Our Story
How a city, a calling, and a community came together.
Planted in Portland. Rooted in Something Deeper.
Anchor didn't start with a building or a budget. It started with a conviction — that Portland needed a place where people could stop drifting and find something solid to hold onto.
In 2019, Ethan and Mia Park moved into the neighborhood with a simple but stubborn belief: that the gospel is still the most honest, life-changing story in the world — and that a church could embody it without pretense. After a decade of ministry across the Pacific Northwest, they'd seen what church could be at its best. So they started building it.
What grew out of those early gatherings was something neither polished nor accidental. Anchor became a community shaped by rich, thoughtful worship and the kind of honesty that makes a room feel different. Less performative. More real. People started showing up — not because it was the trendiest thing in Southeast Portland, but because something here felt true.
Today, Anchor is a part of the Acts 29 network of churches, grounded in a deep theological tradition while remaining wide open to the city around it. We gather twice on Sundays — 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM — and we spend the rest of the week trying to be the kind of community that actually means something to the people in it.
This is Anchor. Come find your footing.
Mission & Values
A place for people to find their anchor — in Jesus, in community, and in a city that needs both.
Scripture First
Everything we do is shaped by the Bible — not as a rulebook, but as a living story we're invited into. We take it seriously because we think it deserves to be taken seriously.
Thoughtful Worship
Our worship is contemporary without being careless, and rooted without being stale. We believe beauty and truth belong in the same room.
Real Community
We're not interested in surface-level belonging. Anchor is built around genuine relationships — the kind that hold you when things get hard.
City Presence
We love Portland and we take that seriously. Anchor exists not just for the people inside our walls, but for the neighborhood around us.
Intentional Growth
Faith isn't static. We're committed to helping people move — from curiosity to conviction, from the margins to the center of a life worth living.
Honest Faith
We don't do performance. Anchor is a place where doubt is welcome, questions are real, and no one has to pretend they have it all figured out.
What We Believe
We believe in one God who exists as three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, distinct in role but unified in nature. This isn't just theology; it's the foundation for why relationship, love, and community matter so deeply.
We believe Jesus is fully God and fully human — that he lived a real life, died a real death, and rose from the dead on the third day. His life is the hinge of all history, and following him is the most important thing a person can do.
We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God — trustworthy, authoritative, and alive. We read it not to find loopholes or ammunition, but to encounter the God who wrote himself into human history.
We believe every person is loved by God and in need of rescue. Salvation isn't earned — it's a gift, received through faith in Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross. That gift changes everything.
We believe the Holy Spirit is real, present, and active in the world today. He comforts, convicts, and empowers people to live in ways they couldn't manage on their own.
We believe the church isn't a building or a Sunday routine — it's a people. Anchor is a local expression of a much larger community spanning centuries and continents, all gathered around the same Jesus.
We believe this life is not the end of the story. Jesus promised resurrection and renewal — a restored world, a made-right humanity, and a forever that's better than we can currently imagine.
The People Behind Anchor
Ethan Park
Lead Pastor
Ethan and his wife Mia planted Anchor in 2019 after a decade of ministry in the Pacific Northwest.