The Next Chapter: Urban Church Planting with the Acts 29 Network

This is a general post to begin casting the vision of where we are and where we are going. There is so much to say here, but I will try to keep it concise. I would love to chat with anyone individually if they would like to know more or if you would like to be involved on a deeper level. 

Confirming the Vision – Defining the Vehicle

So much has happened in the last 6 months. Being in Africa has taught us a lot about the Gospel, our lives and ministry. Our vision of seeing the Gospel change lives was powerfully affirmed, but we did not have a clearly defined vehicle of ministry. During these last 6 months we were courting 2 awesome organizations, All Nations and  The Acts 29 Church Planting Network). The final decision has been to join the Acts 29 efforts happening here in South Africa. The major reason for this decision was our home church, Sojourn Community Church, is part of the Acts 29 Network. It was at Sojourn that we experienced the initial inspiration to move to South Africa to live and work. We have also been impressed by the Acts 29 Network as a whole, it was recently named by researchers the most influential church planting movement in the world.

Who are we working with? What will we be doing?

The Acts 29 Director of Africa, JD Senkbile, has invited us to join him in planting a church in the heart of Cape Town. We have accepted the invitation. We really like JD, his family, and his vision for planting city churches that are transforming the city through the Gospel.

Along with living as missionaries to the city of Cape Town, I am being asked to contribute my technology, communications and networking skills to the mission of the church plant and Nichole will be involved in the administration of the church i.e. making it legal, setting up financial systems, etc.

Early Stages of an Urban Church Plant. Learn, Learn, Learn…

Cape Town is an incredibly cosmopolitan/diverse city. Though it looks NOTHING like most of Africa, you can find almost every African country represented. There is a huge opportunity to have an impact on all of Africa from this city… To our dismay, the city center has almost no evangelical churches and many churches are closing and or moving to the outlying suburbs. This should not be happening… We are working with JD as the team takes the initial steps for strategically planting an urban church. At the moment we are burying ourselves in the culture. Attending key cultural activities, doing demographic research, networking with leaders and building relationships with locals. It has been very exciting. There has been little or no opposition to the proposal of a new church plant in the city center. I had a local business man get really intense when I told him what we were planning to do. “This part of the city needs a church badly, there are so many drug addicted, lonely and lost people in this area and there is no church to meet them”.

We want to meet them.

Missionaries to Africa live in rural villages, eat caterpillars and sleep in mud huts…

The next several months may look very strange to some of  you. It actually looks strange to us. In our minds, missionaries to Africa live in rural villages, eat caterpillars and sleep in mud huts. Though there is a place for missionaries to go to such places, God is leading us to be in the city. We believe the city is a strategic place to be with the potential to affect the entire continent. That being said, many of the pictures, videos and activities we share with you are going to look much different from what we have been sharing and what you might expect.

To all of our friends, family and supporters… Thank You for being a part of this journey with us. If you have any questions or comments we would love to hear from you! Feel free to contact us directly or leave a comment below…

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