By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – Chelsea Creek Community Church has been around for less than two years, but the church is already impacting the community.

In June, the church held its second annual 5K and 10K race in Chelsea Park to raise money for King’s Home.

“I think the neat thing about that is it is one charity working for another charity,” Pastor Matthew Roskam said. “I think that’s a cool angle on this. We didn’t do this thing to raise money for our church, but we really believe in what they’re doing over at King’s Home.”

The church was able to raise about $5,000 for King’s Home’s general fund.

“It’s a really neat ministry for women in abusive situations. They’re able to provide shelter for them and their children,” Roskam said. “We wanted to benefit a local charity.”

Roskam said community service is “part of who we are” at Chelsea Creek.

“Even thought we’re not in a situation where we have a lot of money, from the beginning we thought we’d be about helping the community and contributing to others,” he said. “We really don’t want to have our hand out to the community; we want to help our community in all that we do.”

The church is a church plant from Double Oak Community Church in Mt Laurel.

Roskam said he and church members are trying to create a sense of community within Chelsea, specifically in Chelsea Park with movie nights. The next movie night is July 27, and the church is holding another movie night in Chelsea Park with a back-to-school bash Aug. 17.

“We just want to create community,” Roskam said. “I love electronics as much as everyone, but I think it really highlights our need to get out and be face to face together. We need to create real community where people don’t have a computer between them and who they’re connecting with.”

For more information about Chelsea Creek Community Church, visit Chelseacreekcc.org.