MISSION CHURCH CHURCH PLANTING PROSPECTUS

Transcription

1 MISSION CHURCH CHURCH PLANTING PROSPECTUS

2 I will build my CHURCH, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. JESUS MATTHEW 16:18

3 CONTENTS introduction CALL 1 part 1 CONTEXT 3 part 2 CAUSE 5 part 3 CALENDAR 11 part 4 COWORKERS 15 part 5 COST 17 part 6 CONTRIBUTORS 21 appendix CONFESSIONS 23 it is not so much the case that God has a mission for His church in the world but that GOD HAS A CHURCH FOR HIS MISSION IN THE WORLD. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission God s mission. CHRISTOPHER J.H. WRIGHT

4 As the Father has SENT me, so I am SENDING you. JESUS JOHN 20:21

5 introduction CALL WHY CHURCH PLANTING? Adapted from Why Plant Churches? by Timothy Keller 1. To be true to the biblical mandate Virtually all of the great evangelistic challenges of the New Testament are basically calls to plant churches. The only way to be truly sure you are increasing the number of Christians in a town is to increase the number of churches. As missiologist C. Peter Wagner says, Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven. 2. To be true to the Great Commission New churches best reach new generations, new residents, new people groups, and the unchurched period. Churches over years of age grow 80-90% from other Christians, while new churches grow 60-80% from those who are unchurched. 3. To renew the whole body of Christ New churches bring new ideas to the whole body, are one of the best ways to identify creative, strong leaders for the whole body, challenge other churches to self-examination, and may be an evangelistic feeder for a whole community. 4. To exercise Kingdom-mindedness Church planting helps an existing church the best when the new congregation is voluntarily birthed by an older mother congregation. Our attitude toward new churches is a test of whether our mindset is geared toward our own institutional turf or to the overall health and prosperity of the kingdom of God. Summary The evidence for both church planting and these four statements is strong biblically, sociologically, historically. The planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the body of Christ and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches. TIMOTHY KELLER LOVE ONE ANOTHER John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; 1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11-12; 2 John 1:5 1

6 MONTGOMERY, IL is a village of 19,523 located between Aurora to the north and Oswego to the south,1 divided into east and west by the Fox River,2 into north and south by the Kane and Kendall county line, 3 and into the five diverse school districts of Kaneland, West Aurora, East Aurora, Yorkville, and Oswego.4 This 2.5-mile radius circle includes 8,344 homes and 26,588 people, but no gathering of a local church LIVE IN PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER Mark 9:50

7 part 1 CONTEXT QUICK FACTS ABOUT MONTGOMERY, IL 1832 year of settlement 1858 year of incorporation 1 st fastest growing county (Kendall) in United States from 2000 to th fastest growing municipality in Illinois from 2000 to % population growth from 2000 to 2016 (5,471 to 19,523) 27% estimated population growth from 2017 to % White 8% African American 3% Asian (race) 73% not Hispanic or Latino 27% Hispanic or Latino (ethnicity) 1 river (Fox) 2 counties (Kane and Kendall) 5 school districts 1 church plant (planted in 1885, died in 1997) 132 years since a church was planted 7 churches (all transplanted; 1 church per 2,789 people) MAKE. MATURE. MULTIPLY. Montgomery is a maturing community: settled and incorporated in the 1800s, the former City of Industry slowly grew from a few hundred to a few thousand; from , the village was known for agriculture and manufacturing. But it is also a multiplying community: from , it has speedily grown as a far-flung suburb of Chicagoland; with the housing boom at its height, farms became bedroom communities, the population nearly multiplied by 4, and today 3 of 4 people in the village did not reside here just 15 years ago. While this community has been known for its making, maturing, and multiplying, the church within this community is not known for keeping up with this growth; we hope to be a part of the solution. We believe God is already moving here, and He has given us a desire to partner with Him in the storyline He is writing by giving manpower, minutes, and money into making, maturing, and multiplying disciples of Jesus for the glory of God, the good of all people in our community, and our own growth in learning, living, and loving like Jesus! LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH GENUINE AFFECTION Romans 12:10 3

8 Residential Montgomery 4 HONOR ONE ANOTHER Romans 12:10

9 part 2 CAUSE God is a missionary God. The Father sends the Son, Jesus. The Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send the church. MISSION IS WHO WE ARE The Father sends His only Son, Jesus, to live, teach, work, die, and rise again, reconciling the whole world to Himself, no longer counting our sins against us. The Father and Son send the Holy Spirit to empower us as witnesses of Jesus, sharing the Good News of reconciliation with all people in all places. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send the church as missionaries ( sent ones ) so that the kingdom of God will come His way, will, word, worship, and work here on earth as it is in heaven. MISSION IS WHAT WE DO When God brings us back to Himself, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, no longer counting our sins against us, He sends us as agents of His Good News to reconcile people to Him. So we work hard to persuade others: speaking Jesus words with our lips to proclaim God s Good News to people; showing Jesus works with our lives to practice God s Good News with people. MAKE DISCIPLES To make disciples (followers) of Jesus, is to start people on a walk with Jesus. As babies are born and learn to walk, we are also made into new lives in Jesus and learn to follow in His steps. MATURE DISCIPLES To mature disciples (followers) of Jesus, is to strengthen people in their walk. As young children grow up into adults, we are also matured to be like Jesus in thinking, speaking, acting, and doing. MULTIPLY DISCIPLES To multiply disciples (followers) of Jesus, is to send people as they walk. As parents raise and release their kids, as those kids raise and release their own and extend the legacy of a family tree, we are also multiplied as we are sent to make and mature disciples of Jesus and extend the legacy of God s family, together following God as our Father, walking with Jesus as our big Brother, enjoying the Holy Spirit as our Helper. LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER Romans 12:16 5

10 GATHERINGS & GROUPS As God s missionaries sent on God s mission, we make, mature, and multiply disciples through the basic balance and simple structure of both gatherings and groups: GATHERINGS On Sunday, we gather together as one large, public group, open our Bibles to learn Jesus, and proclaim Good News like a reunion with an extended family. As we gather together, we proclaim God s Good News by singing, serving, praying, participating in communion, hearing God s Word preached, giving, and being sent as God s missionaries on God s mission in our neighborhood. We remember God s saving work in reconciling the whole world to Himself. We equip one another with God s Word to love, trust, and obey Jesus more. We celebrate God raising Jesus to life, making all things new, and coming again. We send the church into God s world to live on God s mission for God s glory. GROUPS During the week, we go out as multiple little, personal groups, open our lives to love like Jesus, and practice Good News like everyday in an immediate family. As we go out together, we practice God s Good News by one-anothering one another (footnotes on each page) so living in peace and harmony with, loving, honoring, accepting, teaching, greeting, waiting, caring, serving, sharing burdens and being patient with, being kind and tenderhearted toward, forgiving, submitting to, counseling, encouraging, building up, warning, motivating, confessing sins to, praying for, sympathizing with, showing deep love for, and dressing ourselves in humility as we relate to one another in groups! Residential Montgomery 6 ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER JUST AS CHRIST ACCEPTED YOU Romans 15:7

11 CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE Could a narrow focus and deep impact literally loving our literal neighbors within our various circles of influence, 1 the intentional investing and inviting of individuals, couples, and families into both groups 2 and gatherings, 3 result in God s kingdom coming right here in Montgomery as it is in heaven?! Could His mission of making, maturing, and multiplying disciples here result in the planting of churches everywhere?! SURPRISE THE WORLD The Five Habits of Highly Missional People by Michael Frost Following Jesus should be encouraging, enriching, satisfying, and surprising! These five habits make disciplemaking a lifestyle that is effective and exciting and mobilize Christians into mission up into a deeper connection with God, in to stronger community with believers, and out into the culture as generous, hospitable, Spirit-led, and Christ-like missionaries to the neighborhood, living surprising lives within our circles of influence and networks of relationship! B I will BLESS three people each week through words of affirmation, acts of kindness, and/or gift giving (at least one who is not following Jesus) E I will EAT with three people each week (at least one who is not following Jesus) L I will set aside one period each week, to LISTEN for the Spirit's voice (designated time without distractions) L I will set aside one period each week to LEARN Christ (both who He is and what He thinks, says, and does) S I will record throughout each week how, as a missionary (a SENT one ), I am pointing others to God through Jesus TEACH ONE ANOTHER Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16 7

12 Montgomery Village Hall VALUES Adapted from 12 Pastoral Commitments by Kevin DeYoung 1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 You know how badly we had been treated just before we came to you and how much we suffered Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. WE OPEN OUR BIBLES TO LEARN JESUS We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God s Good News but our own lives, too. 1 THESSALONIANS 2:8 3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. 4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! 6 As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else. WE WILL GLADLY SUFFER FOR THE GOSPEL 1 WE WILL DECLARE GOD'S GOOD NEWS BOLDLY 2 WE WILL NOT DECEIVE OR TRICK ANYONE 3 WE WILL WORK TO PLEASE GOD, NOT PEOPLE 4 WE WILL NOT FLATTER ANYONE 5 WE WILL NOT BE GREEDY FOR OUR OWN GAIN 6 8 GREET ONE ANOTHER Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Peter 5:14

13 7As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. Downtown Montgomery Park 8 We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God s Good News but our own lives, too. 9Don t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God s Good News to you. 10You yourselves are our witnesses and so is God that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. WE OPEN OUR LIVES TO LOVE LIKE JESUS 11And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 12We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. 1 THESSALONIANS 2: If God helps us imitate Paul as Paul imitated Jesus, then our work will not fail! WE WILL NOT SEEK OUR OWN GLORY WE WILL BE GENTLE LIKE A MOTHER WE WILL SHARE OUR OWN LIVES WE WILL WORK HARD WE WILL LIVE IN A HOLY AND RIGHT WAY WE WILL ENCOURAGE LIKE A FATHER WAIT FOR ONE ANOTHER 1 Corinthians 11:33 9

14 Downtown Montgomery 10 CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER 1 Corinthians 12:25

15 part 3 CALENDAR The making and maturing of life within the church plant is divided into five stages: 1. Cultivate Soil, 2. Plant Seed, 3. Take Root, 4. Produce Fruit, and 5. Reap Harvest. LAUNCH GROUP This Mission Group serves and works together as the seed of the church plant, giving manpower, minutes, and money to help give birth to Mission Church. PRE-GATHERINGS Pre-gatherings are designed to help us prepare/preview our Launch Gathering. LAUNCH GATHERING The Launch Gathering or due date of Mission Church is September 9, 2018, the Sunday after Labor Day weekend. MARKS OF MATURITY These marks are our hopes, prayers, and expectations of God throughout each specific stage of planting. (God) decided exactly WHEN and WHERE (we) must live. HE IS NOT FAR FROM ANY OF US. ACTS 17:26-27 STAGE 2 January 2018 STAGE 4 September 2018 and beyond STAGE 1 September 2017 STAGE 3 June 2018 SERVE ONE ANOTHER Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10 11

16 stage 1 CULTIVATE SOIL 0-4 Months September 2017 January 2018 Stage 1 is like the 1st trimester of a pregnancy: We are praying men, women, boys, and girls from inside and outside this neighborhood will join the launch group and partner with us. We are establishing roots in the neighborhood by literally loving our literal neighbors. We are building meaningful relationships with circles of influence and inviting them to Jesus. We are sharing meals, studying the Scriptures, serving our community, both hoping and praying that God opens ears, eyes, hearts, and minds for people to hear, see, believe, and know Him. MARKS OF MATURITY pray daily, ask God for wisdom and courage affirm partnership with Converge network residency with Redeemer Community Church substitute teach at Lakewood Creek Elementary network with local churches and pastors invest in neighbors and circles of influence set up , phone, post office box, website complete church planting prospectus apply for partnership with Acts 29 network develop prayer and partnership team incorporate and set up non-profit status establish bank account and legal documents identify potential co-pastor pursue Sunday gathering location stage 2 PLANT SEED 4-9 Months January 2018 June 2018 Stage 2 is like the 2nd trimester of a pregnancy: We will need to confirm a gathering location and continue to gather and grow the launch group. We will need to serve in our neighborhood and build a network of meaningful relationships. MARKS OF MATURITY pray daily, ask God for wisdom and courage gather regularly as launch group assess for partnership with A29 network refine budget and website develop strategies, structures, and systems affirm co-pastor and other potential workers confirm Sunday gathering location Commercial Montgomery 12 SHARE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS Galatians 6:2

17 stage 3 TAKE ROOT 9-12 Months June 2018 September 2018 Stage 3 is like the 3rd trimester of a pregnancy: We will need to communicate the vision clearly and consistently to the launch group. We will need to communicate to our partners, networks, neighborhood, and community the launch gathering on September 9, MARKS OF MATURITY pray daily, ask God for wisdom and courage communicate vision clearly and consistently host pre-gatherings and groups finish budget and website confirm strategies, structures, and systems write leader and member covenants build teams for gatherings and groups stage 4 PRODUCE FRUIT 12 Months and on September 2018 and on Stage 4 is like the birth and early childhood: We will need to slowly but steadily be maturing, both individually as followers of Jesus and also collectively as a family following Him together. We will make and mature disciples in order to participate in planting new churches. MARKS OF MATURITY pray daily, ask God for wisdom and courage communicate vision clearly and consistently host launch gathering and groups identify rhythms within the life of the church refine strategies, structures, and systems develop overseers, servants, and members give to church planting (Converge, Acts 29) stage 5 REAP HARVEST 36 Months and on September 2021 and on Stage 5 is like late childhood and adulthood: We will need to be self-funded and self-governed, in order to become self-replicating. We will make, mature, and multiply disciples and plant churches, for God s glory, others good, and our growth in becoming more like Jesus. MARKS OF MATURITY pray daily, ask God for wisdom and courage communicate vision clearly and consistently multiply gathering and groups solidify strategies, structures, and systems reproduce overseers, servants, and members give to church planting (Converge, Acts 29) plant churches regionally, nationally, globally BE PATIENT WITH ONE ANOTHER Ephesians 4:2 13

18 The Gennicks Family 14 BE KIND AND TENDERHEARTED TOWARD ONE ANOTHER Ephesians 4:32

19 part 4 COWORKERS THE STORY PAST Kyle is the first of two sons in his family and was raised in rural central Illinois in one town, school, home, and church, where his dad still serves as lead pastor. Being raised in the home of a pastor led many people to believe Kyle would grow up and be like his pastor dad. While he has always respected his dad, he had no desire to serve as a pastor. Instead, as a child and then young man, he was motivated by achievements and awards in both academics and athletics. This motivation to work and to win was a result of pride and self-righteousness. After high school, having achieved and been awarded for all of his good work, Kyle still did not have clear direction maybe work in medicine or the military, but certainly not serving in ministry. In 2002, in his fall semester of college, Kyle met Colleen, a fellow freshman, and God opened his ears, eyes, heart, and mind to truly hear, see, believe, and understand the bitterness of his sin and the sweetness of Jesus as his Savior. As they built a friendship during college, God called them to serve in ministry. They have served together since 2003, marrying as husband and wife in 2006, parenting as dad and mom since 2011, raising three sons: Seth, Luke, and Jude. Throughout these many years, Kyle has served as a student pastor, lead pastor, and church planting resident. THE STORY FUTURE When the Gennicks family relocated to Montgomery in 2016, God immediately gave them favor in building friendships with people in their neighborhood. Through their love for their neighbors, God gave them a desire to share with them not only God s Good News but their own lives, too and to do that by planting a church in the community. In many ways, their family has started and sustained friendships with people simply talking about the Chicago Cubs, remodeling projects, and the weather, eating meals, and enjoying playdates. These friendships have opened up opportunities to share God s Good News as it relates to anxiety, finance, marriage, parenting, school, sickness, and work and people are opening up to Jesus! From young to old, from black to white, from agnostic to atheist to unchurched, from wishy-washy to walking with Jesus, we are eager and excited to see God reconcile people to Himself in Jesus the good work to which God called us! God will make this happen, for he who calls you is FAITHFUL. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:24 FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13 15

20 THE GENNICKS FAMILY Kyle, Colleen, Seth, Luke, Jude P.O. Box 104 Montgomery, IL (630) SUBMIT TO ONE ANOTHER OUT OF REVERENCE FOR CHRIST Ephesians 5:21

21 part 5 COST COUNT THE COST Adapted from Count the Cost? by Mac Lake Being a disciple of Jesus has a cost, making disciples of Jesus has a cost, and planting a church has a cost don t begin until you COUNT THE COST. JESUS LUKE 14:28 IS HARDER THAN WE THINK! Planting a church requires a sacrifice of manpower, minutes, and money. Leading a growing church is hard: more people equals more money, more expectations, more opinions. More is not easier; more is harder. Church planting requires a calling to sustain you when it gets difficult. If we are truly called by God Himself, then church planting may be our most challenging, frustrating experience, but it will also be one of the biggest highlights and rewards of our lives! CHURCH PLANTING COSTS MORE THAN WE THINK! Planting a church is expensive work. Even with planning, things go wrong, but it is a wonderful opportunity to watch God miraculously provide. Our faith will be put to the test that is how God builds up His people for His mission. TAKES LONGER THAN WE THINK! It is one thing to start a service it is another thing to plant a church. Building up a community of believers gathering under a common mission, aligning under the same core values, and working toward the same vision takes time, and lots of it do not rush! COUNSEL ONE ANOTHER Colossians 3:16 17

22 PARTNERSHIP TEAM Residential Montgomery It is both a pleasure and privilege for us to ask you to join our partnership team! As you pray about and plan out your cheerful, generous, and sacrificial giving, ask God about investing in His mission at one of these levels, or another level, as we trust Him to fully fund this vision: GOD'S WORK done in GOD'S WAY will never lack GOD'S SUPPLY. J. HUDSON TAYLOR Percent Monthly Yearly 10% $750 $9,000 9% 675 8,100 8% 600 7,200 7% 525 6,300 6% 450 5,400 5% 375 4,500 4% 300 3,600 3% 225 2,700 2% 150 1,800 1% YEAR VISION $180,000 $200,000 $220, % 75% 50% 25% EXTERNAL FUNDS 0% INTERNAL FUNDS YEAR 1 18 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER 1 Thessalonians 4:18; 5:11; Hebrews 10:25

23 YEAR 1 VISION $180,000 Church Planting 10.0% 18,000 Residential Montgomery Ministries 8.9% 16,000 Operations 22.2% 40,000 Personnel 58.9% 106,000 YEAR 2 VISION $200,000 Church Planting 10.0% 20,000 Ministries 13.0% 26,000 Operations 20.0% 40,000 Personnel 57.0% 114,000 YEAR 3 VISION $220,000 Church Planting 10.0% 22,000 Ministries 16.4% 36,000 Operations 18.2% 40,000 Personnel 55.4% 122,000 CONVERGE GRANT* Converge matches every $1 given to Mission Church up to $50,000! 3-YEAR VISION $600,000 STARTING GIFTS 40,000 CONVERGE GRANT* 50,000 TOTAL FINANCIAL NEED 100.0% 590,000 Total External Funds 45.8% 270,000 Total Internal Funds 54.2% 320,000 BUILD UP ONE ANOTHER 1 Thessalonians 5:11 19

24 Stuart Sports Complex 20 WARN ONE ANOTHER Hebrews 3:13

25 part 6 CONTRIBUTORS JOHN PIPER SAYS, IF YOU ARE SUFFICIENT FOR YOUR TASK, IT S TOO SMALL. We cannot do anything or go anywhere without God s presence and your partnership. In fact, we fear doing anything or going anywhere without Him and you on our side! God has gone before us. He will show Himself powerful. He will give us all we need. We have asked Him to show Himself powerful and give us all we need through you! We know without a doubt we need your accountability, encouragement, and support. Please partner with us in giving, praying, and serving to see God s vision become a reality. WE ARE ASKING YOU TO GIVE Ask God about investing in His mission and commit to being a financial giver, cheerfully, generously, and sacrificially. See investment levels on page 18. PRAY Ask God about the please pray for box and commit to being devoted in prayer for and with us every day at 1:35 p.m. See Philippians 1:3-5 to the right. RECOMMEND Ask God about 3-5 people who would be interested in hearing this vision and share their contact information with us. SERVE Ask God about coming to serve with us and work alongside us by: relocating to Montgomery, IL joining the launch group helping with stages 1-5 WE THANK GOD FOR YOU! Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. PHILIPPIANS 1:3-5 PLEASE PRAY FOR a close walk with Jesus an identity rooted in Christ a strong marriage and family wisdom and courage favor in our community faithfulness in our work fruit for God s kingdom MOTIVATE ONE ANOTHER Hebrews 10:24 21

26 Montgomery Police Department 22 CONFESS SINS TO ONE ANOTHER James 5:16

27 appendix CONFESSIONS CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT Adopted from The Gospel Coalition, a network of churches committed to both the Word of God and historic Christianity. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. A.W. TOZER THE TRI-UNE GOD We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is infinitely perfect both in His love and in His holiness. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, He perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about His eternal good purposes to redeem a people for Himself and restore His fallen creation, to the praise of His glorious grace. REVELATION God has graciously disclosed His existence and power in the created order, and has supremely revealed Himself to fallen human beings in the person of His Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by His Spirit has graciously disclosed Himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of His saving work in the world. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of His will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God s revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God s pledge, in all that it promises. As God s people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel. CREATION OF HUMANITY We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in His own image. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God Himself declared to be very good, serving as God s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and His church. In God s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments. THE FALL We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness for himself and all his progeny by falling into sin through Satan s temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being (e.g., physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually) and condemned finally and irrevocably to death apart from God s own gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to Himself. PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER James 5:16 23

28 THE PLAN OF GOD We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. We believe that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and that He will one day glorify them all to the praise of His glorious grace. In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set His saving love on those He has chosen and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer. THE GOSPEL We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ God s very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is christological, centering on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if His death and resurrection are not central (the message is: Christ died for our sins [and] was raised ). This good news is biblical (His death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved). THE REDEMPTION OF CHRIST We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to His Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed His heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. As the mediatorial King, He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. We believe that by His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross He canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. By His resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by His Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all His people; by His ascension He has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with Him. We believe that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before Him Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. THE JUSTIFICATION OF SINNERS We believe that Christ, by His obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. By His sacrifice, He bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God s justice on our behalf. By His perfect obedience He satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God. Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and His obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. We believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification. THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT We believe that this salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to His people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as the other Paraclete, is present with and in believers. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by His powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, and in Him they are baptized into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. By the Spirit's agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God's family; they participate in the divine nature and receive His sovereignly distributed gifts. The Holy Spirit is Himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service. THE KINGDOM OF GOD We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a world that is decaying and light in a world that is dark, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world, nor become indistinguishable from it: rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God. Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God. 24 SYMPATHIZE WITH ONE ANOTHER 1 Peter 3:8

29 GOD S NEW PEOPLE We believe that God s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This universal church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each local church is, in fact, the church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of His eye, graven on His hands, and He has pledged Himself to her forever. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members love for one another and for the world. Crucially, this gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. Christ Jesus is our peace: He has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. The church serves as a sign of God s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The church is the corporate dwelling place of God s Spirit, and the continuing witness to God in the world. BAPTISM AND THE LORD S SUPPER We believe that baptism and the Lord s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus Himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of His return and of the consummation of all things. THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with His holy angels, when He will exercise His role as final Judge, and His kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord Himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of Him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and His people will be enthralled by the immediacy of His ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of His glorious grace. Lakewood Creek Elementary School DRESS YOURSELVES IN HUMILITY AS YOU RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER 1 Peter 5:5 25

30 CONFIRMATIONS Kyle is the real deal: a man with legit pastoral wisdom and experience, who inspires me with his love for his family, his neighbors, and his community. Kyle, Colleen, and the boys very quickly became like family to all of us at Redeemer. (Actually, I think that happens wherever they are!) Through the evaluation process that is part of Kyle s Church Planting Residency with us, we are glad to strongly endorse and support the vision for Mission Church. Many people will encounter the love of Jesus, and I fully expect that Montgomery will be a better place because of Mission Church. JOSH FENSKA Lead Pastor Redeemer Community Church Oswego, IL Kyle is a man on a mission God's mission to make disciples that plant a reproducing church that will bring the rule and reign of Jesus to Montgomery. And it is my privilege and joy to coach Kyle as he and his beautiful family step out in faith to see God's vision become a reality. To God be the glory! KIRT WIGGINS Lead Pastor Pathway Community Church Elmhurst, IL it was an almost immediate affinity with Kyle when we met. I resonated with his heart for God, passion for ministry, keen insight for ministry assessment and its context, commitment to the church's core mission of disciple-making around which church planting must take place, and the willingness to patiently invest in the process of cultivating, planting, watering, and weeding with a contentment to let God produce the fruit. I love his commitment to Colleen and to their boys, to see and do ministry as a family. Support for Kyle and Colleen will be the kind of investment that will bear fruit that will last for all eternity. DANIEL GUTE Lead Pastor New Life Community Church Hobart, IN MISSION CHURCH Kyle Gennicks P.O. Box 104 Montgomery, IL (630) kyle@missionchurchmontgomery.org

31 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my WITNESSES, telling people about me everywhere... JESUS ACTS 1:8

32 Pictures Phillips Photography and Songs of Life Photography