Since I have been writing this little column about church planting, I have mainly focused on Sanctuary’s work in the area of planting and have highlighted our planters. This month I would like to depart from that track just a bit. I want to take up a little space sharing about how we interface with our Classis Pacific Northwest and our Seattle Cluster.
Classis Pacific Northwest is the gathering of churches in our denomination that stretches across Western Washington from the Canadian border to the Chehalis/Centralia area. We are made up of over 40 churches including several Korean churches, mostly located in the Southern part of our Classis. Classis is a very important body in church planting. The gathered churches approve church plants, offer oversight through a Ministry Multiplication Committee (where I am seated as a member and am also paid Home Missionary for the Classis). This committee (MMC) has authority from Classis to work with new churches and to offer funding (usually $10,000 per year for the first two years of a plant.) Also, individual churches must be parent churches to new churches. In the CRC, only churches plant new churches, not Classes or the denomination. Further, individual churches provide opportunities for planters to preach and raise funds for their ministries. So, we are a good-sized interdependent group.
Then, here in the Seattle area, we have a very special and new type of structure that has been taking shape for nearly a decade. This structure is called a Cluster. Ministry clusters are gatherings of newer and more established churches operating within a fairly tight geographic area, easily reached within 30 minutes or less for participants. The Cluster provides a lot of support, resourcing and knowledge to participants. In Seattle, the Cluster meets monthly except in July and August. We have three key activities: 1- we develop warm interpersonal relationships, 2- we learn together and 3-we dream, vision and participate in adding new ministries and developing cooperative/shared ministry between churches. We are currently embarking on a mutual enhancement seminar called “Evangelism Beyond Sunday” in which we will discuss how to deeply and evangelistically engage our communities seven days per week.
Classis and Cluster are the key strategic and practical and core governance groups in which we participate here at Sanctuary through our Church Planting Team. We support the mission already in play at the larger level. We operate in ways that honor the values of the classis and cluster. It’s really exciting and really complicated interweaving all of these relationships in search of synergy.
So, pray for all of these relationships. When they are working well, we plant Awake. We see the Aurora Commons come into being. We see a graduate student ministry at the University of Washington come into being. We see the possible of the Harbor Church and their PATH pre-school and their newly ordained staff, Jana Koh. It’s thrilling what we can do together.
Memorize this: WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER. Churches like Sanctuary do their best work when they don’t work alone, but with other like minded churches, leaders and organizations.
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