growing as family - Citylight Church

Monday, May 28, 2018

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

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). This is the example of the first century church in how community life was organized. I would like to say that this was my strategic plan in church planting, but it was more an incidental shift due to circumstances. We were too small to “launch” as a church with Sunday morning service, but we were too big to remain in a home. And so by God’s sovereignty, we sought a different way forward. And by God’s leading, we devoted ourselves to worship and potluck dinner every Sunday afternoon at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church near Grandin Village. This was a special time in simple beginning—the year from summer 2008 to summer 2009.

During this time I was being coached by Pastor Chris Atwell of Portico Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Chris was one of the church planters I had interviewed in 2006 when discerning our call. Now into 2009 he was encouraging me to get to Sunday morning when able. He was right. Sunday afternoon gave intimacy for us to bond as church family (and for folks to sleep-in). However, Sunday morning is the expectation for “church” here in Bible Belt, even among the dechurched and unchurched. Now please understand. Church is a people, not a place or time. Nevertheless, where and when a church plant gathers does affect its missional witness. “For everything there is a season” (Eccl. 3:1), and the time of being a Sunday afternoon church plant in an Episcopal church was coming to a close.

One of the couples who came to Citylight this first year was Philip and Jessie Hatter. She was an event planner. He was a puppet builder (yes, a puppet builder). In 2008, Philip had built the barnyard puppets for “Bull,” a musical composed by one of his friends. In the fall of that year, they performed “Bull” at the Dumas Center as part of the Roanoke City Arts Festival. This show was a hit and would later be licensed for a five-star Mediterranean resort on Crete. That’s another story, but here’s what opened up for Citylight. Philip’s dealing with the Dumas Center gave us relational opening to inquire about Sunday morning use. In summer 2009, we transitioned from Sunday afternoons in St. Elizabeth’s to Sunday mornings in the Dumas Center (pronounced doo-mus).

The Dumas Center for Artistic & Cultural Development is located in downtown Roanoke across the railroad tracks from Warehouse Row and adjacent to the Martin Luther King Jr. statue. The Dumas had been a hotel for black Roanoke in the days of segregation. Musical legends such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole had once stayed and performed here. But now this historic building had received a $4.1 million renovation as a cultural arts center operated by TAP (Total Action against Poverty). Opera Roanoke now had offices on the first floor. The Downtown Music Lab was housed on the third floor. And one year old Citylight Church was renting the second floor auditorium and rooms for Sunday worship.

What a provision this was for our church plant. We just about named our monthly rental rate. We were given on-site storage as part of our rental agreement. Set-up for worship was minimal as we used this new, 180-seat auditorium and its state-of-the-art audio-video system. We did children’s ministry in dressing rooms behind the auditorium’s stage. Parking was ample with an adjacent city lot which were free on Sundays. There are the stories of folks getting trapped in the elevator and us having to worship with peculiar stage props of scheduled productions, but they are not for recounting here. For this reflection, I am thankful to God for the provision of the Dumas. It was our home for Sunday worship from summer 2009 to summer 2012. St. Elizabeth’s was where we learned to be church family. The Dumas was where we began to grow as church family. Several Citylighters took on the leadership of different ministry areas. Philip Hatter was installed as our first elder alongside me.

Through the week, we had started Life Groups — gender specific groupings of three or four. However, in our move to the Dumas, we transitioned these to City Groups — geographical groupings of eight to fifteen which met in homes. City Groups were weekday gatherings for discipleship, and we had groups in Grandin Village, Raleigh Court, Old Southwest, Cave Spring and even Franklin County. (I know it sounds oxymoronic — the Franklin County City Group — but we had a faithful contingent now coming from south of Roanoke.)

In 2006, Stacy and I had been sent out with kingdom blessing by Crestwood Presbyterian Church. In the fall of that same year, we were assessed and commissioned by the Baptist General Conference (now Converge). Now in 2008 to 2009, we were assessed and welcomed into membership in the Acts 29 Network. These, along with family and friends, are how we primarily supported the ministry of Citylight in these first years. Crestwood gave us annual gifts. Converge gave us an initial seed grant. Acts 29 churches—Portico (Charlottesville), Crosscurrent (Virginia Beach), Redemption Hill (Richmond), and Vintage21 (Raleigh)—each gave us monthly gifts. I am so grateful for the generosity and gospel partnerships of all who supported the planting of Citylight Church.

The first-century church had grown with devotion to ordinary means of grace—teaching, fellowship, meals and prayer. And now Citylight was growing in the these ordinary rhythms of life—Sunday worship at the Dumas, weekly discipleship in homes, fellowship in special events. This is the mission of Jesus for the church—be witnesses (Acts 1:8) and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Yet it is love within the church which marks the missional life. Jesus tells us, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

In 2006, Stacy and I had moved back to our hometown to plant a church, but we had done so tearfully, leaving the loving congregation of Crestwood Presbyterian Church. However, now in these first years of Citylight Church, the Lord was blessing Stacy and myself with a new congregation, a growing and loving church family. The Lord also was blessing Citylighters with love for one another, and this was now marking our missional life together.

There are both joys and sorrows in any family, and especially church family. However, I will save continued reflections for the next post.

awed by God’s grace, Derek Lam