Two Rivers Chattanooga Spring 2016 Update
It’s been another rich, busy ministry season! Here’s an update on how God has been moving and answering our prayers since the new year:
We asked for a strategy to help our people learn how to listen to God’s voice, then follow his leadership in specific, concrete ways.
- Through a 7-week series in Nehemiah, we encouraged our church to ask God how and where He wants us to trust Him, culminating in the building of a “wall” with the vision and prayers of God’s people at the end of that series.
- Out of those prayers, we developed themes, both individual and corporate, and created a 40 day prayer guide to continue to press into those things the LORD has given us to do.
We’ve continued to ask that God would send us people who’ve given up on church, but not on God. We’ve had the privilege of confronting many of the frustrations and hangups people have with the church through a series called “Messy Church.” Here are just a few of those stories:
Aaron
A man who left the church for 10 years because of the hypocrisy he experienced, who subsequently gave his life to Christ and was baptized this Spring.
Paul
“My druggie friends treated me better than Christians, so why would I want to be around Christians?”
Matt and Glenna
A couple that had been “burned by church” but decided to give it another shot. As they began to say “yes” to God, mayhem hit, and this is what God taught them about trust and the power of community.
God has given us the privilege of shepherding in the midst of life’s messiness.
- One of our core values is “We pursue relational health.” We’ve had the opportunity to walk with people through the process of reconciliation. o We’ve sat with folks in hospital waiting rooms as their loved ones experienced various health issues.
- We’ve attended funerals of key leaders who lost loved ones in tragic, untimely deaths.
- Yet in the midst of the hard and messy, HOPE is prevailing!
But it’s not all been heavy…
- Jon got to slime Chris (yes, it was his idea) – to promote our “MessyChurch” series (https://www.facebook.com/2rcChatt/videos/1180355831997031)
- Warner King,one of our middle school students, painted a giant banner for us to “paint” in our Messy Church series!
- Volunteer Appreciation Event – We threw a HUGE party to say “thank you” to all of our incredible volunteers (https://vimeo.com/162073504)
Two Key Initiatives:
Church Office Relocation
We found out in December that our landlord was going to be selling our current office location. What God wanted to accomplish was so much more than simply helping us find a new church office.
PreElder Board
We formed a team of men who are functioning in elderlike capacities.
Their 7 areas of focus: to be Christ followers, Prayer Warriors, Servant Leaders, Consistent Encouragers, Truth Tellers, Flock Tenders, and Vision Guards.
A Few Numbers:
Attendance:
- We’ve been encouraged by increasing attendance at Two Rivers. We continue to see our people inviting their friends and neighbors.
- One encouraging statistic was an increase of nearly 100 people from last year’s Easter service to this year’s.
- We have 10 small groups with over 90 people connected in community and have baptized 7 people (since September 2015).
Giving:
- We wrapped 2015 with a strong December – doubling the previous December’s giving from $20k to $40k+.
- Our monthly giving has increased from an average of around $12,500 monthly in the Fall, to approximately $23,000 monthly since January. We’ve been VERY encouraged by the generosity of God’s people!
- One of the families who serves on several teams that fell on hardships received over $10k from different individuals from the church! One of our core values at 2RCChatt is that “We live generously” – we’re getting to see that come into fruition!
We thank God for all the opportunities He has given us this year! And we are incredibly grateful for the generous and serving hearts of the people of Two Rivers Church Chattanooga! We look forward to continuing our mission to be a caring community committed to awakening people to the lifechanging power of Jesus!
