Who we are

We’re a college group dedicated to helping students find life, community, and Jesus at UCR. College can feel a bit like a desert sometimes, so we wanted to build an "oasis"—a welcoming place to be refreshed through finding friends and growing in faith together.

For us, it’s more than just showing up to events. We’re focused on learning how to live out our faith day-to-day. We do life together, whether that’s meeting up on campus to study the Bible, discipleship meetings in the homes, or going out for fun on weekends. We want to be a home away from home: a space where you can ask honest questions, grow deeper in your relationship with God, and share the ups and downs of college life with friends.

Our Story

It all started back in 2010, when a group of UC Berkeley and UC Davis college graduates moved down together to Riverside, CA with a dream of planting a church that would be able to mimic the kind of church community that could be found in the book of Acts with fellowship over God's Word and breaking bread in each other's homes on a day to day basis.

First Team to UCR

2010 - Early Beginnings

After the team landed, we quickly realized that Riverside was quite a harvest field! In less than a year, we experienced our first salvation decision and several months later, we had our first baptism. Little did we know then that some of those students we met would one day become church planters and missionaries themselves!

2014 Graduation

2014 - Bearing Fruit

2014 was a milestone year for our Riverside church. It marked our very first graduating class, which led to Riverside's first church plant at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP). We started other ministries as well like Interhigh, 4Corners for international students, and Elderly Care Ministry to bring the Gospel to those living in convalescent homes.

2017 - The Great Scattering

2017 - The Great Scattering

We call 2017 the year of the Great Scattering, because many churches throughout the network of Acts 2 College chapters sent out church planting teams to the East Coast. Our Riverside church sent out not just 1 but 2 teams out at Rutgers University in New Jersey, which in turn has led to more generations of college students being saved and discipled on the East Coast.

Today - Helping students grow in their faith journey

Since then, we've continued to send UC Riverside graduates all over the country and even to foreign countries, including Taiwan, Vietnam, and Cambodia. We're so thankful for how God has worked here in Riverside, turning ordinary lives into extraordinary lives of blessing.

Meet Our Pastoral Couple

Cheng Family

  • Jasper & Grace Cheng come from very different backgrounds.

    Jasper grew up in church and attended a Christian school, while Grace wanted nothing to do with Christianity. But in college, they each met Jesus (and eventually each other!). Since then, they’ve served together in ministries across Berkeley, Riverside, Pomona, Piscataway, Princeton, and New York—mentoring students, planting churches, and helping people from all walks of life follow Jesus.

    Now based in Southern California, they’re raising two adventurous kids, and love spending time outdoors.

    On top of leading our local congregation in Riverside, they serve as Network Staff for the Acts2 Network.

  • I grew up around church and Christian school—I led worship, ran small groups, and was president of my youth group. At school, I was a good student, had club leadership roles, and was a varsity swimmer. I had built an identity around being “the good kid.” In college, that illusion cracked. A family crisis and the help of honest insights from mentors and friends forced me to confront my own pride and self-righteousness. I realized I wasn’t just someone who made mistakes—I was a sinner trying to fix myself. That’s when the gospel finally became personal. Jesus didn’t come to affirm my efforts; He came to save me from them. For the first time, I understood grace not as jargon, but as the foundation.

    Since college, I've worked a decade in corporate finance, the work that was most motivating what I did after hours: serving in our college ministry. So when the opportunity came to go into full-time ministry, it didn’t feel like a huge jump—just doing more of what I was already most passionate about!

    Outside of ministry, I love the outdoors—hiking, fishing, and especially cycling. I’m married to Grace and we’re raising two kids—a boy and a girl—who love adventuring with us.

  • The last thing I wanted to be was Christian. But during my sophomore year of college, I was one of the people to find my friend dead in his apartment. It turned my world upside down and I realized that all my pursuits were meaningless. I wondered, "If I died the next day like my friend, would my life have meant anything at all?" That's how I started my spiritual journey. Through reading books and taking a course on intellectual foundations for Christianity (Course 101), I realized that there was scientific legitimacy to the Christian faith. And not only that, that I was a sinner in need of salvation, so after a lot of resistance, I eventually decided to make Jesus my Lord and Savior.

    The journey hasn't been easy. I resisted God's call on my life almost every step of the way. But through it all, I've gotten to experience the amazing mercy of God and being used by him for his ministry in Berkeley, Riverside, Pomona, Piscataway, Princeton, and New York to college students, youth, elderly, and international grad students. It's beyond what I could've dreamed or imagined.

What We Believe

2026-2027 Student Board

Student Board: Ethan, Jacob, Lily, Carl, Elmer, & Chris