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Detroit-Area Churches for Unique Church Planting Partnership
By Craig Pinley
TROY, MI (October 25, 2003) - A lot of churches say that they are interested
in building the kingdom of God outside of their own walls and across
denominational lines.
Kensington Community Church, a congregation of 6,000 located in a suburb
of Detroit, has been in the process of actually doing something about it
through a unique church planting initiative. And three Evangelical
Covenant Church (ECC) church plants have benefited greatly from
Kensington's efforts. The church was honored recently by the Great Lakes
Conference as a mission friend to the Covenant.
Christ Covenant Church and Life Church in Wixom and Canton, Michigan,
respectively, and Lighthouse Community Church in Sarnia, Ontario, have
all been helped by Kensington Community. The 13-year-old congregation,
under lead pastor Steve Andrews, has aided the Covenant churches as part
its "20/20" church planting initiative, which hopes to start 40
multiplying churches ministering to 250,000 people by the year 2020.
Kensington Community aided in the initiative by Larry Sherman, associate
superintendent of the Great Lakes Conference.
Kensington Community has been involved in 14 North America church plants
and 12 are still active. Three of those congregations average more than
500 in worship attendance, said associate pastor Nick Boring.
The Covenant congregations are glad to be part of the partnership, to be
sure. And the Covenant's Department of Church Growth and Evangelism has
offered its assessment center programs to other new Kensington Community
church plants--making for a successful reciprocal relationship.
"(The) brothers and sisters at Kensington are very kingdom minded,
they're very humble," says Life Church pastor Alex Rahill. "I'm kind of
awed by their heart. I think that's why God is blessing them."
"They have some pretty good leadership skills in that they're able to
gather people who are willing to follow them," added Lighthouse
Community pastor Mark Crate about Kensington Community. "And there's an
'adventurous intensity' about them, something that says 'I've got to do
this.' They have a passionate personal witness - they're authentic."
Boring, who began attending Kensington Community 11 years ago, was a
volunteer chair of the initial 20/20 task team five years. It included
pastors, elders and a few key businesspersons from the congregation.
They believed that starting churches that differed from the norm would
interest those in the area who were spiritual but uninspired by the way
church had been in their past.
Their own church was a case in point. Even without a permanent church
building, Kensington Community averaged 2,500 in worship attendance
before moving into its own facility four years ago.
"People were tired of church and they weren't going because it was
boring and it wasn't relevant," said Boring, who previously worked as
sales and marketing international manager of marketing services for AC
Delco, a brand off General Motors. "Our mission statement is: Turning
People who think God is irrelevant into fully devoted followers of Jesus
Christ through the ministry of high impact churches.' And we're pretty
open to working with a lot of people from Charismatics to conservatives
who are on the other end of the (worship) spectrum."
Boring continued, "We're overwhelmed with all we don't know and all that
is changing in church planting. But what we're seeing is that God is
relevant in every age group and culture. The challenge is in how we're
going to work with God in that."
Kensington Community's congregation has "put their money where their
mouth is" as it pertains to church planting. The church began a $13
million capital campaign three years ago with 15 percent (nearly $2
million) being set aside for church plants. But Kensington Community's
parishioners also committed in other ways too. Boring stated that 60
people followed church planting pastor Dave Nelson to a new ministry in
Utah, which hopes to evangelize Mormons for Christ. And the church has
committed training resources like Sherman to the church planting effort.
Sherman met with Gary Foran, an associate pastor at Kensington, nearly
three years ago and he has gained trust with Kensington's leadership.
Sherman now meets monthly at Kensington's church planting forum and
helps consult with the church as it networks with other congregations.
One of those networking links occurred with Nathan Pawl, pastor at
Christ Covenant Church. Kensington Community has helped Pawl's
congregation financially and also gave Pawl a listing of Kensington
parishioners who were residents near where his church was being planted.
Some previous Kensington attendees now worship at Christ Covenant.
Lighthouse Community and Crate has been assisted by Kensington's
training sessions and Crate was especially grateful for the pastoral
care given by Andrews during his initial months as pastor for the
Ontario church plant. And Kensington Community helped Life Church with
startup funds, and offered training helps and other materials.
"A lot of us have had this heart (for church planting) for a long time,"
said Rahill. "The Covenant added some resources and Kensington Community
has a heart for church planting. However when that relationship got
formed (with Kensington and the Covenant) it energized the whole region."
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