Team supports worship services and the livestream, the Safety Team looks after a secure environment on campus, and the Facility Team keeps the buildings and grounds in shape for ministry.
Worship also extends beyond Sunday morning. Throughout the year the church hosts special worship nights, concerts, and seasonal gatherings designed for refreshment, inspiration, and deeper connection as a church family.
From Canyon Country to the Ends of the Earth
Church of the Canyons has long seen itself as a sending church. Today the church supports five international missionary families through its Antioch Missions Council, which arranges hospitality and support for missionaries on furlough, communicates regularly to pray with them, publicizes ways to support outreach, and shares monthly "Missions Moments" updates with the congregation.
Johnny and Alexandra Gravino serve in Sicily, Italy, where Johnny is involved in a church plant and oversees a seminary that trains Italian pastors, working with LifeGate Worldwide. Mark and Jess Stucky, who met and married at COC, are church planting in Sapiranga, Brazil, with Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission, and their church, Ministério Bíblico de Sapiranga, has been gathering since October 2018. Eric and Heather Z. live in Dubai, where Eric leads and teaches at Gulf Theological Seminary, training pastors from across the Middle East and India. Two additional missionary couples serve in Southeast Asia, working with university students to make disciples and plant churches, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where T and D equip rural pastors through a free Bible institute held one week each month in the local language.
Local Outreach and Neighbors on the Front Porch
Reaching out begins in the neighborhood that surrounds the campus. The church's neighborhood outreach team goes door-to-door inviting neighbors to the church and hosts community events that open the campus to the surrounding area. The Helps Ministry connects church members and neighbors in need with practical support and resources, and a Prayer Ministry receives requests through the digital connection card and physical cards placed in the offering plate, with daily prayer sheets available in the lobby and a COC Prayer Group on Church Center for anyone who wants to pray together.
Two local partner ministries are central to the church's community work. The SCV Pregnancy Center provides outreach to women and families facing crisis pregnancies. The Bible Tabernacle, which has been serving the Santa Clarita Valley for more than sixty years, offers temporary housing, food, clothing, biblical teaching, spiritual guidance, counseling, educational services, and connections to community resources, and Church of the Canyons has had a long-standing relationship with their work.
What the Church Believes
Church of the Canyons holds to the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America, the doctrinal convictions shared by every church affiliated with the denomination. In summary: there is one God, Creator of all things, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the verbally inspired Word of God, without error in its original writings, and the ultimate authority for faith and life. Human beings, made in God's image, are sinners by nature and by choice and stand under God's wrath apart from Christ; Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as the substitute for sinners, rose bodily, ascended, and now sits at God's right hand as High Priest and Advocate. The Holy Spirit regenerates sinners, indwells believers, and empowers them for Christ-like living and service. The church is made up of all who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ, manifested in local congregations that observe baptism and the Lord's Supper. Christians are called to love God supremely and others sacrificially, to care for the poor, pursue justice for the oppressed, and bear witness to the gospel in word and deed. The church looks for the personal, bodily, and premillennial return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead to eternal blessing for the believer and eternal conscious punishment for the unbeliever.
The church's own mission is simple and unchanging: to glorify God, proclaim Scripture, and make disciples. Its vision is the means by which the congregation pursues that mission: equipping the saints for service, speaking the truth in love, defending sound doctrine, and building up the body of Christ to maturity, drawn from Paul's vision for the church in Ephesians 4.
Planning a Visit
The church is at 28050 Sand Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91387, just past Lost Canyon Road off the 14 Freeway. Reserved handicap and visitor parking are available to the right of the main building. The lower and upper lots offer plenty of parking, and grassy areas in the lower lots are available for anyone who finds the inclines difficult. A campus map is available online. Worship services are about ninety minutes long, communion is served on the first Sunday of each month, the entire service is in English, and dress ranges from casual to business. Children's programs run from nursery through fifth grade during the service, with a Family Sunday School hour beginning at 9:00 AM for all ages.
Services are livestreamed on YouTube, and audio of recent messages is available on the church's podcast (Apple Podcasts and Spotify). Giving online is available through Church Center. The church office is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and can be reached at (661) 252-1600 or info@churchofthecanyons.org.