Where we came from
Branches started nearly twenty years ago as a church for people who don’t go to church. In a lot of ways, it still is.
In 2007, Eric “Boogie” Rose started Branches in Dana Point for people who had given up on church but hadn’t necessarily given up on God. People who needed a place to show up as they were, without pretending. Over the years, Branches met in several places before settling into our permanent home at Agape 1928 in San Clemente.
Boogie lived committed to seeing God’s kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. We lost him too soon, in 2024. His legacy of welcome, humility and an open table remains, and it still shapes how we gather.
What’s changed
Over the years, something shifted in the people who came. Many of us grew more committed to Jesus and less comfortable with the forms faith often takes in American Evangelical church life. Those forms lean on power and certainty, get defensive when questioned, and judge faithfulness by who gets kept out. We haven’t walked away from the church. We’re trying to remember what it was for.
You won’t find a lead or senior pastor here. Our pastoral team and elder board share the work of caring for this community.
The name comes from Jesus’ words in John 15: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” Staying connected to him is the whole point. The structures around that are secondary.
The church we’re learning to become
“I dream of a church that looks like Jesus.”
That's the kind of community we're hoping to become. And while we're still learning what that looks like, a few convictions guide us along the way.
We keep coming back to Jesus. He welcomed the people religion pushed aside, loved his enemies, and revealed a God whose power is expressed through self-giving love. We believe Jesus is the clearest picture of God, and that conviction shapes how we read Scripture. We receive the Bible as God-breathed, approaching it with reverence, curiosity, and the conviction that its deepest purpose is to lead us to Christ.
We have deep roots. We draw from the wisdom of Christians who have gone before us, from the early church and ancient saints to the mystics, theologians, and ordinary people who have practiced the way of Jesus across generations. We value tradition as a living inheritance, something to receive with gratitude, wrestle with honestly, and carry forward faithfully.
We make room for mystery and beauty. We believe following Jesus involves our whole selves, including our minds, bodies, imaginations, and desires. So we practice prayer, silence, and contemplation. We make space for music, art, and beauty, trusting that some of the deepest things about God are experienced before we ever find the words to explain them.
We remain open to being changed. We want to be a community that listens well, welcomes honest questions, and has the courage to admit when we've gotten something wrong. We take seriously the experiences of those who have been wounded by the church. And we trust that the same grace we're learning to extend to others is still at work healing and transforming us.
