• Contact
  • Return to IBSA
  • Advertise Through Us
  • Subscribe
  • E-Reader

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • QuickLinks
    • E-Reader
    • Subscribe
    • Baptist Press
    • Resource Magazine
  • News
    • Corona Virus
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Religious Liberty
  • Mission
    • Illinois Churches
    • Church Planting
    • Missions
    • Evangelism
  • In Focus
    • Longform Articles
  • Columns
    • Nate Adams
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
  • Leaders
    • Pat’s Playbook
    • Fresh Ideas
    • iLead
    • Devotional

Planting in a pandemic: New churches adapt plans for a new normal

April 21, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Gospel Grace Church has been renovating a building (pictured above) in Woodstock, Ill., since last year, preparing for their official launch this spring. A statewide stay-at-home order March 21 halted in-person gatherings for the new church, and most across Illinois, until further notice.

“Everything’s on hold,” said Pastor Nate Praytor, “but we also realize this is part of the Lord’s plan. It’s not caught him off-guard.”

Praytor’s church is one of dozens across the state currently engaged in the church planting process—now, amid a global pandemic. Illinois church planters are adapting their plans and trusting Christ to fulfill the promise from Matthew 16: he will build his church.

“Has it disrupted our rhythm? Sure,” said Mt. Vernon church planter Dustin Haile. “But I really have been encouraged about how the church has responded. How they’ve leaned into Jesus, and have leaned into each other.”

Haile’s congregation, Gateway Church, is planning to launch public worship services this fall, but the pastor realizes that date could be pushed back. He and his core team have talked about how, decades from now, the COVID-19 pandemic will be part of church’s early history.

The story, Haile said, will be that the pandemic didn’t destroy the church, but that the church came out stronger on the other side.

‘God has you here for a reason’
Lighthouse Community Church had planned to canvas the community of Okawville March 22, ahead of a March 29 launch of the church’s second campus. (Its original site is in nearby Nashville.) Instead, the meet-the-neighbors effort was canceled, and the would-be launch was streamed from a nearly empty building. Since then, the church has modified Sunday worship to better fit the current circumstances.

“Our services don’t look normal right now, and we’ve done that on purpose,” Pastor Danny Donato said. Instead of an opening song, he introduces the service, urging people to stay online and stay engaged, because “We believe God has you here for a reason.”

After the sermon, church leaders host a brief Q&A session. The church’s online audience has grown from 400-700 views a week, to 3,500, Donato said.

“He gave us way more influence that Sunday than we ever would have anticipated,” Donato said of the planned Okawville launch. The church is watching the gospel go forward, he added, through people who are inviting their friends to worship online.

They’re also looking for ways to help people in both communities. In Nashville, Lighthouse kids are sending cards and handmade gifts to residents of local nursing facilities. In Okawville, a member of the church’s team is part of the effort to deliver meals to kids who would usually eat at school.

“Hope isn’t as evident when everything’s calm,” Donato said, “but it can shine into chaos.”

‘The gospel is the only answer’
Amid the pandemic, training and pre-assessment of church planters is continuing, said IBSA’s mobilization director Brad Lovin. “Most of [the North American Mission Board’s] development tools for church planting and churches are web-based,” Lovin said. “Potential planters are also being moved through the pre-assessment process virtually so that they can be ready to assess in the future.” Currently, no assessments are scheduled before the final quarter of 2020.

In Woodstock, “We’re all kind of living life right now in the question mark,” Praytor said. But his church is planning for the day they’ll be able to meet in-person, and adapting their plan for a post-Coronavirus audience.

“What’s the best way we can make the gospel land right where people are?” is a question the church is asking now, the pastor said. They’re praying every day for the pandemic to end, but also recognizing the potential for the gospel to go forward in this unprecedented time.

“We do know that it does open a door, when we face our own mortality,” Praytor said. “The gospel is the only answer for that.”

In Mt. Vernon, Haile is working to balance meeting needs in the community with continuing to develop his church’s core team so that they’re ready for an eventual launch.

“You’re seeing a lot of communities and community leaders that are just more open to receive assistance right now,” he said, “and that’s where and churches and plants need to be willing to step in.”

For virtual discipleship, Lovin recommended NAMB’s Multiplication Pipeline as a valuable resource for church plants and existing congregations. The online leadership development tool is designed to help church members discover their calling, equip them to serve, and deploy them on mission.

For more information about Multiplication Pipeline, or how to partner with a new church in Illinois, contact Lovin at (217) 391-3131.

 

Share This Story

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+

Coronavirus

  • News
  • Church Helps

Sexual Abuse Prevention & Ministry

Resources

  • Protect your children, protect your church
  • Caring Well
  • Related Stories

Tuesday Briefing

Briefing

Apology renews debate on gender roles

Featured Columns

Let me ask one question

Sammy Simmons

I left the deacons meeting one proud pastor. It had been a tiring Sunday evening filled with meetings and preaching. However, I went home greatly encouraged by how God was at work using our leaders. In our meeting, five deacons told stories about how they had shared the gospel with someone during the past month. […]

Each church thriving

Nate Adams

Recently our IBSA staff set aside a day for spiritual retreat and focus. Since the beginning of the year, our weekly chapel services have been focusing on the Bible passages that undergird key words and phrases in our new mission statement: “Deliver network value that inspires each church to thrive in health, growth, and mission.” […]

Serving the crucified Christ

Brent Cloyd

Filled with hate, ignorant of truth, lacking in faith, and void of righteousness, the Jews had plotted to kill Jesus. Rome took ownership of their plot and made a statement of their authority in the act of crucifixion. In the course of less than 24 hours, Jesus was arrested, accused, lied about, cursed, and beaten. […]

More Columns

Evangelicals blamed for vaccine fear, but pastors, leaders promote shots

Lisa Misner

Some in the media are warning the COVID-19 pandemic may last longer than necessary due to members of the evangelical community refusing a vaccine due to spiritual convictions or uncertainty regarding vaccine safety. An article headlined “How white evangelicals’ vaccine refusal could prolong the pandemic” appeared in the April 5 issue of the New York […]

News

Lake Sallateeska, Streator managers ready to welcome visitors

Leah Honnen

IBSA’s new camp managers moved to Illinois when many COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, limiting to a very small number the people they met in their first months at Lake Sallateeska and Streator. But they’ve used the last few months to prepare for a camp comeback this summer. At Lake Sallateeska, Manager Brock Vandever […]

All-time low membership: What does it mean?

IBSA Board adopts new statements, budget

More News Stories

Mission

Mission teams hit the road after COVID hiatus

Meredith Flynn

Ken Schultz hadn’t performed in nearly a year when he dusted off his suspenders for a mission trip to Africa. The pastor of Crosswinds Church in Plainfield and long-time entertainer recently traveled to Kenya with a mission team to share the gospel with schoolkids. Schultz wowed the crowd with juggling feats and sleight of hand […]

Replanting season: Young churches embrace opportunities for growth and new ministry

Anxious? Don’t miss your shot!

More Mission Stories

  • Blog
  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns
  • Leaders

Copyright © 2021 · Website by Megaphone Designs