Joining God s story of redemption in our neighborhoods.

Transcription

1 The Mill Church Joining God s story of redemption in our neighborhoods. OUR STORY STARTS HERE

2 ON THIS TRUTH WE STAND 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18-19 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Our partners include the V3 Movement, a church planting network that trains planters to start disciple-making churches in the foundational practices of tight-knit community, lifeforming discipleship, locally-rooted presence, and boundary-crossing mission; the Assemblies of God s Church Multiplication Network; and our local parent church, Life Christian Fellowship (Springfield, PA), who will provide oversight, relational covering, accountability, and support.

3 About Us THE KRANJEC S Alex and Jaclyn met at a back yard graduation party the summer of 2004 and quickly fell in love. Three years later they were married and moved to Kansas City, MO where they served at the International House of Prayer. After sensing God s call to the Philadelphia region where they both were born and raised, Alex and Jaclyn moved back to the Philadelphia area in Alex would spend an initial season finishing his education at the University of Valley Forge. Alex and Jaclyn served at Calvary Church in Wyncote, PA, in the areas of worship and media. Eventually, Alex became the Worship and Creative Arts Pastor at Calvary. A seed was planted in 2010 at a church planting event at the University of Valley Forge. However, it wasn t until June 2015, in a season of transition at Calvary Church, that Alex and Jaclyn discerned it was time to move forward with church planting. In the following two years, they would continue to prepare themselves for this dream (church planter s assessment, training, Alex s ordination and master s degree, and a field study at a Philadelphia church plant). challenges and pressures individuals and families face in this context and are passionate about seeing renewal and wholness come to all. Their dream would face many challenges, however, through a series of events in early 2017, God began to restore faith and open doors. Alex and Jaclyn were invited by Pastor Bob Novak (Life Christian Fellowship, Springfield) to partner together in the planting of three neighborhood centric churches in Delaware County over the next five years. The Kranjec s responded to God s call and invitation and moved to Havertown in June of Alex has a B.S. in Digital Media Communications from the University of Valley Forge, M.A. in Practical Theology from Regent University, and is an ordained Assemblies of God Minister. Jaclyn has a B.S. in Religion from Liberty University and is currently working on a M.A. Marriage & Family Counseling. Both Alex and Jaclyn live in Havertown, PA with their two beautiful daughters, Anna and Sarah. They began to sense a growing desire to communicate the gospel to those outside the church and believe planting new churches is the most effective way to do so. In response to their own journey, they have a deep desire to see healing come in the area of marriages, family, sexuality, and addiction. Having both grown up in suburban Philadelphia neighborhoods, Alex and Jaclyn are aware of the unique

4 A History of Havertown THE PLACE WE CALL HOME

5 Welcome to the neighborhood Havertown is called home to 48,000 people and is located 20 minutes west of Philadelphia. Because of the affordable housing and a great school district, Havertown has many families. These families form a close knit community that help out neighbors and come together for those in need. The families of Havertown are also generational where one can see children, parents, and grandparents living in the same neighborhood. The town hosts many community events that are family friendly. There are many opportunities for people to be involved in the community with different initiatives and non-profits that exist within Havertown. Though this town is family friendly, has a great school district, and large community involvement, a hidden drug epidemic withers away at its beautiful fabric. Our largely suburban community is riddled with anxiety, fear, anger, and pain that seeks to remain underneath the surface. Through the story of redemption, the gospel of grace, we intend to offer an alternative to these quick ways out. Havertown is a town of traditions and good morals. Many find great pride in their good works and traditions. Good morals and faithful traditions are not necessarily bad, however, they cannot replace the saving grace and renewing work of the Gospel. While our community values religious tradition, 70 percent of people are not actively engaged in a faith community. Many have engaged in religious traditions before and have felt the sting of judgement and shame. Even so, there is such a rich history of faith in Havertown that it cannot be ignored. We seek to come alongside and honor traditions of old, while also pioneering a new wave of God s spirit in the community. God is not yet done with Havertown. There may be many things that plague Havertown s community but there s hope. The hope for Havertown outshines any negative influence in the town. The Mill Church will walk beside those in Havertown and shine hope in the dark places. Havertown is a great community and together we will see great things happen. 70 percent of people are not actively engaged in a faith community.

6 BEHIND THE NAME, THE MILL CHURCH Really, it all comes down to processing life, together. Mills were crucial to the early development and flourishing of many Philadelphia area communities, including Havertown. By tapping into to the power of water, mills produced many of life s necessities from flour and lumber, to cotton and paper, and so many others. Havertown s mills even had a profound impact beyond the local community, providing finished goods to the nation and the world. Beyond producing the products of modern industrial commerce, mills were first and foremost a place of transformation. From their messy, raw forms, materials were processed into a more refined product like cotton into yarn, or wheat into flour. Historically, mills were a central position in the early days of communities like Havertown, serving as hubs of activity and culture in the lives of its residents. In fact, it was in a mill, amid the hustle and bustle of neighborhood life, that one of Havertown s first churches was born. When we encounter Jesus, we allow our messy, raw lives to be processed by His living water. In processing life through the Gospel of Christ, we find access to the staples of renewal and salvation. We are healed from unhealthy patterns, freed from addiction. We are given hope in places of pain. And lives, marriages, families, and neighborhoods are made whole. When we gather at The Mill, we join His family as Christ teaches us to process our lives together. And, as we are refined, made new, we find that we are sent on a new mission. We are empowered by Jesus to do good works in our neighborhoods, as we seek to participate in His restoration of the world, while inviting others to participate in the process of salvation.

7 OUR MISSION The Mill Church exists to join God s story of redemption in our neighborhoods. OUR VISION All of Havertown transformed by the gospel story. Our mission and vision are simple. We envision all of Havertown transformed by the gospel story. Every life processed by Jesus. Where pain becomes hope. Where the loneliness becomes family. Where emptiness becomes purpose and mission. How do we do that? We join His story of redemption in our neighborhoods. We learn to surrender our lives to the processing of Jesus, allow His story to define everything about us, find a family to belong to, and live on Jesus mission to transform our neighborhoods.

8 OUR VALUES The story of our world begins and ends with the presence of God. We were created for God s presence, to experience and enjoy Him, and are sent to live faithfully present amongst the neighborhood. God is working to put all broken things back together in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, God continues to communicate and empower the Church to join His plan of renewal in the world. We are a church where people can find a safe place to be known and be real as the gospel brings wholeness to every area of our lives. We are a family where all can find a place of belonging - where we gather around tables, enjoy one another, and learn to live selflessly for the good of the whole. We practice reconciliation and place a high value on healthy relationships - family, marriages, and singles. We are passionate about God and our mission in the neighborhood. The passion of Christ motivates us to love boldly, live courageously, and take faith risks for the glory of Jesus. Every person is made in the image of God and is valuable and powerful, regardless of our differences. We are all equal in the family of God. The work of ministry is not left to a few super saints, but is the responsibility of every follower of Jesus. We equip and empower each follower of Jesus to live out their God-given roles and personality. Because God is the original creator and the most beautiful one of all, we reflect God s beauty in all we do. We leverage creative mediums as a church with excellence and participate in acts of beauty and justice in our neighborhoods.

9 Missional Strategy/Pillars Biblical discipleship is a lifelong process of following Jesus into this new way of living. We walk with Jesus 1) by learning to live a life surrendered to His gospel story; 2) find a place to belong amongst His family; and 3) join Him on mission to make disciples and seek the transformation of our neighborhoods, cities, and the world. STORY FAMILY We are a story-formed people. Stories shape us, form us, and speak into our identities and purpose, they cut right to the core of who we are. We are all born into a story and continue to live our lives under a certain script. Regardless of the existing script of our lives, Jesus invites us to imagine a new, more truer, way of looking at the narrative of life and the world around us. The gospel invites us to let go of our striving and works driven pursuit of right living and find rest in the life, death, resurrection, and future return of Christ. Resting in the work of Christ, we learn to worship and submit to Jesus in all of life, creating space for our lives to be transformed by the love of Father, Son, and Spirit. We are a family-formed people. This process of allowing the story of Christ to change us can only be accomplished within the family of God. Here we find that despite our differences, every possible boundary is crossed as we share in fellowship, or common life together. To be human is to recognize our need for community. God wired us from the very start to belong to others. Christian formation does not occur alone, but in the context of God s family. We are adopted in, and belong to a new family. Here we love, care, and nurture one another and find we are valuable to God and others. It is in the context of family that we most learn to live out Jesus redemption story. MISSION We are a mission-formed people. The family of God does not just exist for itself. We have a God-given mission to extend God s story and family into our neighborhoods and world. Empowered by God s Spirit, we are sent out to extend these blessings we ve experienced to our neighborhoods and relational networks. We become carriers of God s presence into the world around us. We are called to be peacemakers, reconcilers, and stewards. We listen to our neighbors, seek the renewal of our community, and discern where God is opening up opportunities for Kingdom transformation today.

10 Our Practices MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES Just as Jesus moved into the neighborhood, missional communities act as the primary vehicle by which the church, outside of our worship gatherings, brings the story of redemption to the everyday life of the neighborhood. These small communities, of around twelve people, join Jesus mission together. Instead of separating the work of the church into different events and programs (bible studies, evangelism, family event, serve day, etc), the missional community takes up the cause to move into these areas together. Like a family, the MC gathers regularly around a family meal and identifies social spaces to gather regularly amongst the people of our networks and neighborhoods, where we create opportunities for people who do not yet know Jesus to belong to the family of God. We also seek to be a blessing to the neighborhoods through works of beauty and justice. Our dream is to see every person in our church family connected to a missional community, and to see one missional community for every 1,000 people in Havertown. LIFE TRANSFORMATION GROUPS Life transformation groups, or LTGs for short, are groups of 2-4 people of the same gender who meet regularly to 1) hear and obey the Scripture, 2) repent of sin and believe the gospel together, 3) consider opportunities to share the gospel story and pray for lost people. These spaces allow the deepest penetration of the truths of Jesus to occur and bring the greatest freedom to our lives. Our dream is to see every person at The Mill Church growing through regular involvement in a Life Transformation Group. WORSHIP GATHERINGS Here we are reminded that the story of redemption is public and made available to all. These corporate celebrations shape and form us. They call us to remember who we are and reorient our lives around the story of redemption. We ll encounter God in passionate corporate singing, receive gospel-centered preching, gather around the communion table, and hear stories of renewal taking place throughout the neighborhood. Our dream is to see every person at The Mill Church faithfully participating in collective worship gatherings. As a church we want to follow Jesus discipleship strategy. In addition to abiding personally with the Father Jesus confided in the three (intimate space), trained the twelve (personal space), mobilized the seventy (social space), and taught the multitudes (public space).

11 Our Timeline PHASE 1 APRIL SEPTEMBER CORE DEVELOPMENT How will The Mill Church begin? We will start with a missional community. This initial missional community is what we are calling our core team. How we start is what will establish the culture of the church as we multiply and grow. The Core team will commit together for a 9-12 month season to do the following: Meet weekly around a meal Form LTGs Training on Core Values Listen and learn what God is already doing in our neighborhood and networks (spending time in the neighborhood) Seek local and global missional and social justice partners (examples: Haverford Alliance of Drug Awareness, other churches) Communicate and partner with broader prayer team for special prayer events and initiatives PHASE 2 SEPTEMBER APRIL SOCIAL SPACE & MULTIPLICATION After an initial training and development season, the core team will: Continue the discipleship and training of the core (core meetings will likely move to bi-weekly to enable space for this other work to take place) Invite neighbors, co-workers, friends into a broader social space Grow that larger community with regular social events (bbq s, parties, park gatherings, brunch, etc) and community service initiatives Work toward the multiplication of the original missional community into two communities that meet in different neighborhoods Develop a co-pastor team and plan for future church plants Continue to host prayer initiatives/events and communicate with prayer team Develop a web and social media presence and strategy Establish monthly collective worship gatherings and begin to lay groundwork for public launch by forming a launch team PHASE 3 APRIL APRIL 2020 PUBLIC LAUNCH & DEVELOPMENT Launch public worship gathering! Continue to multiply missional communities - goal to have 3-4 missional communities by the public launch. Create coaching structure for missional community leaders to stay connected to church leadership team and the continued development of missional community leaders Further develop missional community leaders to handle pastoral care needs that arise Identify ministry leaders (family ministry, worship, etc) Discern a strategy to reach teenagers in the community through youth events and intentional discipleship opportunities (their own version of missional communities and LTGs) Establish at least one additional social justice partnership in the neighborhood Move toward self-governance and establishment of partners, church board, etc. Identify a Delaware county neighborhood for next church plant Start a missional community / core team in that neighborhood PHASE 4 APRIL FUTURE CHURCH PLANT & ESTABLISHMENT OF SOVEREIGNTY Repeat above phases for second congregation in a different Delaware County community The Mill Church becomes self-governing and fully established - board, by-laws, governance, staffing, etc. Move toward financial sustainability Add additional part-time pastoral staff See 15 missional communities started and thriving in Havertown neighborhoods

12 Ministry Flow Chart SHARED LEADERSHIP We believe church ought to feel more like a family than a Fortune 500 company. Our emphasis is not on increasing profit or marketing a product, but building people. Therefore, our leadership structure must reflect these different priorities. Instead of a heavy top-down approach to church leadership, we are proposing a structure to leadership that is focused on a plurality of leaders whose goal is the building and empowering of leaders and the grassroots work of making disciples. The early church did not distinguish between different levels of leadership, but was led by a collective group of mature, spirit-filled leaders (Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5-7; 1 Peter 5:1-3). Our dream is the forming of a co-pastoral team; a group of pastors who function in different areas of giftedness (Eph 4:11) sharing leadership together. This team will lead a group of coaches and directors who also work together toward the development of leaders and maturation of disciples within their areas of focus. Shared leadership models the interrelations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and helps to dethrone our pride, build greater levels of trust, and prevent abuses of power that many ministry leaders have unfortunetly succomb to. CO-PASTORAL TEAM ELDER BOARD MISSIONAL COMMUNITY COACHES CREATIVE TEAM / MINISTRY DIRECTORS ADMIN MISSIONAL COMMUNITY LEADERS KIDS & STUDENTS COMMUNITY ADVOCACY WORSHIP & CREATIVE MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES HOSPITALITY FACILITIES & ENVIRONMENT

13 Let s Talk Finances STARTUP EXPENSES Development, Fundraising, and Community Outreach - $25,000 Facility (12 months rental, atmosphere, maintenance) - $30,000 Technology (AV, computer equipment, etc) - $20,000 Marketing (promotions, banners, signs, etc) - $5,000 Equipment trailer/storage - $5,000 Collective Gathering Materials - $10,000 Administrative, Insurance, Supplies $5,000 STARTUP FUNDING SOURCES Denomination Grant - $20,000 V3 Movement Grant - $20,000 US Missions Grant - $10,000 GPA Grant - $10,000 TOTAL STARTUP FUNDING: $60,000 FIRST YEAR GIVING GOALS (50 PARTNERS IN THE NEXT YEAR) 30 Partners (1.25%) - $ Partners (2.5%) - $1,500 5 Partners (10%) - $6,000 TOTAL GIVING: $75,000 TOTAL STARTUP COSTS: $100,000 MONTHLY EXPENSE PERCENTAGES BENCHMARKS: Giving, Missions, and Community Projects - 30% Personnel & Facilities - 35% Operations - 15% Ministry & Future Vision -20% 20% 30% 35% 15%

14 Pray With Us Prayer is first of all listening to God. It s openness. God is always speaking; He s always doing something. Prayer is to enter into that activity. - Henri Nouwen We believe prayer is not just rattling off our most recent needs but rather about developing a listening posture that aligns our hearts with the Kingdom of Heaven. Prayer, both personal and corporate, calls us into submission to God and a partnership with Him in order to see his will done in our lives and the community. Here are some ways that you can partner with us throgh the power of prayer: In the personal lives of the Pastors and the Core Team: Relational, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, Financial Health Wisdom as we prepare for the next phases in this church planting journey Favor in the community with neighbors, organizations, the school district, and the Haverford Township government Awakening of the people of Havertown to the redemption-story of Jesus and life transforming power of the gospel in each individual That God will bring freedom for those addicted to drugs and give us wisdom on how to walk along side of those with addiction Courage to step out in faith when there seems to be no way or an obstacle in the way Won t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? luke 18:7

15 The Mill Church Processing Life Together 101 W Eagle Rd. Suite 210, Havertown, PA THEMILLPA.CHURCH