Providence Road - Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Providence Road
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Contact: Jeremy Hager - jeremy@provroad.org
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At A Glance:
We are a church in Norman, Oklahoma with the mission of glorifying God by leading people to find freedom and joy in Jesus. To accomplish this mission we prioritize five Biblical values: 1) Gospel Centrality, 2) Formative Community, 3) Everyday Discipleship, 4) Missional Living, and 5) Planting Healthy Churches. We want to see these things happen through rhythms of gathering and scattering throughout the week in contexts such as Gospel Communities, Discipleship Groups, and Sunday All-Church Gathering. |
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OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
In 2010 my wife Nicole and I (Jeremy) moved from Austin, Texas to Norman, Oklahoma. We were joined by five others to begin planting the seeds of what would become Providence Road Church. We wanted to begin being the church from day one, so we began doing the things we believe the church should do from day one. We wanted Biblical Church DNA to be in the church so that as we grew we would be healthy. We emphasized and trained in things like Gospel Fluency, Community, Everyday Missional Living, and Discipleship from the very beginning. We waited almost two years to have weekly services to make sure the people who were a part of the church were living out the values/DNA we wanted.
We chose to plant in my hometown of Norman after several years living in Texas. We felt God leading us back to Norman for many reasons, but primarily it was for strategic purposes. Norman is a city of 125,000 people and home to the University of Oklahoma, the largest public university in Oklahoma and one of the largest schools in this part of the country. At the time of planting, Christians made up under 20% of the population, well under the typical numbers for a city in Oklahoma. Norman is strategic, mainly because of the University. Approximately 12,000 graduate each year from the university and most of them leave for larger cities, making it a great sending location. |
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
We believe that God through His Spirit has chosen the church (big "C" and little "c") to be the center of His Glory being made known to all nations. From God calling Abram (Abraham) in Genesis 12, to Jesus gathering his disciples, who would be empowered and sent by the Spirit, to plant churches (Acts 1:8); we see the "sent" nature of God's people throughout the Scriptures. Therefore, we believe the church doesn't just have a mission, or a missions department. We believe the church is the vehicle for mission. Or to say it another way, Jesus the groom is awaiting His bride, the Church, to be complete so that he may return.
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3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
Within every area of the church (Gospel Communities, the larger Sunday Gathering, Students, etc) we have missional DNA/thread running through everything we do. We teach and equip toward demonstrating and declaring the gospel in everyday life. We are intentional and work hard at evaluating and measuring progress in these areas.
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4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
In our large Sunday morning gathering, we create a Biblically hospitable environment where any person joining us can clearly hear and understand the gospel. Our liturgy is intentionally centered around the gospel story and done in a way where believers and unbelievers understand it. We also have Gospel Communities which consist of 10-15 adults who commit to doing life together in normal everyday activities. When believers gather in these "GC's" we hold each other accountable to living on mission. We encourage each GC to have a few "third places'' so people outside the community can experience what life looks like inside the community (John 13:34-35). It is also the primary environment where demonstration and declaration of the gospel takes place. We also are "minimalist" in our church calendar and programming, so our people spend less time at the building and more time out amongst people in their GC's and neighborhoods.
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5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
We've set up our larger Sunday Gatherings to model what mission might look like in everyday life through things like hospitality, prayer, teaching, and the language we use. We have quarterly trainings that are for our GCs' core leadership teams, but anyone can attend. We give the core teams practical ways to take the content back to their GC and reproduce the training within their GC.
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6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
First, we've learned to be patient with our people and the church as a whole when it comes to bearing fruit in mission. We've learned we need to lean in to God's sovereignty in mission and trust He is moving in his timing. Secondly, we've learned that we must be ok with and train towards flexibility within mission. What being on mission looks like for a 19 year-old college student will look different than what it looks like for a married couple in their 30's with three kids under the age of nine. We've learned we have to equip our people toward an end goal, have a few simple things we are training them in, and then allow individual people and families, through the leading of the Spirit, figure out what this looks like for them.
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Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
ORIGINAL TEMPLATE:
Gathered.church - Adelaide, South Australia
Gathered Church
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Contact: Seth - Seth.Emery@PowerToChange.org.au
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Website: Gathered.Church
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At A Glance: We are a church in Adelaide, made up of a network of Micro Churches, with no church building or employed staff.
Each Micro Church is led by a core team (shared leadership) with the mission of blessing and serving both the post-christian friends and the ever growing number of people walking away from "traditional" church. As Ambassadors we create spaces and opportunities for people to experience Jesus and his Kingdom. |
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OUR MISSIONAL STORY:
1. What’s the story of how your church was planted, replanted, or revitalized? |
In 2018 a handful of us, within an existing Missional Community, saw a large need to reach and care for the 72% of Aussies who grew up in the church that we now disconnected and drifting (these were pre Covid stats). We found that many we actively avoiding religious buildings, so we set out to create spaces where we could be the church without buildings or staff.
This led us to forming a small network of Micro Churches, seeking to create spaces and opportunities for everyday people to experience Jesus. We now see the need to reach 3 very different groups within Adelaide. with 3 different strategies. First, equipping and supporting the existing church; Second, caring and loving the disconnected; Third, thinking cross culturally to reach our post-Christian friends and neighbours. |
2. Where did your vision and conviction to be a Missional Church come from? |
Jesus. He lived and breathed a life engaged in the world, eating, celebrating, morning and doing life with those who were far from God. And He didn't do it alone, not only did he have a small group of disciples with him, but he lived with a complete dependence on the Spirit. It only makes sense for those who call themselves followers of Jesus, that we would follow in his footsteps. Life others, intentionally engaging with the world and totally dependent on the Spirit.
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3. What is it about your church that you believe makes it a Missional Church? |
Each Micro Church has an intentionality about it, to connect regularly (2-3 times a week) with each other, and to create spaces where we can listen and encourage those who don't know Jesus. Every member is aware of our call as ambassadors to reflect the Gospel in everyday life, but we don't just talk it, we make it a priority. Regularly we meet and connect with each others friends (who don't know Jesus) and we see the fruit of listening, praying, partnering and drawing others to the Good News of the Kingdom.
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4. How are you structured/organized to accomplish your Missional vision? |
We have Kingdom Families (a core group of 3-6 people) committed to doing family life together. They have a location that is their main missional focus, usually consisting of natural connection and friendships in a specific area. Each Kingdom Family will have 5-10 others floating around them (christians and those leaning in) this forms a Micro Church. Micro churches will meet weekly and ideally with 1-2 other MicroChurchs on a regular basis. At these Gatherings we equip and train one another as Kingdom Apprentices to continue being Salt and Light as everyday Ambassadors of Jesus. All the Micro Churches form one larger church with Elders, a strategic team and a soul care team... each with the purpose of helping the body BE the church - God's People, empowered by God's Spirit for God's Purposes.
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5. How are you training and coaching your people to live with Missional intentionality? |
Weekly training the Body to listen and Obey the Spirit (during our Gatherings and DNAs) and every term we have a half day training time equipping the body in different areas. We also have an intro course called Body.Living which helps normal people understand the Gospel, our Identity and practical ways to be missional.
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6. What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as a Missional Church? |
We have learnt that Mission is not the main point. If we put that first we see People turn into projects. Mission and worship are an overflow of us knowing who God is, what he has done and who we are in light of that. The Good News of Jesus and His Kingdom must be remembered daily/ We simply get to enjoy the Father and intentionally point others to Jesus. If your people don't know that, then at best, "Mission" will become an awkwards script people feel guilted into, leading to more damage than help. And at worse it will become the means of pride, judgement, competition (stats) and spiritual abuse.
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Missional Progress
Coming Soon...
