The Nameless Downtown Vancouver Church Plan

(If you’d like further reading check out our rough draft Church Plant Proposal here)

While this church may still be nameless we will slowly be posting more information about what the vision is for this church. Our prayer is that as you catch hold of this vision some of you will be called to partner with us in new and exciting ways.

Let me begin with our mission statement:

“Claiming the wholeness of God’s beauty in all of his creation“

The Core Values that will underlie anything we do include the following:

Life—God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, as one Godhead, are the perfect representation of love and community. God has created us in his image to experience that love in relationship with him and to share it with people. It is in community that we find life as he intended it.
Choice—God’s love is a gift that has not only transformed our future hope but gives us the possibility for restored lives today. Intentionally living out this reality is a gift that can be chosen by any follower of his. We are given the gift of choice.
Death—Following Jesus brings death. The church is the name given to a community of people who have died to themselves in order to live more fully for others. We follow a God who was willing to die in order to bring us life. Mysteriously it is when we mirror him that we experience that life in full.
Reality—The Word of God is truth. We continually strive to embed it into the fabric of our lives, choosing to let His living and active Word to be the reality by which we live. We seek to be immersed in and live out of the teachings of Jesus.
Creation—God is the creator and all that he creates is beautiful. We have been entrusted to be the stewards of his creation. Therefore we love people because they are created in his image, and we care for the earth because it was a gift from Him.
Evolution—As God’s creation we are always growing, changing, evolving. Jesus invites us to a relationship that continually transforms the whole person into a more complete creation.
Reproduction—Healthy organisms reproduce. The birth of new Christ followers, home communities, and churches into the kingdom is not only the standard by which we identify vitality but also the calling from Christ to his church.

Let me try my best to briefly summarize what we envision this church to look like:

This is not exactly a church for the city of Vancouver, it is a church that is for the Carter Park, Shumway, and Lincoln neighborhoods. To branch beyond that is to plant more churches. Therefore we will not simply try to minister to these neighborhoods, but partner with them. We will not simply exist in these neighborhoods but desire to consist of these neighborhoods. Our vision is not simply for transformed lives, but for a transformed culture within the neighborhoods.

Community will not just be the context through which we experience church, but it will be our definition of the church itself. My assumption is that it will not be an immediately satisfying place for many Christ followers because the Sunday experience will not be our primary expression of church. In fact we do not intend to ‘launch’ with a big public Sunday gathering, but instead envision a celebration gathering that grows out of a growing community that is already experiencing transformation together and therefore feels compeled to express gratitude and honor to God through celebration and adoration.

We anticipate the birth of not just a church but also a community center that functions as an adovate for the people of the neighborhood in order to network existing services, empower people for transformation, and create needed ministries that do not yet exist. It will be a gathering place in a trio of neighborhoods that do not have many. This aspect of the vision has been stirred in our hearts but will be carried out by others that God is raising up.

To know more about the vision, methods, foundation, or timeline please contact me and I will quickly get you that information! Please be a part of the dialogue! (ryan@renovatus.com)