One thing I get excited about is seeing new churches planted in Chicago. I'd like to introduce you my friend, Matt Sweetman, and the work he is doing in our city. Matt, his wife Heather and their two boys moved to Chicago in 2009. His vision that he shared with me a couple of years ago almost exactly matched some heart desires I've had for the north side of Chicago for the last 5 years or so.
I talked to Matt a couple of weeks ago about what's currently happening. Here is what he told me about this new Chicago church, Destination, and what they are experiencing...
- We've always dreamed of a community of Christians who would take the mission seriously. In a recent prayer time we crammed people into our apartment and everyone prayed passionately for a friend who is outside the community. There is real ownership of sharing the gospel with outsiders through authentic relationships covered in prayer and a risk to invite them into the community. We are starting to see a breakthrough with this. It's not just leaders. It's everyone working together to bring people. It's very exciting.
- We had an excellent Easter Sunday service recently after distributing thousands of invitations both through personal invites and a public push at three major ‘L’ stations. Including kids we had 54 people. It was our one year birthday. Rather than connecting with people from other churches, we've found many disconnected and isolated Christians who are not being discipled. God seems to have joined them to us quickly. This was unexpected but very encouraging.
- We had 5 new members join Destination in the past month. 7 married couples completed the Love & Respect course this past month including one new couple who are considering joining Destination.
- We've settled in really well to our new venue at ComedySportz and we’ve continued to see first-time visitors every Sunday since we moved locations. The venue allows us to make church relaxing and remove many of the traps of religion. People are hearing the gospel more effectively because many of the things that our generation questions the church about are gone. They are left to ask deeper questions about the reality of Jesus.
Pray for Matt, his family and this new church. Learn more about Destination.