Church Planter Interviews – Brian Hopper
Bob Hyatt
Sep 16, 2010

So your church Imago Dei , is in Richmond, VA. Tell us a little about where you guys are focusing in Richmond.

In  a broader sense, we’re trying to reach the whole city, but only until recently have we claimed a smaller geographical footprint. Because we started so scattered we really had a hard time creating missional momentum. So now, right outside the city on the near West end is where we are really focusing now…what is called District 1. We’re looking at it through two prominent high schools. But really, it’s a snapshot of the city. You have the upwardly mobile, affluent creative class. There are hard-working middle class people and then a group of people who live in poverty. All in very close proximity to each other. The church we rent is really at the center of that.

Tell us about the process you used for planting your church. What did that time look like? What did you do?

I think we are pretty unique in that three years ago, Chris Backert (my co-pastor) and I were both looking to plant churches in Richmond, independent of each other. Chris and I were friends and caught wind of what the other was thinking about and started talking. Once we figured out both of us were looking at planting the same kind of church, after praying and talking more, we decided to plant one church together.

So in the summer of 2008, which we’ve dubbed the Summer of Convergence, his crew from Blacksburg came and my group of Annapolis came down and we formed one community.

We started with one community that was trying to be really missional. We purposefully didn’t have a weekly service for the first year. Eventually we grew to have a sunday service along with Missional Communities (we call them  Common Communities ) and I believe our focus is still on mission and discipleship.

Obviously the focus of this blog is more towards the missional church and looking at different church structures. What is the structure of your church? What would the average month look like?

I’ll tell you what we’re doing and then what we’re transitioning to in the Fall.

Currently we have two worship services a month, on the 2nd and 4th Sundays. Pretty standard service. Worship. Teaching. Biblical themes. Communion. On the 3rd Sunday of the month we have a Storytellers service where we have a huge, gourmet meal [in his previous line of work, Brian was a chef] and three people tell stories where their life and faith is intersecting. There isn’t a gospel presentation, just a chance for people to invite friends, eat good food and hear stories. On the 1st Sunday of the month we’d like our Common Communities to be meeting and serving, and then they meet throughout the week on an every-other-week basis. Our Journey Groups (which is our discipleship vehicle) meet in conjunction with the Common Communities, so they happen when the Common Communities happen.

Now we’re about to shift this to make it a little simpler. On the 1st and 3rd Sundays will be our Common Community weekends. They’ll have a meal, short teaching and break into their Journey Groups. One the 2nd and 4th Sunday we’ll have our worship service. Once a quarter on the 5th Sunday months we’ll do the Storytellers service.

So as you think about the last 12 months of planting, what do you think worked really well?

The Storytellers was a victory for us. We also took Easter and went and served rather than having a traditional Easter service. That was a real highlight. Also, almost 100% of our people give online, which really works for us and gives us freedom on Sunday mornings. Journey Groups (which are similar to Huddles) have worked well. We’ve had a Leaders Table where we’ve invited small groups of people to wrestle through with us some of the changes and transitions within the church. That’s been really helpful.

In the last 12 months, what hasn’t worked?

Our original approach to mission never got off the ground. First we tried by geography because of the proximity factor, which didn’t work too well. Then we tried to define proximity by relationships since there were already some pre-existing relationships and allowed for people to follow Persons of Peace. But the process didn’t really work and with the frequency of change, I think we overestimated people’s abilities to adapt. We had unwittingly made changes that had left people in the dust. I think we have learned to wait a bit more and adapt rather than overhaul.

What is one failure you experienced and what did you learn from it?

One of the areas as a church plant that’s been hard for us is a couple examples of people in crisis: marriage issues, addictions, etc. We just didn’t have the resources available (as a church plant) to really help. There are some shining examples of where we really didn’t have what was needed and we scarred some people. It’s one of those things when I put my head on the pillow at night I really wish we could have done better.

Ok. Let’s imagine it’s 365 days from now. What needs to be different in your community?

One hope is that our church would be more multi-generational. We (my wife and I) just sent our youngest daughter to college, but our average age is in the mid 20′s. From a life experience and spiritual maturity stage, I hope our church will be more reflective of our city. We need that. Folks that are in their 30′s, 40′s and 50′s. My wife and I have been praying for 8 couples that would fit that criteria.

Secondly, not because we’re about numbers, we’d really like to see growth! We’ve had new people come and some people leave, but I’ve really been praying for conversion growth. I want to see the Holy Spirit break this place open and I want to see the Kingdom move.

What is the biggest thing God has been teaching you in the past year?

Growing in the ability to hear his voice. This is a dominant theme in our discussions, our team Huddles and in our church. He’s our leader, he’s the Shepherd and we want to hear his voice. We’ve spent a lot of time learning to hear it and applying it to our lives.

So let’s think 5 years into the future. What does Imago Dei look like? What’s happened?

Well Richmond is such a tribal city and 1 church can’t reach every single part of the city. But we really believe our church can contextualize and incarnate itself into smaller communities within each tribe that will be connected to the body that is Imago Dei. Church Hill. The Northside. West End. Over the river. The Near West End. We’d be scattered but we’d also be connected. And obviously church planting is in our DNA and is core to us. I’d just be so fired up if we were planting church in all of those areas.

I know recently you sent out a letter to your Prayer and Financial Support Network reflecting on what you’ve learned in the past two years. Care to share two nuggets?

  1. I think we really took for granted the abundance of spiritual maturity in the past. You know, we grew up with it and served in a community in Annapolis that was like being surrounded by the great crowd of witnesses. There was such a high level of spiritual maturity. In a church plant that level of spiritual maturity is often much lower and you really notice and miss it.
  2. Transformation takes a really long time! It’s a slow process both for me as someone who is being transformed and for the people around me.

How It Is Now Is Not How It Will Always Be

By Bob Hyatt • 20 Mar, 2024
One of the main tricks in life, I believe, is not to extrapolate current conditions and circumstances off into the future. However, that’s exactly the tendency we have as humans, and especially, I’ve discovered, as ministry leaders. We look at things now and think they will always be that way. We long to see landmarks in the road, mileposts that tell us either we have now reached the pinnacle, the place we always dreamed of being (even if that place is only “stability”), or conversely, the bottom has fallen out and now is the time to bail out. But the mileposts are merely markers on the journey, telling us where we are now, promising nothing of the journey ahead. And so, when things are good, we see nothing but success and good times stretching out in front of us. In the depths of despair, during the most challenging times of life and ministry we feel as though the darkness has become the new normal. The reality is much more complex: there are always better times ahead, and worse ones as well. During those dark times, when ministry becomes more of a weight than a joy, I tell myself, “whatever is happening now will not keep happening forever.” Those words have kept me through relational breaks in our staff that seemed unfixable, through budget woes when we didn’t think we were going to meet payroll, even a time when our community lost a third of its members because we had let a beloved pastor go. In this way I have found hope. In the same way, during the successful times when we were growing, budget was bigger than ever, and when new people were engaging with the church seemingly every week I continued to tell myself, “what is happening now will not keep happening forever.” In this way I have found a measure of humility. There’s another way to read this mantra as well, one that encourages us not to miss what is happening right now as we overly focus on where we’d like to be or what we’d like to see happen. The challenge of ministry, like the challenge of life in general, is to be present to what’s happening now . Too many single people miss the joys of singleness longing to be married. Too many young married couples miss the joys of the early years without children because they long to be parents. Too many parents of young children miss the joys of the infant years, longing for the days when their children are more independent, less dependent on them for everything. And on it goes. In the same way we in ministry can miss the joys of a small, close community by looking at larger communities and wishing we had their resources and influence. We can miss the inherent learning and even joy of being shoulder to shoulder in community with others through challenging times because the difficulties and pain we are experiencing mask the ways in which we are being brought together, the ways in which we are being formed and the invaluable things we are learning. In life, and in ministry, remember: How it is now is not how it will always be. Learn to appreciate how things are now, but also take comfort in the fact that if things are difficult, there are better days ahead. Stay humble because no success is forever. Stay hopeful because, in Christ, no failure is permanent.

Exciting Announcement- Ecclesia is Joining Ascent!

By Chris Backert • 19 Feb, 2024
I’m writing to share some exciting and important news with you that we believe will be significant for Ecclesia in the days ahead! For the last few years, I have been engaged with other church and network leaders across the US and Canada about forming a new “connection” for the church in North America. The heart of the effort is around unifying, amplifying, and multiplying the kind of Christian witness that Ecclesia represents, for the sake of the gospel, over the next few decades. This new effort is called The Ascent Movement, and within the last 12 months, its momentum has picked up increasing speed. A few months ago, I was asked by the council of Ascent if I would help spearhead the development of the network in its next phase. I agreed to accept that task. One of the core goals of Ascent is to connect, coordinate, and collaborate with groups like Ecclesia so that we can do more together than we could in isolation. In many ways, it will function as a “network of networks” like Ecclesia functions as a “network of churches”. In addition to ministries like Ecclesia, there are also seminaries, mission agencies, and other ministry support organizations that are joining Ascent in these early days. For the last several months the Ecclesia board has been discerning whether or not Ecclesia would officially enter into a partnership affiliation with Ascent. We unanimously affirmed that decision at our recent board meeting. Since Ascent is in its early phases of formation, more information on the benefits and opportunities of this new partnership will be ongoing. However, we are happy to share some of the aspects of this new affiliation that we find compelling and will not only bless Ecclesia, but also all of the churches within Ecclesia. First, given the size of Ecclesia, there have always been areas of ministry that we believe are important, but toward which we have not had the scale to accomplish or contribute. Among these are concrete efforts around - increasing the witness of the Hispanic church in North America - supporting mission expansion to less-resourced parts of North America - increasing opportunities for disaster relief and response - and mobilizing prayer networks. Further, there are also specific and tangible benefits that are made possible through this partnership for any Ecclesia Churches. Some of these include things like - discounted tuition costs to Truett Seminary for any Ecclesia leader or member serving an Ecclesia Church. - discounted rate in utilizing the services of Chemistry Staffing for future hiring - access to a church-based missionary sending ministry for those Ecclesia Churches engaged globally, and more! Lastly, there is a specific aspect to this partnership affiliation that is particularly helpful to Ecclesia. Ascent has agreed to partner with Ecclesia over the next year to expand our church planting and multiplication reach in a way that benefits both Ecclesia and Ascent. Practically, this looks like Ascent investing a little over $1,000/month into Ecclesia over this next year and together working toward a set of mutually beneficial goals. As I think about this opportunity within the current moment of our network, it seems right for multiple reasons beyond the purely practical. At our Ecclesia board meeting in late 2022, we established a path for individual affiliation within Ecclesia to make concrete space for leaders who are outside ministry contexts that allow for our core congregational affiliation. The heart of this decision was a desire to increase the kinds of relationships that Ecclesia has within our scope of ministry. The decision to affiliate with Ascent is similar. Also, as I shared at our Ecclesia Gathering in January, this decision fits within the Core DNA of Ecclesia. When I look back at the founding of our network, three aspects were central then and have carried forward. First, our desire to extend the gospel to increasingly post-Christian, or more challenging, settings and groups of people. Second, a desire to exemplify a Christian witness aligned with the theological and missiological direction of affirmations like the Capetown Commitment. Third, our desire to provide a relationally rich journey of friendship for the churches and leaders who are part of our family. When I consider the affiliation with Ascent, we share in common those first two Core DNA. As for the 3rd foundational aspect of our network, I believe the time has come where Ecclesia itself needs “friends for the journey” in the same way that Ecclesia has provided a context of friendship for those within our community. On the other side of COVID, it’s clear that ministry in the days ahead is more exciting, while also more challenging and complex. We believe we need a greater community to be the most faithful to the gospel that we can. You can go to www.ascentmovement.org to get a quick glimpse of its vision. The current website is a placeholder for a more thorough site coming later this Spring. Ecclesia, of course, will have a seat at the table in its formation. We have also provided a one-page overview of Ascent on the attached document. We will keep you updated on this exciting development. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. - Chris
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