The last update I shared about our church planting journey was five days before Grady made his debut (so Oct 25th). I felt like it was high time for another look at how things are going! Ha.
We have been meeting on Sunday mornings for 20 weeks! Wow time flies! Things are going really well. We have had visitors almost every single week that we have met. We just finished our first membership class last week! There are tons of exciting things happening. We just began our first "life groups" (small groups), and are starting with three groups! We are averaging 35-40 a week (including kids). We have setup and tear down worked into a nice routine. Overall, it is going very well.
But I more so want to share the things that can't be measured by numbers or classes or things or budgets. What has the Lord been teaching us through this process? A ton!!
He is teaching us how to truly serve His church, not just our friends. When you have been at a church a long time, those things sometimes become synonymous. But here He has called us to interrupt our plans and life to serve people we may have just met. And that is stretching but also a huge blessing.
He is teaching me not to assume people here know the gospel and the bible. We have a tendency to not start with the very basics because we kind of assume everyone has been around church, even if it was just as a child. Several of the new people that are coming have been raised in very different spiritual backgrounds. It's important to really teach scripture and not just overview it.
I am learning that more than anything People want to feel a connection when they go to church. Clearly we are small, still getting basics worked out and do not have it all together. Our nursery had two rock n plays and a changing pad for many weeks. Taking up offering sometimes looks a little chaotic as we let new people volunteer for it. At any point during our worship there may be one or several children running wild, which is understandable because we are in a gym- why wouldn't they?! And thru all of it people have loved it because we have been able to truly connect (pretty easy when their are only 40 of you! Haha) and ask questions and get to know them. And I can see it all over their faces, they came here because they wanted to be known.
I am learning so much as we go, and I hope to be better about sharing. It is hard to put most of this experience into words, but I am gonna try.
Thank you to those who have been praying for us thru out this journey! Please keep it up.
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