City First Christian Academy

In the fall of 2020, both organizations began a process to discover if God was leading them to collaborate for a shared future of serving the Eugene community together. Here is that story.

For over 12 years, City First Church has had a continuing vision for developing property to serve families in West Eugene. During that time, the church has invested $3.5 million into the project. Property has been purchased, plans have been prepared, permits have been granted, monies have been sacrificially given, and prayers have been prayed. The original vision included relocating the whole church out of downtown to West Eugene to a new church building. A decade later, the church felt invited by the Lord to expand its vision to both stay downtown as a beacon of hope and to serve the communities of West Eugene.

City First Christian Academy (formerly Willamette Christian School) has faithfully served the city of Eugene and lived out their mission of empowering students to see the God-given gifts and purpose they have within themselves for 40 years. From its inception, City First Christian Academy has had in its DNA a mission to reach and serve families through Christian education in a way that fosters a love for Jesus and a desire to serve the community. All these years, they have remained true to this mission in the same location on West 18th Avenue.

We believe that God is leading us to a greater future together, one that will impact our region far beyond what we could each do on our own.

In 2019, it became clear the Lord was inviting the community to take a bold step of faith and find a new home for the school. This new home would be a place to adequately contain the anticipated growth coming in this new chapter of a God-written story. This vision burning in hearts includes starting a Christian high school in Lane County. To realize this vision, City First Christian Academy needs a new location to call home. 

In August 2020, City First Church and City First Christian Academy began a prayerful conversation to discover if God was leading them to collaborate to build a community center that would serve the needs of the city, be a forever home for City First Christian Academy, and a place of worship for City First Church. These conversations culminated with a unanimous “YES!” vote by each of the governing bodies to move forward and collaborate together on this project.

Beginning September of 2021, CFCA is now meeting at the Fairfield Campus of City First Church while we continue to plan for the property in West Eugene. CFCA opens its doors to students and families eager for a Christ-centered education and is a bright light in the community and beyond.

From the church family, we say congratulations to the staff, students and families who are on their new journey of school at City First Christian Academy! It has been nothing short of a miracle for everything to align to make this a reality. Thank you to those who put in countless hours of hard work, it is making an untold, Kingdom-sized difference. Blessings on you this school year. We are all actively waiting to see what God has in store for the greater City First Faith Family and for the Eugene/Springfield area. Keep praying into it, because it's just getting started. †