catching first wind - Citylight Church

Monday, May 14, 2018

As Citylight readies to celebrate ten years as a church, I am writing a series of reflections. This is the third.

In fall 2006, we parachuted back into our hometown — Roanoke, Virginia — to plant a church. We did not arrive with a launch team from a “mother church” nor a core group of gospel partners. Rather, we were beginning with just our family.

In fall 2007, our family (and church plant) had 60% growth when we welcomed my cousin’s three granddaughters into our family. Church planting necessarily downshifted for a season as we acclimated to being a family of eight.

Into 2008, we were ready to begin a weekly gathering for those interested in the church plant. On Thursday evenings through the winter and spring, we hosted a dinner fellowship and Bible study in our home. I had been told that pioneer church plants usually begin with a narrow demographic — plus and minus five years of age from the planting couple. This proved to be true in our case as well. The folks who gathered in these vision meetings for Citylight Church were in the same life season as us — young families in their thirties. None of these families had existing friendships, but were coming together from our different spheres of life — high school, nursing, homeschool community, neighborhood contacts, and even family. Some were being supportive of us for initial inertia. Others were interested in committing to a new church.

One of these first families was the Shanks. Originally from North Carolina, Doug and Leigh had a young son, and they were pregnant with a second (whom was born by the time of our vision gatherings). In the spring of 2007, both of our families were standing in line to get free T-shirts at the Blue Ridge Kite Festival at Green Hill Park in Salem, VA. Doug was wearing an Atlanta Braves baseball hat. I was sporting my Boston Red Sox cap. We began talking about baseball, and this then led to conversation about work. He was a district manager for Fastenal. I was some guy starting a church from our home. If I were Doug, this would have probably spooked me, and I would have politely exited the conversation. But as it was, this began a connection unto friendship through these past many years.

This was the funny irony of parachute planting for me. I am not certain I would have gone to Citylight in those first seasons if I had not been the church planter. I am not certain I would have accepted an invitation to a vision meeting in a home for a new church, especially from some guy I met at the park. I am sure I would have been skeptical. “Why doesn’t this guy just get a ministry position in one of the hundreds of churches already in the Roanoke Valley?… What wacko beliefs does this guy have?… Is this guy trying to start some new cult?”

Church planters can often be cavalier (even here in the backyard of the Hokies), but personal resolve can be easily tempted to self-reliance. There must be missional resolve in biblical vision. As Stacy and I viewed the church landscape across the valley, we thanked God for the many gospel-centered congregations in Roanoke. Week after week we visited many of them to see the work fo the Lord here. However, for this season in gathering a core group, we soon committed as a family to St. John’s Lutheran Church for Sunday worship. It was important for us to be involved in Lord’s Day worship, and St. John’s was a church for us to hear God’s Word, to sing God’s praise, and to have a familiar, loving nursery for our young kids. Rev. Dr. Mark Graham was so gracious and kind to us in this time — meeting with me in pastoral encouragement, praying for us publicly during services, and even giving us a love gift to plant.

As Stacy and I viewed the spiritual landscape across the valley, we also discerned a need for more gospel-centered congregations. According to an annual study by the American Bible Society and the Barna Group, Roanoke, as coupled with Lynchburg, is ranked as the third most Bible-minded area in the nation. Nevertheless, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives, there is still a large number of folks in our hometown who do not know the peace of new life, the joy of abundant life, and the assurance of eternal life— all and only in Christ Jesus. The Roanoke Valley is culturally Christian in many respects, but even this religious climate is changing. With a percentage of unregenerate church-goers and a growing number of “nones” in religious affiliation, there are over 150,000 children, women, and men in the Roanoke valley who do not have saving faith in Christ Jesus. This is what should and does give us missional resolve in biblical vision.

Church planting is not about knowing better or doing better. Church planting should be about loving more. Jesus is worthy to be worshipped by everyone, and so the mission continues to be to make more disciples of Jesus. There are many churches committed to this in the Roanoke Valley, but we see a need for more gospel-centered churches here. And so we came “home” to plant Citylight.

In the winter and spring of 2008, this started with a Thursday evening dinner fellowship and Bible study in our home. We were catching first wind with families like the Shanks whom we met at the kite festival. These months had initial lift-off in forming friendships in community, but our launch was a bit erratic for stable flight as a new church. Nevertheless, the Lord continued to give grace even to our first Sunday worship services which I will detail in the next post.

awed by God’s grace, Derek Lam