City Church Family:
A CHURCH PLANTING CHURCH
When City Church launched six years ago we wanted to be a church planting church. Rooted in a conviction that church planting is the most effective strategy for bringing God's Kingdom to life in a local community, we sought to participate in church planting beyond our own efforts in Wilmington. From the beginning we have financially supported church plants (both nationally and internationally) as well as the Acts 29 Network and our presbytery's church planting fund. We also provided training and experience through an internship for an Acts 29 church planter in our first few years.
Now that we are formally established as a congregation the temptation could be to breathe a sigh of relief and allow ourselves to grow inwardly focused. We don't want that to happen. We want to maintain the mindset of a church plant. We want to remember that we exist not simply for ourselves, but for those who are disconnected from Jesus and the life of God's family. And we want to continue to be a church planting church.
A CHURCH PLANTING RESIDENCY
One way that we will move forward as a church planting church is through the launch of a church planting residency. The following excerpt comes from my church planting proposal written in 2009:
"God is always moving his people forward, taking the gospel into new places and neighborhoods. We want to participate in a movement of church planting. Our dream is to plant churches in and around Wilmington. With this in mind, recruiting and training future church planters will be a priority for us. We would love to have apprenticeships for church planters so that there are regularly planters in the 'chute' ready to be sent out."
The launch of our church planting residency realizes a vision that was birthed before City Church even began! Our residency is designed to provide practical ministry experience and a deeper awareness of personal calling. In addition to hands-on experience, residents will be immersed in City Church’s ministry philosophy and also exposed to a wide variety of resources in preparation for church planting. The residency emphasizes development in the areas of: (1) Heart/character, (2) Head/cognition, and (3) Hands/competency.
OUR CHURCH PLANTING RESIDENT
I am excited to announce that the elders have approved our first church planting resident! Many of you have met Robbie Schmidtberger and his wife, Jennifer. Robbie preached at City Church in October and participated in our organization service last month. He has also served on the leadership team for our Kennett Square community group. Robbie came into our presbytery last year for a two year residency recommended by Mission to North America, our denomination's national mission agency. He will finish the first year of his residency at Stillwaters Presbyterian Church in April and join our staff on May 1st for a one year residency.
Robbie's primary role at City Church will be to help develop our School of Discipleship ministry. Outside of the School of Discipleship, his focus will be on discerning where God is leading him to plant a church and on growing and developing as a church planter. Robbie raises support for his residency and City Church will contribute support from our pastoral intern fund, funded by a local foundation committed to church planting. Adding this position does not impact our general budget. Robbie is an ordained minister so our elders will call him as an assistant pastor, though his title will be "Church Planting Resident." He will not serve on the elder team (assistant pastors are called by the elders and are not members of the elder team, while associate pastors are called by the congregation and are members of the elder team). We will benefit from Robbie's ministry among us, particularly in the School of Discipleship, but the focus is on investing in him and helping him prepare to plant a church. As a congregation we will have the joy of partnering with Robbie and Jennifer in their journey toward planting a new missional church family.
The Schmidtberger's will begin worshiping with us on May 1st. Be sure to welcome them into our family!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jason