What is Next?
If you have been around Connection for anytime at all, you know we talk about Next Steps a lot. Not only do we encourage people to take next steps in their own lives, we also believe the church has next steps to take, and as we've looked back over these past 10 years we have seen God do incredible things when we have taken steps of faith. In 2019 we believe God is calling the 5 campuses of Connection to become 5 fully autonomous churches of their own:
Up to this point, each of our campuses report back to Statesboro as the Central Campus. Our Central Campus is where our Elders are located, as well as where all of the finance and creative departments (Video, Graphics, Web) are located. On paper we were one organization in many locations. Moving forward each of these Campuses will become their own entity and organization with Elder Boards from their congregation as well as taking over responsibility for all finance and creative elements.
Why?
Ever since Connection began we have always tried to listen to God and do what he says. The same is true today, and this is what led us to this decision. Through much prayer and discernment from both our Pastors and our Elders, we feel this is the best direction. We believe this will ultimately allow more people to be reached, as well as give our campuses the freedom to make decisions based off of what is best for their congregations.
When?
Each Campus will have a slightly different timeline depending on how ready they are to become autonomous. Our Vidalia Campus began on their own in February of 2019 (visit their new website HERE), Millen will happen around April, Dublin by July, and our Pooler campus will be sometime in 2020 since they are our most recent campus and will need a little more time to get on their feet.
What does this mean for future Campuses/Churches?
We do not believe that planting campuses was a mistake, and have seen incredible fruit from them. But we also believe there can be different seasons in a church, and this is just a new season. No matter what campus you attend we want you to know there are 3 things that have always been true and will continue to be true:
- We have a heart to reach people
- We have a heart to help others in ministry
- We have a heart to reach beyond just Statesboro, Vidalia, Millen, Dublin and Pooler
Each of our campuses will remain committed to sending people to share the gospel and planting more churches. This new model however, will allow us to plant that many more churches, and it's the difference between addition and multiplication:
In this model you see the difference between one multi-site church planting 3 more churches, versus 5 independent churches each planting 3 more churches. Allowing each campus to multiply themselves, instead of doing it all together will allow us to reach many more people.
So yes, we still want to plant more churches, however it will probably look a little different. Instead of starting a "Campus" and then develop that staff along the way, we want to develop a pastor and then send him on to plant a church of their own, giving them autonomy from the very beginning. We feel this is a better, and more biblical way of planting churches.
What does this mean for One and One?
One and One was launched in 2012 to raise $3 million with half of the money going towards local outreach, international missions, and church planting and half towards a new permanent facility in Statesboro. This is what allowed us to plant each of our campuses. To date we have raised just over 2 million dollars, and our Statesboro Campus remains committed to fulfilling our goal set in 2012.
The decision to move in this direction was made in October of 2018, therefore any money given to One and One from any other campus will go directly back to that campus to be put towards them becoming autonomous and continuing to reach people in their communities. So any money you continue to give above and beyond your tithe towards One and One will stay at that campus. Some campuses are using this towards land, towards building, or towards expenses incurred in the transition. Please speak with your pastor at your campus (church) for more information on the future of One and One as it will play out at your location. You can use the link below to give towards your specific campus.