New Churches
Bob Hyatt
Feb 24, 2017

In a continued sign of momentum in Ecclesia, we are excited to welcome two new congregations to our family – The Neighborhood Church in Garland, TX and Koinonia House in Pottstown, PA.   Both of these churches have been journeying with Ecclesia the last year and it’s a joy to make them and official part of the community.

The Neighborhood Church is located in the suburbs of Dallas and is seeking to follow Jesus for the sake of God’s kingdom in Garland, Texas.  Garland is a large suburb that happens to be one of the most ethnically diverse cities of its size in the U.S.  Their hope is that  The Neighborhood Church would look more and more like our Garland as they live into their name by walking alongside their neighbors in meaningful relationships.

Here is how Adam describes The Neighborhood Church …
“Our people are authentic, hospitable, and sacrificial. Some grew up in church, some were hurt by a church and have found healing, and others are completely new to church (even in the middle of the Bible belt). We try to live authentically with God and each other as a family. The church was planted by Mark Moore as Providence Community Church in a nearby city over a decade ago. We’ve changed our name and re-planted in Garland but the core practices of believing the gospel of the kingdom, belonging to one another, and blessing our city and world has been a constant through the years.

God has been so gracious to unite us together with a clear sense of who we’ve become and what we’re called to do. We want to be a faithful presence to those in need, to the marginalized, and to the de-churched. Since the Fall of 2015 we’ve partnered with a community center in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the city two miles from where we gather for worship. We’ve served in a variety of ways from after school programs, holiday parties, and VBS-style summer student weeks, but now we’re taking another step in our effort to be good neighbors for God’s kingdom by launching a Neighborhood Clothes Closet to meet needs and open more doors to relationships.

We are thrilled to be part of Ecclesia. After Pastor Bud Riddel and I (Adam) visited last year’s national gathering we were convinced we had found a nurturing and life-giving community that shared our heartbeat. Pastor Kathy Keasler (formerly of A New Community), Pastor Bud, and I can’t wait to develop new relationships within the network and to continue to grow our existing relationships. By God’s grace, we look forward to being God’s people together.”

Bob Hyatt, Director of Equipping and Spiritual Formation said, “I’ve always been impressed with the way the Neighborhood Church, planted in the heart of Church Country, has managed to be different. By living as a truly missional community they live out a real Kingdom alternative to the culture around them in a way that both challenges and inspires.”

In addition to TNC, Ecclesia is also enthusiastic to welcome Koinonia House to our movement.   Koinonia was planted by Jessica Clemmer and her husband Todd over a decade ago with a desire to “do church differently.”  They envisioned a community that was relationally centered, and shared life together built around faith.  In discussing their origins Jessica relayed,

“We thought we wanted to create an atmosphere where people who typically wouldn’t feel comfortable showing up at a traditional church would feel welcome. We wanted to be intentional about making space for the arts in church life, and wanted to be a place of blessing to our local communities. What we were really desiring was a fuller realization and living out of the Gospel, though at that point we didn’t have a paradigm for understanding or living that well.”

Throughout the years, Koinonia has begun to develop and lean into a fuller understanding of the Gospel; in that it wasn’t JUST for saving from hell to heaven, but that it was a process of partnering with God in the reconciliation and restoration of all things.  As this settled deeper into their core, they began to get ahold of the concept of missional living, feeling released to build and enjoy genuine relationships with people that were not part of our faith, which they could see cultivating much more openness to the Gospel.  J.R. Briggs, Director of Leadership & Congregational Formation has been walking alongside Koinonia in this last year.  J.R. shares, “It’s been a pleasure to spend time with the Koinonia House community- and it’s been a joy to call Jessi and Todd Clemmer friends for the past few years. After talking about Ecclesia with the Clemmers and their leaders for some time, I’m thrilled that Koinonia House is now officially a part of the network.”

After many years of meeting in different locations, now they are seeking to put down roots, and be present and stable for the communities in which we live and are involved.  On behalf of Koinonia , Jessica says, “We are excited about the ways that God has been connecting us with the greater Body, both in our local region, as well as through like-minded networking, such as Ecclesia. We are moving into a new season with great expectation, not of what we will be able to do FOR God, but rather, what we will be blessed to be able to do WITH Him.”

Ecclesia is excited to walk along with you in Koinonia and Neighborhood Church !

The Neighborhood Church in Garland, TX

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
Share by: