I was asked to write this for Konnect Magazine 2011 and hope this can help introduce GCC to the new comers.
Grace Covenant Church (GCC)was founded in September 1996. with the purpose of reaching the campuses of the GreaterPhiladelphia area for Christ. At the time, there were just eight of us,including my wife and my one year-old daughter, embarking on this journey. Ihad no idea how to plant a church. Yes, I certainly had read books on churchplanting, but the more I read, the more I found out how wrong I was going aboutit. For example, most church planting books will tell you that you need tostart with a healthy core group of members and to start planning at least sixmonths to a year in advance.
We also had almost no financial backing. Because we were planting an independent church, we did nothave any denominational support. On top of all this, during that first year,the only place that would allow us to use their facility was a church in North Philadelphia. So here we were, a church trying toreach the campuses, located nowhere near any actual college campus. I felt theonly way that this church was going to survive and succeed would be by thegrace of God and the promise that He had called me to plant a church. This iswhy I named our church Grace Covenant. Even to this day, it is the grace andcovenant of God that has allowed GCC to exist and flourish.
In my sermons, I often like to reminisce about a Friday night prayermeeting that we held within the first month of planting the church. It wasraining rather heavily, and I was hoping that at least the other seven peoplewould join me and my family in prayer. But that night, the only ones whoattended were me, my wife, a brother we had “hired” as staff, and myone-year-old daughter (I say, “hired” because he was more like a volunteer, ashe pretty much knew he was not going to be paid very much). The prayer meetingwas supposed to start at 7:30pm, but when 8 o’clock rolled around and stillnobody else had shown, we all kind of stared at each other wondering when/if weshould start this prayer meeting.
Though I couldn’t show it,I couldn’t help thinking, why am I starting this church? Who is going to come? And why would they come? Honestly, Ifelt alone, and I certainly lacked faith. I pretended the lack of attendancewas fine, but at that moment I felt both disheartened and discouraged. In themidst of the awkwardness and doubt, I told our associate pastor, “Let’s startthe praise”. The first song that we sang was “Faithful One”. I guess it was apopular song at the time, but I had never heard it before that evening. But, asGod often does, He picked my moment of weakness and discouragement to ministerto me through that song. I felt like I was hearing His voice:
Faithful one, so unchanging.
Ageless one, your my rock of peace.
Lord of all, I depend on you.
I call out to you again and again.
I call out to you again and again.
You are my rock in times of trouble.
You lift me up when I fall down.
All through the storm, your love is the anchor.
My hope is in you alone.
As we were singing, the Holy Spiritrestored my heart. All mydiscouragement was lifted away, and I was in God’s presence. I felt Godspeaking to my soul telling me that He is the Faithful One. He will be faithful.He will build this church. GCC will be His church. I just needed to cry out toHim again and again. I needed to humbly depend on Jesus. All through the storm,He will be the anchor of GCC. It was a simple encounter but one that I willnever forget.
Although GCC was initially a campus churchplant, God has given us theopportunity to reach beyond the campuses. Our working young adults, marriedcouples, and family ministries are growing stronger each week. In the last twoyears, I’ve officiated at least a dozen weddings, and lately, it feels likebabies are popping out left and right. It’s a lot of fun to see. God isfaithful. It has been almost 15 years since that one memorable rainy night, andwe are now one church with three sites.
- The University City (UC) site service consists of college students, graduate students, working professionals, and a few married couples. People not only come from several different campuses in and around Philly, but also from all over the world (international students). The UC site meets in a lecture hall at the University of Pennsylvania. During the school year, anywhere from about 250 to 350 people come out each week.
- The Main Line site (located in Bryn Mawr, PA) meets at the Baldwin School. It primarily consists of young adults, married couples, and young families. We also have a good number of college students from nearby Bryn Mawr and Haverford joining us as well. We are excited about how this family church is growing and still reaching students.
- The Temple site serves students at Temple University and is the newest of our threesites. The Temple site also allows us the opportunity of offering an evening service forthose who would prefer to worship the Lord at night.
Not only has the Lord allowed us to havemultiple services, He has given GCCthe opportunity to plant other churches. In 2004, we sent a GCC pastor, MatthewRo, and a handful of young adults on a faith journey to Atlanta, Georgia.The church had a similar vision to reach the campuses of Atlanta, the surrounding communities, andthen the world for Jesus. Journey Church of Atlanta (JCA), as it has come to be known, is now in its sixth year, andcurrently serves about 200-250 students, young adults, and married couples. Itis absolutely amazing to see what the Lord is doing at JCA. God is so faithful.Pastor Matt has a great heart for the lost, and JCA is reaching many seekers toChrist.
In the fall of 2010, GCC planted another campus church in Boston, Massachusetts.The Symphony Church, as it is named, is led by Pastor Barry Kang and hisfamily. Along with his family, a handful of young adults have committedthemselves to help launch this church. These brothers and sisters were willing,in faith, to pick up their roots and go to Boston. And we know from experience, thattheir faith will be stretched beyond where they are at now. But through ourexperiences in planting GCC 15 years ago and JCA six years ago, we’ve all seenwhat the Lord can do with willing servants. We have no doubt that the Lord willspread his gospel in Bostonand all over the world.
We are also thankful to have thepartnership of Acts Ministries International (AMI) in this church-planting venture. AMI is the community ofchurches that GCC belongs to. The AMI churches work together to train spiritualleaders, plant churches, and to do missions work together.
In the 15 years since we have planted GCC, I would guess that at least several hundred collegestudents and young adults have come through the doors of our church. Some havestayed to work here, but many were also led to leave this city due to work orfamily. But whether people stay or leave, I believe one thing is for sure –those who have heard the gospel preached at GCC are influencing others all overthe world for the gospel. It has been my privilege to serve and minister tomany different students, young adults, and married couples throughout my yearshere.
GCC exists to raise up kingdom workers who are transformed by Christ to influence the world. GCCis a multi-ethnic church. We encourage all people with various backgrounds tovisit our church. It is certainly a diverse group who worship with us.
(Pastor Young Kim and his family founded Grace Covenant Church in 1996. For moreinformation on GCC, visit the GCC website. For The Journey Church of Atlanta,visit the JCA website (http://www.jcatlanta.org). For the SymphonyChurch of Boston, visit the Symphony website (http://www.symphonychurch.com)
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