Max and Deanna Manley have always been passionate about helping people get better in their spiritual journey by encountering truth, transcendence, and transformation in Christ and in togetherness with His Church. They have been married since 1998 and have two daughters. With 18 years of pastoral experience, Max and Deanna started Monarchs Church in 2020 with the hope of many people experiencing the powerful reality of God as they believe in Jesus, belong to God’s family, become their best, and build the future that honors God and impacts our world - locally and globally. We would love for you to join us this coming Sunday!

Our story involves a dedicated team who united in 2019 to launch a new church to serve God and the Monterey Bay Area. During this time, launch events, interest gatherings, and personal connections within the community were effectively made in preparation for the grand opening of Monarchs Church on the beautiful hilltop campus of York School in Monterey. We even opened up a Sunday afternoon community basketball outreach in the weeks leading up to our first service. The grand opening date was set for March 29, 2020… approximately two weeks after the Covid-19 pandemic locked down the country! 

Like all other churches at that time, Monarchs pivoted ministry to the digital space. We ministered the Word in a different format that became our new normal - a live engagement model in which people could respectfully interact with the sermon in real time, sharing insights or asking questions (and for prayer), while allowing open Q&A at the conclusion for any who wished to engage. Monarchs offered midweek Zoom Bible teaching as well as ongoing prayer in our Facebook group every evening for years until transitioning to Tuesday evenings at 7:14. 

Back then, each area of the U.S. responded to the pandemic differently, and the ministry of Monarchs was set to serve a community that was exceedingly cautious and reluctant about any public gatherings. Regardless of one’s personal views or even what history ultimately decides, our local mission field remained very reticent to risk spreading the various variants of Covid, especially if they did not know those with whom they would be gathering. Our region remained largely shut down even when other parts of the country had “gone back to normal.” While every state and municipality approached this unprecedented time as they deemed best, the realities on the ground for Monarchs impacted us significantly.

Our local area’s extremely slow return to normal certainly impacted the original Monarchs launch team as some moved away from our local area (or out of California entirely), some preferred to worship in church environments that were already well-established, and some simply did not maintain connection to any church during this time of massive disruption. Despite the faithful attempts of our core team to restart formal worship gatherings in both the York School Chapel and in York’s outdoor amphitheater, it soon became evident that circumstances had taken us not just back to square one but pre-square one! Organic in-person gatherings supplemented what had become Monarchs primary identity as a live-engagement digital teaching, discipleship, and prayer ministry. 

During this unique and unplanned time, Monarchs welcomed individuals from other parts of California and out-of-state. We became a primary source of Christian ministry and fellowship or we served as a spiritual supplement to local church community while seeking a solution to benefit those in our local area with in-person, corporate worship gatherings in a brick-and-mortar church environment. For the moment, Monarchs maintains a primarily digital/organic hybrid ministry model for live Bible teaching and engagement, live prayer gatherings, fellowship, accessibility for pastoral counsel, and sacerdotal functions (e.g., baptisms, communion, funeral services, etc.). While the uniqueness of Monarchs’ situation allows for nimbleness to pivot with an immediacy and creativity not typically afforded most churches, our next steps are ultimately in God’s hands. 

As things continue to unfold, Monarchs shall endeavor to continually magnify the Person and Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for all who are seeking to know God. We will also strive to be an ongoing source of spiritual strengthening for all God’s people who love Him and who love interactive engagement in His word and with His people. Welcome, and may God richly bless you though the ministry of Monarchs! 



We exist to lead people to believe in Jesus, belong to God’s family, become their best, and build the future.

BELIEVE  ✝️

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 

— Romans 3:22

Have you personally engaged with God today?

BELONG  👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. 

— John 1:12-13

Would you like to make more 2 A.M. friends?

BECOME  🦋

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

— Romans 12:2

Is there an area of life where you want God to help you get better?

BUILD  🏗️

Each one will receive his own reward. 9 For we work together with God. 

— 1 Corinthians 3:8-9

Will you discover your God-given purpose to make a difference in the world?

#Meaning: We look at the bigger picture 🖼️

#Others: We give up what we love for who we love more ❤️

#NextSteps: We take our next steps together 👣

#Awe: We create space to experience God 🔥

#Relevance: We find that the Jesus Way works every day 🛠️

#Celebration: We bring the fun to everything 🎉

#Honor: We know it’s better to give than to receive 🎁 

#Service: We’re changed by God to change the world 🌎

Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

— 1 Corinthians 15:58

GOD

We believe in one true and living God, the uncreated Creator of the universe and Source of all life, who is revealed in Holy Scripture as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God - fully God and fully, yet sinless, man - our King and Savior, who was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary. Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, was seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses, and has promised to return again.

HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the Holy Spirit, active in creation, Inspirer of the writers of the Bible, and He who draws unbelievers to Christ. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher and Helper - working signs and wonders as He who indwells, baptizes, empowers, gifts, and makes holy those who are in Christ till the Lord returns.

SCRIPTURE

We believe in the Bible as the inspired word of God primarily because the Lord Jesus did - and He confirmed His authority and trustworthiness by rising from the dead. Our confidence in the reliability and ultimate written authority of the Bible is bolstered by science, history, archaeology, fulfilled prophecies, and its life-changing impact on people’s lives when rightly applied. 

THE ATONEMENT & SALVATION

We believe we are declared right with God by grace through our true, life-changing faith toward God and His Gospel (the Good News and work of Jesus Christ, the Victor over sin and death). Therefore, we turn from our sin and put our trust in Christ - His deity, His willing death for the forgiveness of our sins, His bodily resurrection, and His promised gift of eternal life.

THE CHURCH

We believe in the Church (“the called out ones”) as the expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. The Church is built by the Lord as His family of followers, both in our local communities and as a global entity; therefore, we are charged to promote the unity, health, and growth of the Church in love.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

We believe in God’s grace and favor that empowers us to turn from evil to live a new, joyful, and disciplined life dedicated to the Lord. We are servant-worshipers of God and witnesses of Christ to the world, commanded to make disciples while expressing His virtues such as, hope, mercy, justice, humility, holiness, and love toward God and toward our neighbor.

HUMANITY

Because all people are created in the image and likeness of God, we believe in the inherent and incomparable value of all human beings, despite our sinful nature and absolute need of a Savior.

BAPTISM & THE LORD’S SUPPER

We believe in and practice the covenant sign of New Testament water baptism as an ordinance commanded by Christ and His Apostles for all who believe the Gospel and who turn from sin to identify themselves with the Lord Jesus, His death, His burial, and His resurrection.

We believe in The Lord’s Supper (Communion) as a sacred celebration of Christ’s real presence in our lives - instituted by Jesus for His faithful followers as a memorial and proclamation of His death until He returns.

ESCHATOLOGY

We believe there will be a personal, bodily return (“second coming”) of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth, the bodily resurrection of all who have died, and the final judgment of all who have lived. 

The Apostles’ Creed (Modern English Version)

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

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, 

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, 

the holy *catholic church, 

the communion of **saints, 

the forgiveness of sins, 

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. AMEN. 

(*In this context, “catholic” simply means universal or worldwide, not a denomination)

(**In this context “saints” - or holy ones, simply refers to all faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, both those currently alive and those who have died in faith)