About Us

real. deep. family.

Courtyard is in Fayetteville, NC

Courtyard's motto is real, deep, family.

We–family from around the globe–come together as we are in Christ to deeply explore the scriptures, share homemade communion bread, listen, lament, learn, & laugh. 

Our Roots:

We are a non-denominational church in the Church of Christ heritage, but many other heritages bless our church family as well as some from no faith at all. The leadership team includes people from Churches of Christ, Lutheran, and nondenominational backgrounds. We pursue a sense of belonging across diversity. Doubters and seekers hang out with us too!

Courtyard stands on the core beliefs of the Christian faith shared across all denominations:

  • God, the Good Creator of all, seeks a relationship with people
  • Jesus is the One sent by God to live among us as the image of God who modeled for us perfect love and whose death and resurrection establishes a reconciled relationship between God and people
  • This peace is available to all and is entered into by God's grace through faith and is sealed with the Spirit at baptism
  • The Spirit of God lives within us to equip the church with every spiritual blessing in order to make God known

If the Church of Christ is your home, you will find much of what we do familiar. For example, we:

  • live as "Christians only, but not the only Christians" (Alexander Campbell)
  • discern in "essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, love" (Augustine, and the Restorationist churches)
  • celebrate the sacraments of communion weekly and baptism by immersion
  • serve with a plurality of leaders
  • sing some songs a cappella and all songs congregationally
  • value simple church
  • study the Bible together deeply
  • practice the priesthood of all believers through the full participation of all people by the Spirit's gifting
  • are in relationship with other Churches of Christ with common values to help us discern what the Spirit of God is up to globally

If the Church of Christ is not your heritage, but you Googled it and have questions:

  • We get it! The very conservative stream of the heritage has given others a bad name. Thankfully, it is a diverse heritage with many expressions!
  • The Church of Christ is one of the largest heritages in the United States, originally a "unity movement," not a denomination. Therefore, it does not have a governing body that sets beliefs and practices across all of the congregations. Churches of Christ are congregrationally led and therefore each congregation is different.
  • Though we hold to the best of the heritage, as listed above, we release what has proven to be without fruit or harmful. In part, we release
    • a belief that we are the only true Christians (exclusivism)
    • blueprint readings of the New Testament that mark who is "in" and who is "out." (patternism). There are many genres of writing in the Bible, but "blueprint" is not one of them; therefore, we interpret the Bible contextually as the unfolding, inspired, Story of God.
    • leadership roles reserved for men only. At Courtyard, the gifting of the Holy Spirit determines participation, as indicated in the book of Acts and the biblical letters.
    • Pulpit ministers without formal theological education. Favorite movies, love of kayaking, and ages of children are fun facts to know about pastors, but in the same way a heart patient needs a surgeon who graduated from medical school, a church website should be clear about where the lead pastor went to school, their areas of concentration, the institution's affiliation and accreditation. Courtyard believes in lead pastors with formal theological education from accredited seminaries. Dr. Dahlman's credentials are listed on our minister's page.
    • a belief that worship must be a cappella to be acceptable to God (part of patternism). Sometimes we sing a cappella because God made the human voice incredible, and we love harmony and simplicity. Other times we sing with instruments.
    • the KJV is the most accurate translation. (It's not, but the poetry is lovely.) Courtyard believes "the best translation is more than one." We tend to use the NIV, NLT, or CEV the most in worship.
  • Courtyard Church of Christ is a part of the Restorationist Collective stream of the Churches of Christ. Lack of accountability can be a fatal flaw in non-denominational churches who exist independently. It is incredibly difficult to discern what the Spirit is up to in the world without meaningful relationship with other churches. For this reason, Courtyard is in healthy and close fellowship with many churches in town—across denominations—as well as Churches of Christ who believe and practice the faith in an ecumenical, egalitarian, curious, and Spirit-led expression. Some examples are:

If you are looking for a traditional or conservative Church of Christ, there are several in town, and we wish you the best. Clarity is kind, so we disclose to you this is not who we are.

Those who find a home with us are often (but certainly not limited to):

  • international families who have moved here to teach through EPI
  • military families looking for an ecumenical or more progressive church
  • people who desire college level Bible study that embraces complexity over legalism, while also maturing in spiritual formation
  • those who have been hurt by churches and need a safe space to rebuild faith and trust in religion. (Doubt, hard questions, & lament are welcome!)
  • Church of Christ families looking for the best of the heritage
  • those who have felt lost in big churches and desire more opportunity to participate in the life of faith in a family environment
  • because a friend said, "You have to visit this church. It's like a family!" 

We admit we aren't for everyone! We do church differently on purpose because different is exactly what some people need, and we're dedicated to that mission of healing and maturity in the love of Christ. Maybe we're exactly what you need. Whether you’ve been in church your whole life, have never stepped foot in one, were burned by one, or need a new one, we have a seat at the Table for you!

Gallery of some recent life together moments: