Church planting is in our DNA here at Grace.
We started as a church plant.
We have planted three churches in our area (Grace Community Fellowship in Hillsboro, Grace Crossing in Moundridge, and New Anthem Community Church in Park City) and one outside Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
And now, we are partnering with Synergy Kansas (the combined church planting effort between the four FEC churches here in our area) to support Caleb Barrows and Paul & Ashley Brandes as they plant a new church in Lyons, KS.
Get to know Caleb and Paul and their heart for planting a church in Lyons in this video:
Church Planting FAQs
WHY PLANT A CHURCH?
Research has shown that a new congregation “will bring new people into the life of the body of Christ at six to eight times the rate of an older congregation of the same size,” (Timothy Keller, Center Church, 359).
In other words, starting a new church is one of the best ways to reach new people with the life and hope of the Gospel.
WHY LYONS?
Short answer: Lyons (and all of Rice County) desperately needs the gospel.
According to our research, about 85% of people in Rice County are not attending church anywhere. This is an exciting opportunity for a church to step in and bring the hope of the gospel to a community that is broken, yet experiencing some positive momentum.
For the medium answer, read Nathan’s Staff Journal from January 30:
For the long answer, watch the video of the TAP team’s presentation:
WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT THE CHURCH PLANT IN LYONS?
We have a name! The new church in Lyons is called King’s Cross Church. From planter Caleb Barrows:
“As Paul, Ashley and I were considering various names we thought fit the area and the gospel, King’s Cross emerged as the winner. We love that it captures the glory of who Jesus is in his kingship over everything, yet the suffering of Jesus in that this same king was also willing to die on a cross.”
We also have a launch date! King’s Cross Church is aiming to have their launch Sunday on September 20, 2020!
Between now and then, they are hard at work doing foundational tasks like writing a constitution and bylaws, while simultaneously building their launch team (the group of people who will be there from the start to make Sunday morning services happen).
WE HAVE PLANTED 3 LOCAL CHURCHES AND 1 INTERNATIONAL CHURCH IN THE LAST 8 YEARS. WHAT IS DIFFERENT THIS TIME AROUND?
We, as a church, are not the ones initiating the church plant this time. We are working with Synergy Kansas to plant this church.
Bonus FAQ: who or what is Synergy Kansas?
Synergy Kansas is a leadership group which gives oversight and direction to a combined effort of FEC church planting in Kansas.
Synergy Kansas is comprised of:
the lead pastors from Grace Community Church (that’s us!) and our three local sister churches (Grace Community Fellowship in Hillsboro, Grace Crossing in Moundridge, and New Anthem Community Church in Hillsboro)
key leaders from the FEC: Dave Reimer (our founding pastor) and Jay Nickless (former Grace staffer, now the church planting fielder coordinator for the FEC)
So what difference does that make?
We are not the primary sending body; it is a team effort. And what that means is that we are not primarily responsible for providing the resources—time, money, people—necessary to get the church started.
In the past, we have asked members of our church family to commit to changing church families to be part of the launch team. In the past, we hosted “baby showers” where we asked you to contribute to the start up cost of the new church, like you would give gifts to new parents to ease the burden of the transition into parenthood (just like babies need a lot of stuff, new churches need a lot of stuff—chairs, sound equipment, signage, printing, and more!).
Those opportunities are still available to you if you are interested (more on that later), but we do not bear the same burden to provide those resources as we have in the past. Because this is a team effort, that responsibility primarily falls on Synergy Kansas, which means it is spread out across our fellow churches.
Because we value church planting, we have a specific line item in our budget for supporting church planting. We contribute regularly to Synergy Kansas, and in turn Synergy Kansas is providing the primary financial support for this church plant. That means when you give to the Lord at Grace, you are already giving to the launch of King’s Cross Church!
Our role this time is to continue sharing updates with you, to continue giving faithfully to the Lord here at Grace, and to pray for King’s Cross and for planters Caleb & Paul and the impact of the gospel in Lyons.
HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?
If you have more specific questions about information or how to be involved, feel free to reach out to Caleb Barrows at caleb.barrows@gmail.com.