My church began a few localized gatherings last year to serve our people during the pandemic. 

These gatherings were called “neighborhood churches.”

We gathered every Sunday to provide space for people to hear God’s Word, receive prayer, and gain clarity on the next step of their discipleship journey. 

On Sunday, September 12th (after an incredible 15 months), four of these locations will make the official transition as congregations.

In this post, I share some personal backstory and subsequent learnings from the last 15 months.

1. I was hesitant at first. 

Sure, I felt some uncertainty regarding the pandemic but my hesitancy was rooted in my love for my role at the time.

I had been a college pastor for 6 years and loved it. A mighty team of students and I had just launched a brand new church-based campus ministry which was beginning to gain traction pre-shutdown. There was a sense in which things felt incomplete.

There was also some fear of venturing into new ministry territory. I was accustomed to teaching every week as a college pastor, a personal rhythm for 13 years. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a change. 

Learning (What I Learned): God’s direction can sometimes precede our desires. In other words, while I wasn’t initially sure if this was the step I wanted to take, God knew better in his wisdom and sovereignty. He knew I would grow to love this ministry assignment (and I do). I could not imagine doing anything else. I’m grateful that he was confident when I wasn’t. 

2. I barely knew the launch team. 

Up to this point, my view of church launches or plants was the romanticized story of a few close friends meeting for prayer in someone’s living room which miraculously births a church.

My experience could not have been further from said reality.

I had only been on staff as a pastor for a year. So I knew only ten percent of the room during our first meeting. There was little to no context for much of our relationships early on outside of a phone call, or they heard me preach, or we had simply said “Yes” to this together.

Learning: Fellowship works best when its angled for Kingdom work. The word “koinonia” (often translated “fellowship”) means “participation.” In the first century, it was considered “koinonia” when two fishermen would enter into a business venture together. In other words, fellowship is a purposeful presence in the lives of one another.

Yesterday, I got off a zoom meeting with a number of our ministry leaders and staff. They are like family. I love that I get to greet people on Sundays by name. I’ve been able to hear their stories and the journey they’re on. And it all started because of purposeful presence.

3. There were exhausting moments. 

If “pivot” was the keyword for church leaders during 2020, I felt like we could’ve been a good case study.

In just 8 months, we had four major adjustments to our gathering format. We also moved out of our previous meeting space to enter a new space. We adjusted service times on three occasions. We were (are) familiar with storage issues. Set-up and tear down. Building new ministries on the fly from largely a volunteer base. I could go on and on. There were many challenging and difficult moments. 

Learning: Resilience is a muscle and a miracle. The level of our resilience is up to us. We can enter a stretch period and come out better for it on the other side. We can grow in our tolerance of difficulty and challenges. We can even begin to enjoy facing challenges head-on.

At the same time, resilience is a gift and grace of God. Paul, the apostle once said, “On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor 15:10).

There were moments when I kept running and wondered how I was still running. I see that while I ran, it was the grace of God at work in my life and in the lives of others. I was striving, but it was with the resources that came from another. 

4. God grew my faith. 

In the last 15 months, there were some prayers I made that he did not answer. Yet in the last 15 months, the Lord did above and beyond anything I could’ve asked or imagined.

A pastor encouraged me last year to pay attention to the way the Lord would shepherd my heart in the midst of my attempts to shepherd his people. I see the ways in which he was maturing me into his image and likeness. He humbled me by showing me how little I am and how big he is. He reminded me of the gift of God’s people and community. He demonstrated that he alone saves and redeems.  

Learning: God can birth the best things in the “worst” times. Isn’t this how God has always worked throughout history? God brought about rescue for the early iteration of Israel during a famine (Genesis). God demonstrated his glory on the heels of Israel’s long-standing captivity (Exodus). Jesus conquered death and makes us his people by passing through death and agony.

So why wouldn’t God birth a church during a pandemic? It’s very “on brand” to who God is and how he operates. 

Concluding Words 

These accounts are just from my personal vantage point. There are a number of other people who could share backstories from their vantage points. 

But regardless of the backstory, I rejoice that my God loves to write stories and I believe he will continue to write.

And I am hopeful that I will be able to share of the works he will do in the next fifteen months.