The City Church - One Year Into the Journey

One year ago today, I announced that “today we publicly begin the countdown to our next great endeavor; to a mission and passion to which we see ourselves committing the rest of our lives ... I'm ecstatic to announce the development of The City Church, a new church community coming to downtown Fort Worth and to neighborhoods across the city in 2010!”

And what a year it’s been! Our church family is only officially 5 months old now, but when I think back over the past 365 days – the preparation, the “core gathering” phase, and these first few months, I’m humbled, amazed, and find much to celebrate and be thankful to God for. I want to give you a small glimpse of some of that today, and I can only think of one good way to do that.

From day one, we've been asking the question, “what would it look like if Christians in the heart of Fort Worth LIVED AS the church, instead of just GOING TO a church?” The simple answer was that it would look “different.” So from the first clear picture of the church in Acts 2, here’s some of what we’ve seen God do in and through us, as we strive to be the kind of church we see in the Bible. This is a bit of a long post, but it's because we're getting to be part of some amazing things, and since many folks haven't seen it first-hand, I wanted to give as good a snapshot as possible.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…”

• Beginning in September 2009, an initial core group of started looking at God’s teaching on his body, the church, in a book called, Total Church. Each week we’d read and discuss, as we laid a foundation for The City Church.
• As we launched in January 2010, our church family spent six weeks grounding ourselves in the one thing that sets believers apart from anyone else, as we walked through The Gospel-Centered Life.
• Since then, we’re committed to walking through books of the Bible: as of today, we’re nearly half-way through Paul’s letter to the Philippians – we’re preaching it in every-other-week All-Church Gatherings [videos here], and discussing it between Gatherings, in Villages, in one-on-one conversation, and in normal life.

“…and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.”

• We see the church as a family, living out our faith 24/7 – we are seeing City Church folk “do life together” far more than just our “official” gatherings: we’re in each others’ homes for dinner; we’re hanging out together; we’re doing everyday things together; we’re committed to each other.
• Eating together is big in our church family. That seems simple, but sharing meals, cooking together, and gathering around a table together is where life happens and relationships are built. So every Village gathering is centered around a meal. And folks eat and drink together: with believers and those who aren’t yet, on a regular basis – in their homes, at restaurants and happy hours, after All-Church Gatherings, and more.
• As one friend blogged about, one of the most meaningful things we do is sharing communion together at every All-Church Gathering. We do this as “families” – we ask parents to go get their kids from KidCity, or that Villages or friends serve each other and take communion together – it’s a family meal, and is meant to be shared and taken as a family.
• Every six weeks or so we’ve hosted a different type of gathering, in which we simply sing, worship, and pray together – we pray for each other, for our needs, and especially for our city. City Church folks have “prayer-walked” their neighborhoods, which is a strategy missionaries use before they start ministering to a certain area.

“And awe came upon every soul, and many signs and wonders were being done through the apostles.”

• We haven’t seen apostolic ‘signs and wonders’ per se, but our leadership has certainly been in awe of God, as we’ve seen his provision, of doors he’s opened for us, of opportunities he’s given us. Some of the things that have humbled us in God’s presence are shared in other bullet points through this post.
• Several musicians have found The City Church to be their home, so we have a rotation of worship leaders in our Gatherings, who teach us that worship in song & awe have less to do with one person or one style, and more to do with our heart and motivation – it’s amazing to see 1Cor 12 lived out, as our many musicians serve together in drawing us toward God, giving their gifts to the body.

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
We’ve seen these verses lived out as people have sacrificed for the good of the whole, and we’ve been both on the receiving end and on the giving end of this concept:

• Over the past year, we’re grateful for the generosity of the body of Christ across the country, as we received thousands of dollars in donations and support, from over 50 individuals from outside our church family (from as far away as Alaska), and at least 7 organizations, including 3 other churches. We wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without this financial generosity!
• In addition to money, we’ve received advice and training from churches in the US & UK, discounted or donated supplies from various sources like Crossway Books and the BGCT, encouragement from our Acts29 Network, and more.
• On the giving end, we’ve seen our people step up and rotate through ministering in KidCity during Sunday gatherings, open their homes to homeless folks, to sleep and eat and provide for their basic needs. We collected and gave over 50 sleeping bags to a local homeless center and over 120 toys to Cook Children’s Hospital. We’ve seen folks loan each other their cars, give each other money, babysit others’ kids, feed each other, serve each other well, and live in each others’ homes.

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bead in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God…”

• The centerpiece of City Life is Villages: over the past year, one “core Village” has multiplied, and we now find ourselves birthing our 7th & 8th Villages, with probably two more coming soon. Villages are “communities on mission” – not merely Bible Studies, support groups, or social justice groups, but the people of God, living out their faith, and living out the mission of God, 24-7 in their neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and in everyday life. This is who the early church was, as they gathered regularly in homes across their city.
• As far as “attending the temple” goes, Four Day Weekend Theater is a great, public space to meet every other Sunday, in the heart of our city. The ‘temple’ in early Christianity wasn’t a ‘church building’ – it was borrowed public space, just like our rented theater! The Four Day folks have been great and accommodating and generous, and we are honored to use their space every other Sunday at 6pm as we gather all the Villages together to praise God, and to celebrate God’s word, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and City Life.

“…having favor with all the people."

•  God seems to be giving us favor with folks across Fort Worth, and for that, we’re humble and grateful. We’re learning about our city through ongoing conversation with folks who God puts in our path, like the Volunteer Center of North Texas, a local fire marshal, local government and neighborhood associations, local business leaders, and folks at Cook Children’s Hospital and Day Resource Center for the homeless community - as well as favor with the homeless community itself! We’ve seen favor with neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and friends. These relationships have proven invaluable, as we engage our city and folks who don’t believe in Jesus, seeking to carry out God’s commission to make disciples.
• Another downtown church showed us favor as they realized their church’s life was complete, and they donated their land and facility to us. Two months into being a church, we had a free building! It’s not exactly our desire and we’re trying to sell it, but we’re stewarding it well while it’s ours, using it for gatherings, meetings, classes, band practices, and a July 4th Fiesta - you should come!

“And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

• Just in the past five months, we’ve seen folks trust Christ, at least five baptisms (including one homeless guy!), and several conversations begun with not-yet-believers, which are producing fruit.
• We’re seeing folks, from age 16 to 60+, get excited about what we’re doing and plug into church life, many of whom were far from God and far from his church, who are now growing and thriving and wanting to see Villages in their neighborhoods.
• Our initial core group of 20 tentative folks sitting in Matt & Angie Hudson's loft wondering about the idea of 'being the church' has turned into 100 on our online network, living out that vision.

These are just a few glimpses of what we’ve seen God do in us over the past year. In addition to all this, we have pastor-elder and deacon candidates; we're working toward membership; we are learning a rhythm of regular discipleship, family, and mission together. It's been a full, messy, grace- and mercy-filled year for sure!

But more important than some of that, we're hearing stories and seeing lives changed: people are making disciples of co-workers and classmates; City folks are spending time with neighbors; we're investing in our parts of the city. We're getting into each others' lives; we're asking each other tough questions, pushing each other toward biblical truth and life, and seeing each other become more like Jesus. And most importantly, we're learning what it means to live our lives 100% for the gospel. Among all the things that excite me over the past 365 days; of all the stories we're getting to hear, that's the one I get most fired up about; that's the one I still beg God for, on behalf of our church family. I hope you do too.

We wouldn’t be here without many of you. Your prayers, encouragement, financial support, help, curiosity, and involvement were much needed over this past year – honestly, most of that is still much-needed!

Where Do We Go From Here?
Tomorrow I’ll post a look at a few things in the works for the next 365 days – at least, the little bit we know, as we ride this wave God has us on!

• We still beg for your prayers: we’re young & fragile, and unexpected things await us at every turn!
• We still need your support: summer months are tough on a 5-month-old church! 
• We still need your involvement: some of you wanted to see “if this would really work” before you jumped in: friends, it is, and it’s amazing! It feels like the church we read about in the Bible, and long for. It feels like what we’re supposed to be doing in our world. And as this first year has proven, it’s been amazing, fruitful, and ridiculously fun.

I thank God, and I thank you, for a mind-blowing first year in The City Church’s journey.