Compass Church to launch this fall in Muncie

The following article is by Rev. Mark Ellcessor, senior pastor of Selma United Methodist Church.  The church is preparing to launch a new congregation targeting those living in northwest Muncie.  Funding, in part, is coming from a conference Church Development grant.  Is your church doing a similar outreach effort?  If so contact Ed Fenstermacher at ed@nicumc.org so he can share your story.  Here’s Mark’s …

Nearly two years ago, on a cold January day, I left the parking lot of Damon’s restaurant and began my trek back to the church parking lot in Selma. As I was driving through northwest Muncie, I remembered when most of it didn’t exist; when I was a child, many of those businesses and subdivisions were cornfields. I got to thinking about all the people who had moved into northwest Muncie in the past 40-50 years, then I started pondering the lack of United Methodist Churches in that quadrant of the city. The reason seemed simple: the evangelistic zeal that made our denomination famous in the 1800’s turned into institutional lethargy in the 1900’s.

 

When Lisa and I were in our early years of marriage, we would often walk in Duke Forest, a breathtaking and vast place for hikers to enjoy nature just outside Durham, North Carolina. One day we decided to veer off the familiar trail and explore some new regions of the steep hills and thick woods. An hour later, we were hopelessly lost, unable to even see the sun through the dense canopy. Oh what we would have given for a compass!

Today, there are some 40,000 people in western and northwestern Delaware County. Demographers tell us that at least half of them are not active in a church. That’s a lot of people who have lost their compass bearing, who could use a little direction in life, who need to find their way back to God.

That cold January day in 2008 changed me. By the time I made it back to the church parking lot, I believe the Lord had spoken to me, convicting me to convince my church at Selma to plant a new church in northwest Muncie. For a few months I kept this completely to myself (I didn’t even share it with Lisa). Like Jacob in the Old Testament, I wrestled with God, trying my best to wiggle my way out of the headlock He had on me. I told God all the reasons why this wouldn’t work, why it would cause me difficulty with my church family at Selma, why it should be someone else’s problem, and why He should have our Indiana Conference send in someone else to plant a church. I lost the wrestling match.

Now, after nearly two years of listening to God, praying, learning, planning, and getting excited about launching a new ministry in northwest Muncie, the time is almost here! We have a terrific staff and leadership team in place, and several families are bravely stepping away from the comfort of life here at Selma UMC to risk starting The Compass Church.

On September 13, those families will gather at Northside Middle School for the first of two “preview” worship services, during which they can get the kinks worked out. On September 27, everyone will come back to Selma UMC for one last service of prayer and commissioning these evangelistic families for the new endeavor. One week later, on October 4, the Compass Church will officially launch. Pray for God’s will to be accomplished and their efforts to be fruitful.

The Compass Church is not really a new church; rather, it is a new campus of our church. Every Sunday, the worship will be a live team on the stage there at Northside. Most Sundays the sermon will be the video from my message here at Selma the week before. Some Sundays, the preacher will be in person delivering the sermon live on the Northside stage. In addition The Compass Church will have a full range of children’s ministries on Sundays and adult Life groups throughout the week. Top-drawer people from Selma are courageously leaving with their spiritual gifts to be part of this church “multiplication”—the method by which Christianity has expanded over the past two thousand years. What an honor that God has selected us to be part of His great story of growing His Kingdom on earth.

For those of you who are part of the launch team, I say go with my blessing. For those of you who are staying here at Selma (the vast majority), I say stay with my blessing. For all of us, let us seek the Lord’s blessings as we trust Him for the future of our church.

Lisa and I eventually made it out of Duke Forest without the aid of a compass. We kept walking and kept walking until we eventually came upon a trail. Then we followed that path until we found some signs that pointed us home. Our Beagle (ironically named “Taxi”) was of no help at all. Neither was our own misguided sense of direction. A compass sure would have come in handy.

It is my prayer that The Compass Church can be that same kind of helpful resource for individuals and families who are looking for a little clearer direction in life. In this day when cell phones and GPS devices are as common as bottled water, we are still just as hard pressed as ever to find God on our own. But with a little help from friends who are part of this new venture, my hope is that some people who have wandered far from God can find their way back to Him.

Way back in 1829 a group of people from Smithfield Methodist Church left their comfort zones and ventured a few miles north to the growing town of Selma, where they planted the congregation that became the church that we enjoy today. Now, 180 years later, we have the opportunity to “pay it forward” to the people living in and around northwest Muncie. I know you will join me in praying, working, and sacrificing so that others may come to know Jesus Christ.

May The Compass Church extend the reach of Selma United Methodist Church and expand the Kingdom of God.

In His Grip,

 

Pastor Mark