Three Years In – Ministry Update
THREE YEARS IN
Just a couple of months ago, on a totally regular/routine Sunday morning, our church Gathered together and did what we normally do — we worshiped Jesus. We gathered around word and sacrament and asked the Lord to, once again, recenter our lives around the priority and primacy of his Gospel. In all respects, it was a great Sunday Gathering. But, again, it was just regular/routine. But that afternoon as I was resting in my normal ‘post-Sunday Gathering exhaustion,’ I had the sudden epiphany that this particular Sunday wasn’t regular or routine at all. It was, in fact, our church’s 3rd Anniversary of launching Sunday Gatherings. As I pondered on how I could miss such an important thing a few thoughts came to mind:
First, what a crazy (yet incredible) season of ministry we’ve been in. We’ve been slowly and steadily growing as a church and in the midst of a global pandemic, we’re all too aware that this is not the normal tendency. There’s been so much ministry going on that I simply forgot that we were coming up on a great milestone.
Second, while I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t remember in time to capitalize on the moment to publicly celebrate the Lord’s goodness and provision, I’m also comforted by the fact that this oversight is probably also indicative that we’re just not that into ourselves. We’re not good at hype — and I think that’s a good thing. Yes, we should (and do) celebrate who the Lord is and what he’s done/is doing amongst us. But it’s all to his glory. Church plant culture often seems to be overly hype-ish with lavish budgets and escapades to promote the church’s “brand.” That’s just not The Parish Church.
Third, wow! We made it three years! And we didn’t just stumble across this goal — we’re flourishing more than ever. We’re seeing people increasingly submit more and more of themselves to the empowering presence and lordship of Jesus Christ, and teaching others to do the same.
I was and am flabbergasted at all the Lord has done and is doing. And the truth of the matter is, I hope you are as well. For many of you, you support this church from afar. You don’t get to see the ins and outs or the ups and downs in real-time. I suspect that a good analogy is like when someone gets a new puppy. In real-time it’s hard to discern just how fast they grow, but you can spend a few weeks away and return to see an entirely different animal almost. In three years we’ve grown from a tiny core team of fewer than 20 people to a vibrant church of over 60. In just this past 6 months alone we’ve celebrated people professing faith for the first time, multiple baptisms (with more in the pipeline), installed 8 new family members into the church, commissioned 10 new deacons, and have seen goth Missional Communities grow (both in number and commitment to living out their mission). We’ve seen the Lord grow our community in generosity as well. Despite all the choas of 2020/2021 and despite a few key folks moving away, we’ve managed to retain our internal giving to meet at least 50% of our budget which is a great metric for a three-year-old church plant.
All of that is in the context — again — of an ever-evolving, often tense, and always disruptive global pandemic. Not only does our ministry context bring with it a unique set of challenges and barriers to showing and sharing this gospel of grace (i.e. post-Christian culture, hostility towards Christians, etc.), it’s also home to some of the most consistently restrictive health guidelines in the country. I’m amazed, however, at our people’s humility and grace as we’ve navigated everything that’s been thrown at us. We’re back to meeting inside and finding our stride all while following our county’s guidelines.
I hope that all of this encourages you. The Lord is faithful and he’s building his church. It’s a grace upon grace to be able to bring these updates. It’s an inexpressible joy to be able to so easily and sincerely refelct on who the Lord is what he’s doing. I hope you’ll take a few extra minutes and catch up on some more of the amazing thigns he’s been doing.
New Members
As I mentioned above, we’ve seen tremendous growth over the last year. We celebrated one of the greatest results of that in early October when we installed 8 new family members into The Parish Church. These are people who have joyfully and demonstrably communicated that they are “all in” for Jesus, his Kingdom, his reign/rule over it, and their lives, and to living in covenant partnership with the saints of The Parish Church. Membership is something we hold in high regard and we’re so grateful to God for leading these people to be a part of and serve our church family. Praise him!
Matching Grant 2021/2022
Church planting is as tremendously wonderful as it is enormously difficult. Faithfulness to the gospel and a commitment to discipleship — what Friedrich Nietzsche calls, “a long obedience in the same direction” — are the only means of running the race well/faithfully and in a way that is sustainable. This has certainly been our experience now, a mere three years into planting The Parish Church (especially given everything that’s come with COVID-19). And through all of the ups and downs, the Lord has provided us with such extreme evidences of his grace and mercy that it remains undeniably clear that this is the path he has called us to walk.
Few of those evidences have resounded as clearly and reverberated as broadly as the grants that we have received from Transforming the Bay with Christ (TBC) over the last two years. Each year the Lord supplied the exact amount that we needed to reach financial viability and keep our operating budget within the black. By his grace, our young church has managed to grow over the last 18 months and we’ve seen his faithfulness in raising up cheerful givers. Yet even with that, we’re still very much a church plant and depend on external funding. That’s why we’re so excited to announce that we’ve qualified again to receive another matching grant from TBC — this time in the amount of $15,000! That means that we must raise $15,000 to get the full $15,000.
We’d be humbled and honored if you would prayerfully consider helping us meet our goal of turning that $15,000 into $45,000. It’s an audacious “ask” and an audacious number — but we feel more confident than ever that this is what the Lord is calling us to do. That amount helps us meet our budget of $150,000 (a fairly trim budget for a church of 60+ folks in the CA Bay Area). Of that $150,000, 20% is given right back into our community and towards church planting endeavors.
Our goal is to raise $15,000 from within The Parish Church (family members, regular attenders, guests, etc.) + $15,000 from outside The Parish Church (friends, family, churches, organizations, etc.) + $15,000 in matching funds from TBC = $45,000. Would you consider making a year-end donation that could help us meet that goal? Click the button to learn more!
The Huskeys
Even writing this update, I can’t believe 2021 is almost over. I know, I know, it’s cliché. But right?! Where did the year go?
I’m assuming that like for many of you, this past year brought with it a readjustment. Where as COVID-19 was still ‘novel’ in 2020, we were COVID “pros” by 2021. Life started getting back to something resembling normal for us and we started to welcome many of those who had gone inot ‘COVID hybernation’ back into community. Our home started filing up with new and familiar faces again and our kids started back up into sports. At one point, all three kids were playing soccer — AT THE SAME TIME! That was “fun.” Through that, and through normal life, they’ve mainained their break-neck pace of growing up. Back to that puppy analogy from before: We live with these kids and see them everyday and still marvel at how fast they grow — and by how much they eat! We’re thankful to God for them. We love getting outdoors with them and get the kayaks on the water every chance we get. These kids can paddle and fish like champs!
As we enter the Advent season this year, we’re learning to embrace the historical rhtyms and patterns of the ancient church. It’s opening up new avenues of discussion and growth and dicipleship for all of us. We’re leaning into the aspect of celebration (for the first nativity and the incarnation) but also anticipation (for our King’s second coming). It already feels like we’re able to really get in the spirit of Advent and Christmas in new and fresh ways.
Stores Of God’s Grace
God’s story through Matteo is one that still gives us goosebumps. This young man is truly evidence of God’s grace in calling people to himself. Read his story and path to salvation in Jesus and how The Parish Church has helped him continue in his path of increasingly submitting more and more of himself to the empowering presence and lordship of Jesus and teaching others to do the same!
The Wotilas are newer to The Parish Church but already jumped into the community in a way that seems like we’ve known them forever. They are further evidence of God’s unending grace to our church in sending workers for the harvest.