On the southwest edge of the Portland metro area, two blocks west of Tigard High School and tucked along SW Durham Road, Southwest Church of Christ has shaped the spiritual life of its neighborhood since 1973. The congregation describes itself as a Christ-focused family committed to living for God, loving each other, and lighting the world - words that show up on its sanctuary walls, in its preschool curriculum, and on the signs of the church vans that head out on summer mission trips.
What people know Southwest for in this part of Oregon is the consistency of those priorities over more than fifty years: a cappella Sunday worship with weekly communion, a children's ministry that walks alongside kids from the nursery through sixth grade, a free Christian preschool that opened in 1992, and a missions commitment that dedicates fifteen percent of contributions to church plants, evangelists, and mercy work in Mexico, Panama, Honduras, and several African nations.
Worship, A Cappella, Around the Communion Table
Sunday mornings at Southwest follow a rhythm that is easy to step into as a first-time visitor. Bible classes for all ages begin at 9:00 a.m., with a Spanish Bible class meeting at the same hour for Hispanic members and guests. Worship begins at 10:00 a.m. in the main auditorium, in a friendly and informal atmosphere that the congregation describes as a place where everyone is welcome and where you can come as you are.
The service itself is simple and traditional. The congregation sings without instruments - a cappella, in keeping with the Church of Christ tradition the family belongs to. Prayer, a weekly observance of communion, and a teaching message from the Bible make up the rest of the hour. Children ages three through fourth grade are typically dismissed after communion to their own Children's Worship programs in the Education Wing, while a staffed nursery for infants and toddlers runs alongside the main service.
For those who cannot be in the building, the same Sunday worship is broadcast live on YouTube, and recordings of Bible classes are available through a podcast.
What Southwest Believes
Southwest states its convictions plainly. Members believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by men moved by the Holy Spirit, and that it is the standard for living. They affirm one God who exists in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and that Jesus Christ became flesh to reveal God and to be the Savior of the world.
Humanity, in the church's teaching, was created in God's image for fellowship with Him but became alienated through sin and cannot restore that relationship on its own. Salvation comes through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, received by those who confess belief in Jesus and accept His grace through baptism. The Christian life is a pursuit of maturity shaped by obedience to Scripture and daily yielding to the Spirit, and the church itself is the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the head.
Worship is to be in spirit and in truth, a response of gratitude to God. Because the church follows the New Testament pattern, that response includes singing without instrumental accompaniment. The vision the elders set in 2025 spells out six marks of a disciple: love God and others, be transformed, reconcile across generations, see and pray, serve with Spirit-given gifts, and rejoice. Core values are being led by the Spirit, obedient to the Word, submissive to Jesus, making disciples, living in holiness, leading courageously, and loving people.
Children, From Cradle Roll Through Sixth Grade
If Sunday morning is the front door of Southwest, the Children's Ministry wing is the busy hallway behind it. Children from birth through sixth grade are welcomed into classrooms designed to be safe, fun, and Christ-centered, with curriculums tailored to age.
Babies and toddlers move through a Southwest-developed Cradle Roll curriculum built on music, touch, and exploration. Preschoolers (ages two through five) use Gospel Light materials, while elementary students in kindergarten through sixth grade work through Answers in Genesis' Answers Bible Curriculum, which walks chronologically through the whole Bible over four years. During the worship hour, three- and four-year-olds gather in the Education Wing for their own worship time, and children in kindergarten through fourth grade are dismissed after communion to a separate Children's Worship program designed just for them.
Children's Minister Jody Compton - who joined Southwest with her family in 2004 and has led the children's work since 2017 - oversees the ministry alongside Children's Ministry Associate Jenny Mears. Beyond Sunday morning, the children branch out into VBS each June, a 6th-grade Diaper Drive in the spring that partners with Northwest Children's Outreach, summer camp at Camp Yamhill outside Yamhill, Oregon, and Bible Challenge, an area-wide ministry for students in grades four through six that combines Bible study with friendly competition. Practice for the Southwest Bible Challenge team meets at the church on Sunday evenings from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., with snacks provided.
For the youngest families, Playdate Southwest offers a free indoor play time at the church building for children ages zero to four each Thursday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. between November and April - a chance for parents to get out of the house on rainy Oregon mornings and for toddlers to burn off energy in a safe space. The schedule follows Tigard-Tualatin School District closures.
Youth Ministry: Walking With Teens
Most Wednesday nights at 7:00 p.m., Fellowship Hall fills with teens in grades seven through twelve for the Southwest Youth Group. Youth Minister Lincoln Shotts, a 2023 Freed-Hardeman University graduate who joined the staff in 2025 after two years at the Bartlett Woods Church of Christ in Memphis, leads a program built around three rhythms: biblical teaching, shared activities, and intentional adult mentoring. The goal written into the ministry is for every graduating senior to be connected to at least five adults outside their own family by the time they leave high school.
Summer brings a week-long mission trip to Caldwell, Idaho, where students in grades nine through twelve paint houses, build sheds, and do yard work alongside the Caldwell Church of Christ. Every other year, juniors and seniors are invited on a foreign mission trip designed to broaden their view of the world and embody Matthew 28. Camp Yamhill provides weeklong summer camps in the forest outside Yamhill, and Southwest offers scholarships for any teen who wants to attend. The year rounds out with a winter retreat at mid-January focused on building healthy habits for the new year.
Leadership Training for Christ, or LTC, is the bigger stage for many of these students. LTC lets young people, grades three through twelve, dive into a book of the Bible each year (Joshua, Judges, and Ruth for the current season) and showcase what they have learned through speech, scripture reading, song leading, art, and podcasting. Some events are judged at the church building; others at the annual LTCNW convention.
Young Adults, LIFE Groups, and the Wider Family
College students and young adults between eighteen and twenty-five find a deliberate welcome at Southwest, whether they are single, married, working, or still in school. A Life Group gathers on Friday nights for the young adults, and a College Care Network keeps ties strong with students who are away at school, mailing notes and care packages through the academic year.
LIFE Groups are the small-group heartbeat of the entire congregation. LIFE stands for Love, Involvement, Fellowship, and Evangelism. Six to twelve people meet in homes across Aloha, Beaverton, Newberg, Sherwood, Tigard, and Tualatin - and in the church building itself - during the week to study Scripture, ask hard questions, and invite friends who might feel more comfortable hearing God's word in a casual setting. The groups are the primary on-ramp for getting involved at Southwest.
Two other signature gatherings shape the fellowship calendar. Keenagers, a free monthly luncheon for anyone fifty-five and older, meets on the second Monday of every month at noon for soup, salad, bread, and dessert along with a short program - open to members and non-members alike. Women's Ministry, Men's Ministry, Motherhood Ministry, Card Ministry, a Benevolence Food Pantry, and Sewing for the Master - a women's group that sews hygiene kits, diapers, children's clothing, and dresses for expectant mothers that have traveled worldwide - fill out the rest of the community life.
Southwest Preschool: Planting Seeds Since 1992
Southwest Preschool has been a fixture of the church's reach into the broader Tigard community for more than three decades. Corina Carroll started the free preschool in 1992 with thirteen children, and the program now serves around sixty children each year with a waiting list to match.
Classes are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September through May for three- and four-year-olds in two sessions: 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. Class size is capped at no more than fifteen students, with teachers and helpers who are church members and have completed background checks. The one-time application fee is $100, and there are no monthly tuition charges. Children learn through art, drama, music, Bible stories, and nature activities, and they take part in a Valentine Tea, a Christmas program, and a closing program for parents.
The curriculum builds kindergarten-readiness skills alongside an awareness of God and His love. Open enrollment begins February 1 each year; field trips round out the year. Gail Hess, who has served at Southwest since 1986 and previously served as a teacher and director at the preschool, continues to greet and support preschool families.
Around the Bible, All Year Long
For 2026, the congregation's Bible reading plan walks readers through Old Testament prophecies alongside the New Testament passages that record their fulfillment. A new monthly memory verse helps members keep what they are reading at the front of their minds. The Lifeschool-style approach to Scripture extends into a podcast feed of Bible class audio and into a year-round Bible Class curriculum that meets before Sunday worship.
Beyond the weekly gathering, Bible Challenge gives fourth- through sixth-graders a chance to memorize and apply a portion of Scripture through team competition, and the Northwest School of Discipleship offers a longer course of study for adults who want to grow deeper. The school, an initiative of Southwest Church of Christ in Tigard, aims to shape believers more fully into the image of Jesus and to equip them to stand firm in their faith.
Missions Across Four Continents
When Southwest Church of Christ formed in 1973, its founders committed the first ten percent of contributions to missions. That share has grown to fifteen percent in the decades since, funding partnerships on four continents.
In Mexico, Southwest purchased property in Chapultepec in 2007, hired Arturo Cervantes as the full-time preacher in 2008, and celebrated the completion of the church building in 2014 - a structure that continues to serve as a place of worship and training for the community. In Panama, Raul and Betty Alvarado minister at Iglesia de Cristo, Metropolitana in Panama City, teach at the School of Biblical Studies, and plant churches in Indigenous areas. In Honduras, Olman and Linda Nunez serve at Little Hands Big Hearts, addressing the spiritual needs of families whose children come for therapy. Across Africa, the church supports five native evangelists in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, including James and Maria Eblabor, who run schools in Okuku Yala, and Campion Mugweni, who preaches for the church in Sakubva. Eric and Susan Guild continue their work among the Sukuma people in Mwanza, Tanzania, where more than a hundred new churches have been planted.
Closer to home, the church plants, sends, and serves. Restore Church of Christ in Hillsboro is the most recent church plant, born out of a 2023 vision to meet in multiple locations and now pastored by Jeff Sadler, who was hired in September 2023 to begin a church planting residency. Locally, short-term mission trips have gone to Baker City, Oregon, Caldwell, Idaho, Toluca, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trujillo, Honduras, and Ensenada, Mexico. Children's Ministry, the preschool, Sewing for the Master, the youth program, and the Weekend of Service all extend that same heart of outreach into the neighborhoods around Durham Road.
GriefShare, and a Church That Walks With You
GriefShare at Southwest runs as a thirteen-week support session each fall for people working through the loss of a loved one. The Tuesday evening program meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and is described by the church as one of the ways the body lives out its mission of loving each other - a fitting complement to a church that keeps its doors open in many other directions at once.
Staffed by elders Jerry Bergum, Craig Benjamin, David Burnette, Marc Compton, David Hess, Paul Hinds, and Ken Hines, and led day to day by Youth Minister Lincoln Shotts, Children's Minister Jody Compton, Office Manager Gail Hess, and Outreach and Involvement Minister Barry Galindo, Southwest continues to invest in the southwest Portland suburbs of Oregon from the same corner of 98th and Durham where the first members began gathering in 1973.