In the Desert as it is in Heaven.

Following Jesus together in the Desert

In an age of anxiety & endless options, we see the beauty of following Jesus within a framework. Following Jesus intentionally helps us to live into our vision of seeing God’s Kingdom come in each of our lives, in our community, & beyond.

"Following Jesus"

"Following Jesus"

Our Plan for Discipleship
Following Jesus is a life centered around the presence of God. Jesus is our Lord, Savior, Teacher, & Friend.

Following His Way – We become more like Jesus through spiritual formation. This is a lifelong journey that is led by the Holy Spirit & nurtured in community. 

For the Sake of the World – Everyone has a part to play in God’s Kingdom. We join God in His mission to make all things new

"Together in the Desert"

"Together in the Desert"

Our Context for Discipleship
“Desert” is more than just where we live. It’s where we find ourselves in the Biblical Story. 

As followers of Jesus, we live in the “Now & Not Yet” – the space between ages where we’ve been invited to live in the Kingdom of God “now”, but the brokenness of our world still remains as we await the arrival of the Kingdom in its fullness when Jesus comes to make all things new. 

The “desert” is also a place of tension, in-between, or waiting. 

Our temptation as humans can often be to resolve tension or choose sides, but as followers of Jesus we are called to hold things in tension.





Our DNA


Our DNA is what we value. t's the culture we want to embody & continually foster together. We have these DNA statements because we want the people of Desert Church to remember our unique DNA that informs how we follow Jesus together in the Desert.

Just like the Desert is a place of “Now & Not Yet”, we serve a God who is both fully divine & fully human; full of grace & truth. As we follow Jesus together in the desert, our desire is that our discipleship would reflect the posture of the teacher we follow; often holding a beautiful tension between two traits that culture tends to set against each other. This includes coming to terms with the realities of both beauty & brokenness. It’s in this tension where we see the power of God break through in desperate times as well as walking through the mystery & tragedy of when prayers seem to go unanswered. 

 

Mark 1:15 | Matthew 6:10 | Romans 8:18-30 | Revelation 21:3–5

“We are rooted in the truth of Scripture & moving in the power of the Spirit.”  

 

John 1:1 | 2 Timothy 3:16–17 | Ezekiel 36:26–27 | 1 Thessalonians 1:5 | Acts 1:8

“Your story matters & it is meant to point to the true story of the world.”  

 

Creation | Fall | Redemption | Restoration | Psalm 139:13–16 | Ephesians 2:10

“We come together to be built up on Sundays & live on mission every day.” 

 

Matthew 18:20 | Acts 2:42–47 | John 20:21 | Matthew 9:36–38

“We have a plan of becoming more like Jesus in all of life & we acknowledge some of the holiest moments happen in interruptions.”  

 

Ephesians 5:15–17 | Proverbs 21:5 | Luke 8:43–48 | Acts 3:1–10

“We do good work & enter into sabbath as a gift.” 

  

Genesis 1:26–28; 2:15 | Colossians 3:23-24 | Genesis 2:2–3 | Matthew 11:28–30

“The Gospel is always something that is both preached & practiced”  

  

Luke 4:18–19 | Romans 10:14–15 | Matthew 5:16 | James 2:14–17 | 1 Thessalonians 1:5

“We have an unchanging message that can be applied in new & different ways”  

 

Jude 3 | Ecclesiastes 1:9 | 2 Corinthians 5:17 | Revelation 21:5

“We have scandalous compassion & call people to repentance.”  

 

Colossians 3:12 | Matthew 9:36 | 2 Timothy 1:7–8 | John 8:10–11 | John 1:14

 

“Jesus is the most compelling person who has ever lived, but His Way runs counter to the ways of the world.” 

 

Romans 12:2 | John 17:14–16 | Colossians 4:5–6 | 1 Peter 2:12 

What We Believe

At Desert Church, we hold to historic Christian orthodoxy as articulated in the Nicene Creed & the Apostles' Creed.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. 

 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end. 

 

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come.  

 

Amen.

We believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 

 

We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell.  

 

The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. 

 

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (universal) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  

 

Amen.

At Desert Church, we believe the Bible (composed of Protestant Old and New Testaments) to be true, authoritative, and trustworthy. We believe God divinely inspired the original authors through the Holy Spirit to write them. (2 Timothy 3:15-17 & 2 Peter 1:21) 

 

The Biblical story, which spans the full narrative of scripture, can be most succinctly summarized in four movements – Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. 

 

 

Creation
God’s creation was an uncorrupted place of human flourishing and shalom through union with God and one another. 

 

Fall
Humanity rebelled against God, attempting to be our own gods, resulting in the corruption of creation. The curse of sin has personal, communal, spiritual, and creational realities. 

 

Redemption
Beginning with Abraham and Sarah, God began a long story of redemption. Israel is a family line leading to Jesus, who fulfilled the promise of blessing all nations by making a way for all people to be redeemed through His death and resurrection. 

 

Restoration
God’s plan is for the renewal of all creation, and the Scripture ends with heaven and earth restored as one. God is not making all new things, He is making all things new.

The Gospel is the good news that life with God in his Kingdom has been made available through the rescuing and renewing work of Jesus Christ. We are called to repent and invited into a life of discipleship, empowered by the Holy Spirit as we join God in His mission to make all things new. 

 

This good news is initiated by God, in grace. 

 

This good news is substitutionary: Christ has come, lived, died, and risen on our behalf. 

 

This good news is participatory: we are involved in declaring and joining the work of God in redemptive history as his faithful, fruitful people. 

 

This good news is news of a Kingdom, not just individual hearts. It is the Lordship of Jesus tangibly worked out across all of creation. 

 

This good news is political: Jesus is the True King, announcing that the Kingdom of God has come near. 

 

This good news is powerful. It brings people from death to life, promises the presence and power of God in us, and enables us to be a preview community of the work God will do in all creation. 

 

This good news is both a present reality and a future promise. The Gospel is not just about eternal life after death, but about entering into the “eternal kind of life” here and now.  

 

We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for humankind. Solely by God’s grace are people redeemed from sin and death and made righteous and alive in Christ. The message of the Gospel is that Christ has done what is necessary to bring us into relationship with God. We believe that the Gospel speaks to the whole person, and can transform anyone anywhere, bringing the healing and restoration needed to advance God’s Kingdom of heaven on earth.

 

Not all people are called to be married; singleness is a vocation of dignity, value, and worth with its own ways to serve the Kingdom of God and contribute to the renewal of all things. In many ways, singleness can be a preferable calling in God’s Kingdom. 

 

Marriage is an institution of creation. Adam and Eve were made to bring out the best in each other, as male and female, in a “one flesh” union with both a unifying dimension (the ability to unite two bodies as one), and a procreative dimension (the vehicle through which children are brought into the world). Marriage is thus the foundation for family, the sacred building block of society that builds up humanity, and designed to image God in a covenant of faithful love. Jesus affirms the “one flesh” union of male and female as the normative pattern for sex and marriage and highlights the sacred indissolubility of the bond. 

 

Marriage is also a picture of salvation, designed to display Christ and his Bride, in faithful love, mutual service, and an unbreakable union that brings life to the world.  

 

God intends sex to be only practiced within marriage and prohibits any sexual activity outside of this one-man and one-woman covenant (such as, pornography, adultery, premarital sex, same-sex sexual activity). As followers of Jesus, we give our bodies to God, pursuing sexual fidelity as an avenue of faithfulness. 

 

Genesis 1 & 2 | Matthew 19:4-6 | Ephesians 5:31-32 | 1 Corinthians 7:6-9

Our Story

We’re Brandon & Amelia Bellerson!

We’ve been married since 2017 & have three daughters: Delilah (2019), Phoebe (2022), & Florence (2024). The Desert of the East Valley is a consistent theme in our story. We were both born & raised in Chandler, we live on the border of Mesa/Gilbert, & for the last five years we have been a part of Redemption Tempe. We have a strong sense that God is calling us to plant a church in the community where we live, in the Gilbert, AZ area. 

Church planting has been a dream of Brandon’s since college. He has always been a gatherer of people & has a passion for pursuing the presence of God. He loves helping people follow Jesus & walking alongside them as they discern where God is working in their lives. Since getting married and becoming parents, the dream of planting has turned into a family endeavor. Amelia is gifted by way of caring for people & she has led in helping create community for moms at Redemption Tempe. As a couple, Brandon and Amelia share a passion for helping bring people into community by practices of hospitality & seeing their home as a tool for discipleship. 









Take Your Next Step

If you are looking to join the Desert Church Community, feel free to reach out.
Send a message