Forestgate Church Planting

Church Planting Update

From the Stanton Family

Hey Forestgate Family! We wanted to send an update to share what we've been up to since Steve's church planting residency began in October 2019 and to let you know where we are headed over the next 18 months of the process.

First, a little background...

Our journey towards church planting first began in spring of 2017 when we attended the PCA's week-long Church Planter Assessment before arriving at Forestgate later that summer. Then in 2019, Forestgate's Session made the decision to join the Western Church Planting Network (WCPN), an organization that functions within the Rocky Mountain Presbytery and works together to pool resources, share best practices, provide support and guidance, and approve future PCA church planting works in Colorado, Wyoming & Montana.

To prepare for Steve's transition from Assistant Pastor to Church Planting Resident in October 2019, Steve and Becca spent most of this past summer fundraising. Forestgate and the WCPN provide a portion of Steve's salary during the 2-year residency while the remainder comes from outside donors.

Along with the transition to Church Planting Resident came a lot of training. In early 2019, Steve attended a PCA Church Planters Training in Orlando, FL. He has also travelled to Charlotte, NC several times over the last few months to participate in a Church Planting Cohort through the Center for Church Planting at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS). Both have provided a wealth of information and encouragement along the way.

Steve has also been spending a ton of time reading about church planting, talking to other planters at various points in the planting process, and taking online courses to help him map out the way forward. This past October, Becca had the opportunity to attend a training through Parakaleo, a ministry of the PCA created to train, support, and encourage church planting wives. She is currently participating in an online cohort with several other church planting wives and a Parakaleo coach.

For more information about church planting in general & answers to some commonly asked questions, check out Forestgate's Church Planting page.

Church Planting Cohort (Top), PCA Church Planter Training (Lower Left) & Parakaleo Basic Training (Lower Right)

What's Next?

Building a team! One of the main goals of this residency is to gather people and begin to form a new church body with a heart to reach new people in a new area with the gospel. We are doing this in a few steps. First, we are forming our Launch Leadership Team - a small and committed group of people who will help us to set the DNA of the plant, build the foundations for the new church, and begin to express the church's values in our target area (Woodman & Powers corridor) and to our target demographic. We have spent the last couple of months prayerfully gathering this team & are excited to begin the Launch Team phase this weekend!

The Launch Team will meet from now until early next year as we work toward some very specific goals, after which time we we will be ready for the next stage. During the Core Group phase, we will bring on a larger group of around 50-60 people. As a Core Group, we will spend time learning about the vision of this new church and begin to serve and minister in our target area and demographic.

Whether or not you are part of the Launch Team or are considering joining us in the Core Group next year, you are all part of the church planting team! All of our Forestgate family plays an important role as Advocates for the plant as you pray for us and the Launch Team, encourage us in this work, and share about the plant with others who might be interested in joining us. We firmly believe that prayer needs to undergird this whole process and is the most important thing that will make this plant successful. So thank you for being a vital part of the team!

When Will the New Church Launch?

Our goal is to launch Sunday services in the fall of 2021. Preparing to launch will involve a ton of logistics including finding a place to worship, forming the necessary ministry teams (e.g. Nursery, Worship, Set-Up Crew, etc.), and purchasing all the necessary equipment to provide Sunday services. The average church plant also needs to raise $150K-$200K in order to operate for the first few years until it becomes financially self-sustainable through tithes. Since we're hoping to reach new people in a new area, many of them will be unchurched and not-yet-believers, so the importance of tithing may take time to learn.

In order to accomplish the goals we've set out, we will spend about 9 months developing the Launch Team, about 6 months gathering and training up a Core Group, and 3 months preparing to Launch.

God has been so faithful throughout the process thus far, and we are beyond excited to see where he leads us in the coming months! Thanks for your support, prayer, and encouragement through this journey. We are so grateful for you!

A Few Photos of the Launch Team Interest Meetings

Check out our Church Planting Website

We would love it if you considered becoming a financial supporter of this new work. If you want to sign-up, just click the button below:

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The Stanton Fam · 7290 Grand Prairie Dr. · Colorado Springs, CO 80923 · USA