For nearly two decades, Fellowship Bible Church has sought to glorify God by proclaiming Christ, maturing in the faith, and giving our lives away. This mission is rooted in the Great Commission to “make disciples.” It answers the question, “Why?” and frames up everything we do as a body. While our purpose will never change, we strive to regularly re-evaluate our ministry strategies and ask ourselves, “how now?” We desire to use timely methods to proclaim timeless truth.
Are our methods fulfilling our mission?
Fellowship’s story begins in early 1997 when a small group of people set out on a journey to become a community of faith where growth was as deep as it was wide, and where life-change was experienced and not just talked about. By September of 1997, the core group began gathering on Sunday mornings in the cafeteria of Franklin High School, where they were equipped to “be the church” and not simply “attend a church.”
Over the next seventeen years, our church grew exponentially and became what is now commonly defined as a mega-church.
meg•a•church n. A church averaging 2,000 or more people in attendance during weekly worship gatherings.
The trajectory of a typical mega-church is somewhat predictable: If counter-measures aren’t taken by church leadership, the operating system of a mega-church tends to drift towards “get people and keep people” and away from the original disciple-making mission.
“If you do not change direction,
you may end up where you are heading.” Lao Tzu
A shift in how we gather
Somewhere around 2010, Fellowship Brentwood had reached a point of saturation in terms of available seats at opportune times. Our leadership was faced with a decision: Do we follow the trajectory of the typical mega-church, or is God calling us to something different? Is there a strategy of gathering that more readily aligns with our mission to make disciples?
So, rather than investing millions of dollars into building additional facilities at the Brentwood location, the vision was cast to extend the reach of the gospel throughout greater Nashville via a multi-site strategy. The launch of Fellowship Franklin in 2011 was the first expression of this strategic shift in how we gather as a body. This multi-congregational model affords us the opportunity to grow leaders, make disciples, and expand the Kingdom in ways that are more consistent with Fellowship’s mission and values. In other words, it enables us to more effectively equip our body to “be the church” where we live work and play.
Fellowship South Nashville
Just this past Sunday, I was privileged to take part in the next expression of this “shift” as I attended the core group meeting for Fellowship South Nashville. Excitement was in the air as the group gathered in its new location at Eakin Elementary School in Hillsboro Village. We worshipped together, talked about tangible ways to serve the community, and prayed for the city. As I felt the energy in the room, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was similar to the 1997 core group gatherings in the cafeteria at Franklin High School. To parrot a recent quote by Michael Easley, “everything is different, but nothing has changed.”
Would you commit to joining us in prayer for the launch of this new expression of our body in South Nashville? Pray specifically that the reach of the gospel will be extended as we seek to develop leaders and make disciples.
To learn more about Fellowship South Nashville, visit our website.
