A New Vision for New City
Dear church,
Over the last couple of years, we have been sensing that we are at an important stage of our church’s life. Why?
The founding planter and senior pastor of New City, Connan Kublik, was moving to Calgary. This precipitated a pastoral search process, which resulted in your calling me as your pastor. This was no small thing in the life of a church!
We were actively preparing to send out a daughter church plant. And what an incredible privilege it was to officially send out Sojourn Community Church with our full blessing just two weeks ago! It was a truly joyous moment in the life of our church and a net gain for the Kingdom of God. But the joy of commissioning is always accompanied by sacrifice.
The reality of occupying an older building in the heart of the Downtown Core of Hamilton meant costly expenditures to address our facilities needs, capital campaigns, and expensive repairs. When the costs add up, it is natural for us to wonder, “Is it worth it?”
Lastly, we had just passed the 15-year-mark of our existence as a church, which is an important milestone for assessing the health and vitality of a church’s gospel mission.
All this meant that it was the right time to begin a process of learning, reflection, concerted prayer, and an examination of our church’s vision in the city. Our plan involved three phases.
In the FIRST PHASE of our vision renewal process, the elders returned to review Center Church, an excellent book by Tim Keller that lays out a theological vision for doing urban church ministry. Since December of 2023, the elders have been using the book as a diagnostic tool to ask important questions about our vision and how we are doing to fulfill the mission of Jesus. We are now approaching the end of this first phase, and we aim to wrap up our preliminary discussions by the end of summer, roughly by the end of August.
The process has been helpful, sobering, and encouraging. We are grateful for the good and beautiful work of gospel growth we have experienced; we are challenged by the ways we are falling short in some areas; and we are very excited about the incredible opportunities that the Lord has placed before us. We have also reached out to external organizations to help us think more clearly and objectively about our self-assessment process, and to help us refine our vision renewal process.
In the SECOND PHASE, we will be reaching out to our leaders, including our staff, ministry, and team leaders. We will share our learnings, listen to their hopes and concerns, and further solidify our vision. Our goal is to begin Phase 2 in early fall, roughly early-to-mid-September, and complete it in early-to-mid-November.
In the THIRD PHASE, we will be sharing our learnings and soliciting the feedback of the whole congregation. We hope to begin this final phase by mid-November and wrap up the whole vision renewal process by the end of the year. Please note that these timelines are rough approximations and we will be open to how the Spirit leads us. We want to listen well, remain humble, and avoid unnecessarily rushing through this journey.
Friends, please pray hard for our church as we journey through this new and exciting phase of our life. Your prayers are a vital means by which the Lord will give us a renewed vision for New City. Your prayers are a crucial instrument in Christ’s hands as he breathes new life, power, and joy into our community.
It has been a challenging time for New City in many ways. On top of the many send-offs, expenses, and transitions, our community has been hit hard by some significant sicknesses and personal tragedies. It has been a hard season of lament and grief for many of us. I have prayed with many of you as you deal with things like cancer, marriage, parenting, and family issues, depression, anxiety, and other tough matters. It has been a hard season for my family as well.
But the Lord’s gracious hand of love is clear all over our community.
We are growing numerically. We have numerous newcomers and visitors every Sunday. We have had 15 people baptized and/or come into communicant membership since March of this year. We have 10-12 additional people lined up to become members over the next couple of months.
We are growing in diversity. We are more accurately reflecting the ethnic, cultural, and social-economic diversity of our city more closely than ever. That’s a good thing. It’s a sign that Christ has destroyed and is destroying the dividing wall of hostility in his own Body (Eph 2:14-18).
Lastly, I have heard many of you speak of how the Lord has been piercing your heart with the gospel and stirring up your hearts toward greater faith, love, and worship of Christ Jesus. I have seen your tears as you told me of the ways you have been experiencing healing and restoration. We have shared beautiful moments of gospel clarity and power in our worship and personal interactions.
Friends, the Lord is at work among us. He is not finished with our church, not even close. It is time for us to come together and spur one another on to pray for a spirit of unity and revival, for a renewed and compelling vision for our church, for the utter failure of Satan’s sadistic schemes to divide us, and for the Lord to work powerfully and sovereignly to renew our church, our city, and the ends of the earth through His mighty Spirit. It is time for a new vision for New City.
May the Lord be gracious to us as we seek His face together!
Moses, with love, on behalf of your elders