Creativity, Growth, and Prayer
Snow, snow, and more snow has blanketed the Northeast over the last month, causing school closings and creating dangerous conditions on roadways. For many of our churches, the snow and school closings have forced them to get creative with their Sunday worship services!
For two weeks, Revolution Church in Annapolis live-streamed their worship when the school where they meet was unavailable. The band set up in the office, Josh preached the gospel, and people “attended” from home in their pjs, a cup of coffee in hand. While it doesn’t replace seeing each other face to face, Revolution’s quick thinking and creativity allowed their church to worship together during a tough time.
The winter weather caused trouble for The Foundry in Baltimore, when on Sunday morning they discovered their supply trailer buried in snow with flat tires. With only a few hours to spare, volunteers from Revolution drove down with equipment to help out! (For more on the fellowship between the churches in the Baltimore area, read Cord of Three Strands.) Amber was baptized at Foundry that Sunday!
Snow isn’t slowing down Renaissance Church in Harlem! A recent membership class was packed and the church continues to grow. Lead planter Jordan Rice shares, “We had three baptisms and several people are experiencing church for the first time.“ The gospel choir at a neighborhood school recently came to sing at Renaissance. This video shows the joy and enthusiasm during the Sunday worship!
At Orchard Group, our desire is to start new churches in cities around the world. It’s not enough just to start churches. We want to see those churches grow and thrive for years to come. One marker of maturity for a new church is establishing a sense of place in their communities. In the last month, two churches moved into new and more permanent worship space.
With a large picture window overlooking the Salt Lake City capitol building, the space for Missio Dei Community is nearly complete. This building allows Missio to minister to their city while having room for future growth.
New City Church in Phoenix celebrated their first service in their new worship space with a record number of people attending worship on one day. Lead planter Brian Kruckenberg shares, “This is historic for our church and in many ways I pray it proves to be an historic day for our city as we are now positioned to serve Phoenix with the love of Christ like never before.”
Mustard Seed Christian Church in Osaka, Japan is searching for new space as well. Their Sunday location, which holds 60, has been stretched to its limits with 88 people attending. MSCC also marked a milestone of discipleship – one of the Japanese Christians who came to faith at MSCC baptized another believer this month!
Throughout February, good news of growth poured in from our churches. We have much to be thankful for. Orchard Group continues in its mission to start new churches, and God is using these churches to reach thousands.
Please pray:
- For Restoration Church in Philadelphia. Restoration launches on March 22nd
- For the LA and Miami projects, who are in the planning and praying stages
- For MSCC Osaka, as they look for larger meeting space
- For our new and established churches to grow in health and vitality as they uniquely bear witness to the beauty of the gospel in their cities
