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Dear Gospel Partners,
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill
We have been living in Greensburg for almost an entire year - we have experienced both success and failure - and because God is so rich in mercy, we have the courage to continue this church planting journey, whatever may come. And what a journey it is!
September has been a wild month! We kicked off with a BBQ at Ryan and Caitlyn’s house, where we enjoyed incredible food over the smoker, cold drinks and even better friends. We have been intentionally growing in applying the good news of Jesus in our lives and in the lives of those in our neighborhoods, so we invited every neighbor we have been connecting with. It was a great day as we lingered in good conversation with one another well into the night.
We finished up the book of Acts and gathered for the last time in our living room. We are thankful for the space we had in our home in Southwest Greensburg. It was a sweet season of worship, fellowship, and spiritual formation as we prayed for another space in the heart of downtown Greensburg - a space that would give us opportunities to invite strangers to become neighbors who would become family.
At 4TheCity Church, we live to magnify Jesus by making disciples who share and show the transforming power of the gospel and plant churches that multiply in the city of Greensburg, PA and to the end of the earth. We have seen God’s faithfulness and kindness as the power of the gospel is transforming hearts, minds, marriages and entire lives - right in front of us!
By God’s grace, we are continuing to slowly grow and increase in our numbers. We are confident that filling a room with crowds of Christians is not a successful church plant. The risk of modern church planting is that your plant may “grow” and appear to have been successful without reaching a single lost person. This is why our most important metric for success at 4TheCity is making disciples who make disciples.
As of September 12th, we are now gathering in the Stage Right building in the heart of downtown Greensburg - exactly where we asked God to be! We shared the story in last month’s newsletter and continue to trust that it’s Him who is providing everything we need, when we need it. We are confident that as we continue to spend time praying and asking Him to show up in power in our community, God will break in to do what He alone can do.
Through the generosity of local and not-so-local churches, and our faithful gospel partners - we have been able to purchase everything needed for our Sunday morning services! Thank you Jesus, first and foremost and to all of you who continue to show up financially and prayerfully. You are living, breathing grace and we remember to thank God for you and your partnership in the gospel.
So here we are - we gather at 10am every Sunday on the second floor of the Stage Right building in downtown Greensburg. I’m preaching through the book of Galatians through a series titled “No Other Gospel.” Because of technology and the gifts God has given to Jake, our sermons are now online and added every Monday.
We continue to keep our calendar simple so we can do the work of church planting - building relationships with our neighbors and intentionally reaching out with the love of Jesus. We have worshiped with a few people we have been connecting with these past few months and also with people who were complete strangers - some are now neighbors who are quickly becoming family. We’re asking God to do more of this in our gathering!
Please pray for us to continue to have courage in the days ahead. None of us really know what’s going to happen, but we take heart - with boots on the ground, we receive the good news of the gospel and we preach the good news of the gospel. For God’s glory, our joy and for the good of our neighbors.
Here are a few things we would love prayer for:
- Pray we would have a close walk with Jesus and bear gospel fruit.
- Pray for our church to have favor within our city.
- Pray for more laborers.
- Pray that the Lord would continue to open up hearts to the gospel and doors to community ministry.
Gospel On...
~ Pastor Scott
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