Churches Doing Well

Churches Doing Well
11
THE CURRENT
Nearly every person attending one of the campuses
is new to Christ Church; and it is unlikely they would
have found Christ Church without the placement of
these campuses in their respective locations.
ion carried on in multiple venues
Pioneers talked to their friends, acquaintances and
others to invite them to Christ Church at their respective
location; in effect, Christ Church became a G0-TO
church in each of those locations.
The CM and Millstadt campuses began as portable
churches, i.e., they set up and tear down church each
Sunday morning and hold their small group meetings
off-site. Once Scott began operations in a remodeled
Grange building in the country outside the Belleville
gate of Scott Air Force Base in 2014, the need for permanent
spaces for CM and Millstadt became obvious.
The CM campus moved into a renovated Family
Dollar store this spring after 4 1/2 years in the YMCA
in Maryville. Millstadt is in the discernment phase of
determining its next iteration; it continues to meet in
the Millstadt Primary School Center.
A year ago, each campus location participated in a
three-year pledge campaign netting nearly $150,000
in pledges for each location to use in their respective
quests for suitable, usable 24/7/365 spaces. The Biker
Church services began as a surprise birth when the
motorcycle ministry leaders inquired in 2012 about establishing
a service for motorcyclists, gear heads and
cowboys. The first Sunday of each month Biker Church
meet in a bar in Maryville and meets at the Fairview
Heights VFW on the second Sunday of the month.
The Christ Church mission of Connecting People with
Jesus Christ has compelled each campus to continually
identify strategies that reach out, welcome and
disciple through worship and service. The campuses
are video venues with local hosts and high quality
worship teams. The campus’ strengths are worship,
welcoming and ministries for children.
Currently the CM Campus is averaging more than 150
in attendance since its move to permanent facilities.
The Millstadt Campus experienced the most growth
proportionally this past year and is averaging nearly
100 since the first of the year. The Scott Campus is averaging
more than 115 each week. And Biker Church is
averaging nearly 40 per worship service.
Nearly every person attending one of the campuses
is new to Christ Church; and it is unlikely they would
have found Christ Church without the placement of
these campuses in their respective locations. Each
campus has multiple small groups; specific outreach
activities to serve the people of the community in
which they are located; and their giving has exceeded
expectations with the average giving exceeding the
average weekly giving of UM in the IGRC.
The campus leadership teams meet with me monthly
in addition to the regular conversations throughout
the week to discuss the progress towards the mission
of reaching people for Jesus.
Each of these campuses has added people to the kingdom
of God; our hope is that they will become places
of multiplication. And it all began with a conversation
at a distant time and place six years ago!