Church Plant Send-Off

This January, we will celebrate 10 years of God’s faithfulness at UPCC. As we quickly approach this milestone, we are excited for the opportunity to expand God’s Kingdom through the planting of our first church. The leadership of UPCC has desired since the beginning to plant a church, so it’s a joy to experience God bringing us to this moment at this time. 
 
Today, we had the joy of sending out over 50 individuals (adults and children) to begin meeting together as a new church. A new church…what an amazing few words! Since the first century, God has miraculously loved, cared and preserved His bride, the body of Christ. Through great hardship and brokenness, the Lord continues to this day to spread the good news of the Gospel through His church. Just like every child that is born, every new church plant is a miracle with great potential to impact the world for Christ. 
 
Although there is the miracle of seeing a church planted, there is also pain. Today was a hard day filled with a myriad of emotions. Where real relationships exist, there will also be pain as those relationships change. On the horizontal (earthly) level, we all feel that we are losing a group of friends who we will miss seeing each Sunday. On the vertical (Kingdom) level, we also understand that we are not losing, but sending. The very real conflict that is felt by all of us today is part of the hardship of living in a temporal and fallen world while still trying to keep our eternal perspective. 
 
Paul, one of the greatest church planters who ever lived, had to often leave people he loved with Kingdom prayers of goodbye. Paul would often return for a visit, but the change was always hard on him, as seen so clearly in his letters. As Elders of UPCC, we have no doubt that the obedience to this calling will bring a sanctifying influence on all of us and more importantly it will bring glory to God’s great name. 

As we send out our new church, we at UPCC will provide the support needed until independence is gained. We are thankful that God has given us the ability to support the plant effectively in the days ahead. For the foreseeable future, we are still operating in many ways as one church. Bryan Raught will be working under the leadership of UPCC as we are operating under one leadership structure, one budget, and shared events in the months ahead. For members of both churches, although we will be committed to our specific churches in serving and attendance, we invite and encourage each group to visit and support the other church if you wish. Pastor John will be speaking at 2|42 CC in September and Bryan will be back in November to speak at UPCC, so we are thankful for the opportunities of supporting one another in the months ahead. 
 
Lastly, let’s continue to pray for one another through this transition. Prayer is the great unifier of the body of Christ, so let’s be lifting one another in the days ahead. Stretching produces faith building; thank you Lord for the continued stretching You will give all of us in the days ahead. 
 
                                                                 With excitement for what God will do, 
 
                                                                           The Elders of UPCC