Phase One: Informational Meetings

At the beginning of March, the session shared with the congregation that we were intending to organize our next church planting effort in Northwest Grand Rapids and to send me (Pastor Wayne) out as the church planter. It was agreed that we would specifically work to establish a church among the 35,000 people in the John Ball Park, West Grand, and Westside Connection neighborhoods. Our goal is to see a healthy, Reformed church established in Northwest Grand Rapids that is committed to seeing disciples of Jesus made and matured as God’s Word is prayerfully applied to the lives of people. 

Our first step was to hold three informational meetings that provided some basic information about what the church plant would hopefully look like. One of the first things that was shared was the name for the new mission work: River Presbyterian Church. The name recalls the biblical imagery of the lifegiving waters flowing from God (Psalm 46; Ezekiel 47; John 7:38-39; Revelation 22).

But other questions were even more pressing for those considering involvement: where would the church plant be? Why? What do those parts of the city look like? Who would help provide leadership to the church plant? What would worship services look like? What principles would be informing ministry at the new work? We sought to answer those questions in the three informational meetings which you can view here:

• Informational Meeting #1 (March 31, 2025) and slides
• Informational Meeting #2 (April 28, 2025) and slides
• Informational Meeting #3 (June 9, 2025) and slides

In the Spring, the session also approved a leadership team for the church plant made up of myself, Andrew Gent, and Adam Post. The session adopted a proposal that delineated what authority would be delegated to the church plant leadership team and what responsibilities would be overseen immediately by the session. 

Phase Two: Launch Team Meetings

As the informational meetings wrapped up, we began to ask people whether they were ready to make a commitment to join the launch team. The launch team is made up of all those who are committing to being part of the church plant while it works to get established. Those who committed to the launch team would then begin to meet regularly throughout the summer to do three things: (1) develop relationships among the launch team, (2) pray and plan about potential ministry plans together, and (3) train for ministry at the church plant.

On Thursday, June 19, we had our first launch team meeting at Harvest. Currently, there are twenty households (73 people) that have committed to being a part of the launch team for River Presbyterian Church.

There was real excitement at this first launch team meeting as it was the first gathering where we had a sense of being a group that was moving forward together. Everyone shared what they were excited about regarding the church plant and how we were hoping God would work in our lives through our involvement in the church plant. Many people expressed how they’re looking forward to being challenged in sharing their faith with others and serving in the church in ways that might stretch them in new ways.

We also discussed obstacles to engaging in relationship with people who don’t share our faith and brainstormed ways we could do that in organic and organized ways. By the end of the meeting, each person was asked to identify a next step they could take in building a relationship with someone who wasn’t a Christian. We then connected to a partner who would pray for us and follow-up with us over the next two weeks. At our next launch team meeting, we’ll hear reports about how our next steps went.

Next Steps

Over the summer, our launch team will continue to meet on a biweekly basis (meetings are currently scheduled for July 2, July 16, July 30, and August 6). Alongside these meetings, we will be working on a couple things, including:

• Searching for a meeting facility in Northwest Grand Rapids.
• Developing our Growth Group ministry.
• Organizing volunteer teams who can help with different work critical to moving forward with the church plant.

Lord willing, we hope to start meeting for at least one weekly worship service by the Fall.

Prayer Points:

Moving forward, we have much to be thankful for but also many needs. For this reason, we would urge you to pray for us.

1. Join us in thanking God for a wonderful core team that appears to have a nice blend of gifts and personalities.
2. Ask God to work through our launch team meetings to develop a healthy unity among the group that is rooted in Christ. Pray also that this would be a community that we are eager to invite others to experience with us.
3. Please pray that River Presbyterian Church would be a church that is committed to engaging and evangelizing people in reliance upon God’s Spirit.
4. Please pray for our search for a facility in the NW Grand Rapids area; specifically, we are looking for a facility that is visible and readily accessible by highway and public transit.
5. Pray that our efforts to see a church plant would be the outflowing of our belonging to Jesus by faith alone.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Wayne

What I’m Reading:

Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman – The dramatic events in the Middle East have captured my attention over the past two weeks and sparked an interest in wanting to study Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.   

The Pastor's Justification: Applying the Work of Christ in Your Life and Ministry by Jared C. Wilson – As I navigate the challenges of setting down my work at Harvest and picking up the new work at the church plant, The Pastor’s Justification has helped me keep a proper perspective on life and ministry.