4 "God Reasons" New City Church Exists

Last week I shared five reasons why New City doubled in the past year. That list was comprised of things we have done a better job of as a church, which makes it easier for people to connect, get involved, and ultimately for the church to grow.As we all know, however, nothing happens apart from God's doing or allowing. And while New City is currently in an exciting season, there is much that has only happened because of what God has done. In fact, throughout the church planting process and even today, I have met and connected with various other church planters, some of which attempted to plant churches that didn't quite get off the ground.What's the biggest reason New City is alive and well when some of these other churches aren't? Because God, for whatever reason, saw it fit to be. So today I want to share four "God things" that God did for New City Church by his grace, without which New City would not be where it is today, or even exist at all.

1) Our staff team

New City has an amazing staff team that I did nothing to create. In fact, four of our original staff (not including me) were people I didn't even know a year before we launched. Through God's providence on social media, God connected these people to the work of New City Church. A big reason New City has even been in a position to grow even now is because of the work of our staff and what they make possible. For whatever reason, God gave New City passionate and able leaders from the very beginning.

2) Our facility

I shared this recently in a previous post, but it has been such a God thing it is worth sharing again. When we began preparing to launch New City Church, I didn’t think finding a space would be hard. Boy was I wrong. We wanted to be in a particular part of North Raleigh, but for various reasons, we couldn’t get into any of the schools, community centers, and various other potential places for us to meet in on Sundays.I was extremely discouraged by all this and couldn’t understand why nothing was working. Especially considering that this is where we felt we were supposed to be. Our original plan was launch in January 2017, but because we had no place to potentially meet, that also meant we didn’t even know when we could really launch.Finally, we came across a space that we could rent 24/7 and at the same cost as renting a school for only Sunday mornings. Oh, and by the way, it was in the dead center of the area we wanted to be in. Not only that but because we have our own space, we have no setup or tear down. And having a smaller space made it possible for Sunday's not to feel empty when we first launched, because we didn't have hundreds of seats we had to fill. While things are getting tighter now that we have grown, the blessing of starting in the space we have is incalculable.

3) People's generosity

New City would not exist if not for the generosity of many. Whether in the pre-launch phase or throughout this past year and a half as a church; people have trusted God and given generously to make New City possible. Many church plants don't make it simply because they don't have the funds. God's provision has been such an amazing thing to see.Just to give you an idea, in January of 2017, we were projected to run out of money September of that year. Not only did that not happen, but we are now a self-sustaining church. Even having a really tight budget, that is not something that usually happens within a year and a half. Again, God has provided for New City in ways that go beyond anything I could have imagined.

4) Wise Counsel

New City has had the privilege of having people from the very beginning who have substantial experience in the church world and in life in general. From our management team which consists of men like Dave, Fred, and Gregg who love Jesus, love New City, and have been through many of the challenges churches face, to our partnership with Acts 29, the global church planting network we are a part of. God has given New City people with experience to help make decisions, which is not often the case with many new church plants.