Why Albany Park? (part 1)

When people find out that we’re planning to move to Chicago to plant a church, we get a variety of responses. But when Chicagoans find out that we’re going to the Albany Park neighborhood, we only get one response: So, why Albany Park?

It’s a valid question.

Here’s the first part of that story:

God has been moving in our hearts for several years toward Chicago. My wife, Kim, was born and raised about an hour south of Chicago, and I have always loved going to visit the city. And our love for the city quickly turned into a love for the people of that city.

So in October 2010, we decided that instead of going to live in Chicago, maybe we should go in order to plant a church. After much counsel and prayer with and from several people, we knew that we needed to move forward. One of the first things we needed to decide was a specific neighborhood that we thought we should go to. We did a Google map search for churches in Chicago. The pins overwhelmed the map, but as I zoomed in, I noticed that there were two fairly naked spots. Pin-less, if you will. One of those neighborhoods was Albany Park. We planned a trip to the Windy City and explored both neighborhoods, seeking God’s direction along the way.

From the first day, we sensed that Albany Park did indeed need a stronger gospel presence. There were few churches and thousands of people. Along the way, we have received several confirmations, but I’m saving that for Part 2. Stay tuned.

 

Chicago

God is always moving and shaping us through his Word, his Spirit, circumstances, and other people. For the last few years God has been moving us toward city ministry and church planting. The short story is that we are moving forward to plant a church in Chicago. We’re excited and eager to see how God will work everything out, but after praying, fasting, and counsel, there is no doubt that this is what God wants us to do. Below you will see our strategy, what the church will do, some key values, a proposed timeline, three ways to help us, and a contact form.

Strategy

1. I will be mentored by a Chicagoan church planter through the entire process.
2. We will spend at least the next 18 months forming a team and shaping a clear vision.
3. We will take 10-12 families with us. These families will help shape the vision and mission. We are looking for life-long commitments.
4. We will be bi-vocational in the beginning. A dozen families that are all working and supporting the church will greatly reduce the financial need. In the beginning, no one will take a salary.
5. We will partner with local churches and a church planting network. Ministering in an urban setting involves using many resources with few resources coming in. The home churches of the Chicago team will be key in helping offset ministry costs.

The church will:

• Meet together once each week to worship God and learn from his Word.
• Commit to meet in small groups each week.
• Serve the people of the community and the world.

Key values (this is not extensive):

• Christ-centered biblical preaching
• Contemporary, God-honoring worship
• Community
• Service
• Discipleship
• Diversity
• Informal reverence

Propose Timeline:

Any of this may and probably will change. But it’s good to have a starting point.

January 2011 – May 2012: Form team, shape vision, attend conferences, read, gather funding, mentoring, etc.

Summer 2012: Move to Chicago

Summer 2012 – December 2012: Soak ourselves in the community and culture; build relationships at work and play; expand team.

January 2013 – May 2013: House meetings, community volunteering, preview services

Fall 2013: Launch

We need three things (honestly):

1. A chance to tell people about our vision. If you would like us to come share more at your church, please use the contact information at the bottom of the form. The more people who know about our vision for Chicago, the more support we will have. Certainly that includes finances, but right now we want partners that are willing to support us emotionally and spiritually through prayer, wisdom, and kindness.
2. Families that will go with us. There are several positions that need to be filled, but we would prefer to meet with anyone that is interested to discover your hearts, talk about the vision for the church, and find the best role for you. In the beginning, all positions in the church will be non-paid (this includes the Lead Pastor). Again, this is a life-long commitment, but we believe this is going to be an amazing time of God changing lives of Chicagoans.
3. Financial support. Straight up, we will need money to minister in an urban culture. There will be tons of resources going out and not much coming in. We would like for the home churches of the Chicago Team to support each family, and each family will be expected to give tithes and offerings to the church. There will still be, however, large start-up funds to raise. At some point in the next few months, we will know exactly where you can send money if you’re interested in partnering with us in that way.

Contact us:

To keep up with what we’re doing, check back to this website often. We are also on Facebook.

If you would like to schedule us for a service or are interested in joining the team, please fill out this contact form. Your information will be sent to me and not published as a comment.

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Comment

Hey FWBs, It’s Time For Change

I was raised a Free Will Baptist. My family has a rich heritage in the FWB denomination. I am extremely grateful for the history of FWBs and the work that some of its leaders have done all around the world for God’s glory.

But I’ve been worried about FWBs for a while. I’m worried that our denomination isn’t reaching enough people with the gospel. From what I can gather, FWBs have had about the same number of members since 1950 (around 200,000). We need to recognize that it’s a problem, but there’s no sense in arguing about why we haven’t been growing. We need to move forward by developing strategies for reaching people. Quite simply, I believe the best way to reach more people is to go where the most people live: the cities. So let’s have an honest discussion about what we, as FWBs, can do to reach the masses.

Free Will Baptists are mostly suburban and rural. I’ve suspected as much, but I had no idea how true this was until I started researching. The National Association of Free Will Baptists’ website allows users to look up FWB churches by city and state. I recently used that site, along with a list of the largest 100 cities in the United States (found here and here) to research what FWBs are doing in the cities. For this study, I searched for FWB churches in the 100 largest cities and only recorded churches that had an address within the city limits, as this is how population is determined.

The results:

1. Out of 2,400 FWB churches in the United States, 94 are in the 100 largest cities in the United States (that’s 4% for those of you that appreciate percentages instead of raw data). Forty-six of those churches are in the 50 largest cities.

2. There are 48.1 million people in the 50 largest U.S. cities and 46 FWB churches to reach them.

3. Forty-six of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. have two or fewer FWB churches. Thirty-two of those cities have no FWB church.

4. The ten largest cities in the U.S. have 25.4 million people and one FWB church.

5. New York City has over 8 million people and zero FWB churches.

6. Here are the largest U.S. cities, in order by population, which have no FWB church:
New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, San Francisco, Austin, Fort Worth, Charlotte, Memphis, Boston, Baltimore, El Paso, Seattle, Denver, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Portland, Atlanta, Long Beach, Omaha, Oakland, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Arlington, and Honolulu.

Implication

Plainly spoken: We have failed to spread the gospel of Jesus to people in the cities.

Discussion/Conclusion

1. Free Will Baptists will not see substantial growth unless we go to the cities. Don’t believe it? Since 1950, FWBs have not created a substantial presence in most major cities, the population in those cities has doubled (or more), and FWBs have not seen any substantial growth. As people continue to move to the cities, we must move as well.
2. It will take a different approach on the part of FWBs to reach people in the cities. This is because cities have a different demographic than most FWBs. Race, politics, and socio-economic statuses are all wild cards in the city. Free Will Baptists are mostly white, conservative, and middle-class. We cannot build Alabama churches in Philadelphia. It’s not going to happen.
3. An intentional effort should be made to educate FWBs about the importance of urban church planting. A FWB movement toward the cities won’t happen on accident. Because there has been little emphasis on urban churches, there will be few who decide to do it. Those who are interested in urban church planting may look to other organizations for support and guidance.

So what do you think? Are there other conclusions we should consider? Can FWBs make a difference in the cities? I want us to have a real discussion on how to move forward. Leave your comments here instead of on FB so that everyone can read it.