City Outreach, Part 7

Key Question: “What else is Tenth Church doing during this time?”

As we contemplate a capital campaign, we are mindful of Tenth’s mission to build a fellowship of kingdom-minded disciples. We are a wonderfully large and diverse community of believers. That blessing presents a dilemma: how can we connect people within the church and make sure their pastoral needs are being met?

Pastor Marion Clark and Elder Steve Carter head the Kingdom Discipleship Commission, which has responsibility for pastoral care, parish effectiveness, and building community. Building on the parish system, the Commission wants to improve communication with the installation of Tenth Community Assistants. These TCA’s will maintain relationships with approximately ten members each so they can facilitate better connection to the church and particularly to their parish elders. About twenty-five are in place now. Other developments are taking place among the elders and diaconate to better equip them and free them up for pastoral care. Please read the Commission’s report which was released in September 2007. Copies are in both church lobbies and can be found on Tenth’s website under Tenth Ministries\Discipleship.

As part of our mission to reach Center City, Tenth has committed to a ministry that brings a vibrant and transforming kingdom presence to our surrounding neighborhoods. One means of achieving this is through the work of Paul Tripp, Minister to Center City. Early in the new year, he will launch a re-designed evening worship service, steeped in the Reformed tradition, that will provide a more participatory worship experience. We want to welcome people to a community of faith that takes worship seriously and communicate the awe of God. We pray that these services will be instruments of Christ’s redemptive work in the life and culture of Center City.

Project of the Week: City Outreach Project │ $350,000
Following the model of the early church in Acts, we are convinced that planting new churches remains the most effective way to evangelize Philadelphia. We are in the midst of a fruitful church planting climate in our region. Within the last decade, the Philadelphia Presbytery has planted ten churches, including three Tenth daughter churches. We want, in partnership with presbytery, to saturate the city with new churches, reaching the lost where they are. Church planting multiplies our original investments. Because they take in new members and develop their own outreach budgets, we multiply the numbers we bring into God’s kingdom both in terms of people and funds. We will approach church planting along two fronts: ethnic urban church plants and Tenth daughter churches.

Ethnic urban church plants typically require an extensive period of outside funding before achieving financial independence. They minister to new believers who otherwise might not have a place to worship and typically draw members with few resources. But they have a transforming effect in their immediate neighborhood because of the close, practical attention they are able to give. By giving an infusion of support, we can give them the needed boost to establish a foothold in their communities.

The funds designated for daughter churches will initially be used to support interns who will serve at Tenth with the intention of planting a daughter church in the near future. Critical factor to the success of a sustainable church plant is the ability of the minister. By providing initial support for his salary and by providing him experience and training in Tenth Church, we are more likely to enable his success.

Whether it is our emphasis on building a fellowship of kingdom minded disciples, ministering in Center City or planting churches to blanket the city, we take seriously the call to be a light in a dark world. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14).