OUR STORY

Cottage Hill Church began as a Bible Study in 1978 with a handful of people in someone’s basement. As families came to Christ through the Bible Study, church services began and the ministry focused on outreach and training. Through the years the Lord has raised up various ministries to meet needs and has led through a journey of facilities up to our current location on Cottage Street and ministry emphases.

OUR BELIEFS

  • GOD is the Creator of all and exists eternally in three perfect Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  • The BIBLE is the inspired, error-free Word of God as He intended it to be. It is an old Book but as relevant and authoritative as ever.

  • JESUS is fully God and fully human and He was miraculously born of the virgin Mary. He died on the cross as payment for our sins, rose bodily from the grave and will come again to reign and judge the earth.

  • The HOLY SPIRIT is God’s gift to everyone who puts their trust in Jesus. He comes in His entirety into every believer at the moment of faith to teach, guide and empower to live and serve as a follower of Jesus.

  • MANKIND was created in God’s image but disobeyed God and was cut off from Him.

  • SALVATION is available to all but only through a personal trust in Jesus’ death on the cross for them. Jesus is the only way to eternal life in Heaven.

  • The CHURCH is a gathering of followers of Jesus who commit to grow together, serve one another and reach out to those who need to come to Jesus. Though Jesus is the Head of the Church, it is led by Pastors who equip the whole to serve. The mission of the church is to make disciples locally and internationally.

  • GOD’s creation included the plan for marriage as a relationship between and man and a woman.

OUR TEAM

OUR PASTORS

Cottage Hill is led by a Pastoral Team. We are Pastor/Elder led; the Pastors function with equal authority.

Jeff Chandler came to Cottage Hill in 1996 and works full time for the Church. Jeff grew up in Manchester, NH as one of four boys raised by a single mom. He trusted Jesus as a teenager as a result of all the life change his father’s leaving brought. He attended Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary; always with a desire to return to pastor in New England. He served as Pastor in North Berwick, Maine for 11 years. It was a trip to India, Nepal and Pakistan that led to God’s stirring a burden to serve in a diverse city setting and his coming to Springfield. Jeff and his wife, Cindy, have three grown children and five grandchildren.

Ted Scibelli was part of the early nucleus of Cottage Hill. Ted grew up in Springfield and worked in social services. As a young adult, he was drawn to read the Bible for himself. Though he’d grown up going to church, reading the Bible showed him it wasn’t the church but putting his trust in Jesus alone that would save him. He did and, shortly afterward, found himself here to grow in the Bible. He attended Bible school and he and his wife, Susan, served as missionaries in Asia for several years. After the Lord closed that door, they returned to Springfield and resumed serving. Ted has been on the Pastoral Team since 1998. He and Susan have two grown sons and two grandsons.