God’s Love Ministry Church Plant: Introducing Sam and Kelly Kim
We would like to introduce you to Sam and Kelly, who we hope to bring on as an Associate Pastor at Knollwood. Let us take some time to explain. Sam and Kelly come from Chelsea Green Community Church, our sister church and church plant off of Adelaide, where they have been attending and serving as they seek to reach a persecuted community with the Gospel. Tom Haines from Feb Central Church Planting reached out to the leadership at the beginning of the year and asked us to pray about walking with Sam and Kelly as they seek to share the Gospel with these people who have gone through much persecution. They are an unreached people group living in our area of town. Sam and Kelly have a big heart and desire to reach these people. Sam and Kelly have been approved by FEB Central Church Planting. They are financially supported by FEB Central and by their own flower shop located downtown. Think of Sam as a commissioned missionary based out of Knollwood.
By coming under the umbrella of Knollwood, we will be giving them structure, eldership accountability, a home base, and a church family as they seek to share the Gospel in our neighbourhood. Part of this structure will be Sam coming on as an part-time Associate Pastor with ministry to these unreached people. This is similar to what is being done at Westpark, which has multiple churches under one umbrella. Sam will be an Associate Pastor at Knollwood and will be part of the leadership team of Knollwood. This is important because it allows him to receive the spiritual and leadership support needed for his ministry to focus totally on building a healthy and mature church. In this, he is accountable to the Lead Pastor and Elders of Knollwood.
Knollwood receives someone with a heart to go out into the community to reach the lost with the Gospel helping us as a church to be faithful to the mission of being disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ right in our own neighbourhood. Let us be reminded that this is not a separate church but a part of our church that will be meeting in our building simultaneously as we do that to facilitate their language. So think of this as God’s Love Ministry, a similar idea as Knollwood Youth or another Knollwood ministry. This isn’t like Hope Tabernacle, its own church and simply rents our building on Sunday afternoon. As God calls these people to himself, they will be baptized and brought into membership at Knollwood. We will walk together as a church to continue to disciple those who God calls.
This model isn’t perfect, but it allows their congregation’s children to be part of our children’s program, youth programs, or any other ministries. In other words, as this community continues to grow, the second and third-generation (Kids and Youth) of the planted church will participate in the activities and ministries designed for them at Knollwood to grow in their faith by learning and worshiping in English. So they would be part of our children’s program and our youth program. The only aspect of this that will be unique is how they will meet on a Sunday to facilitate the language barrier. This is an essential part of the structure as the 2nd and 3rd generation will be Canadian and will be able to seamlessly move to the English service that meets at the same time. The goal in all of this is to be disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Regarding finances, the budget of the planted church is a line in with the general budget of Knollwood. Knollwood will organize the planted church’s finances, including the pastor’s salary, which will be provided by FEB Central as Sam and Kelly have already been raising support for this ministry. This comes alongside their flower business. Sam will be working to recruit a team of Knollwood people who will be a leadership team of this plant and work in a similar leadership team of any other ministry at Knollwood, such as our youth ministry. The core leadership team of the planted church will work together with the pastor and the members to work with and in harmony with Knollwood to fulfill and accomplish her Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan of being disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ. This partnership aims to reach this community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the area of Knollwood and beyond.
We are excited about this opportunity and are thankful to Chelsea Green for allowing us to partner with them as we seek to reach the lost here in our end of London. We don’t have all the answers to all the questions, but we are excited about the opportunity to reach out into our own neighbourhood with the Gospel. Please continue to pray for our elders, Sam and Kelly, and Knollwood as we navigate the future and seek to be disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Below is a more concise outline from FEB Central Church Planting on how this will work. Please also see attached Sam and Kelly’s
FEB Central Church Planting Model-7KPM
(For Church Plants Among the Arab and Islamic Communities)
Due to the sensitivity and fragility of the church planting ministry among the Arab and Islamic communities in Canada, we have developed a new strategy with ”7 Key Principles” in order to secure the stability and endurance of the ministry over the years for God’s Glory! The history and experience of the church planting ministry in this context has taught us that this kind of church plant struggles on leadership, financial, integrational, cultural and generational levels. For this reason, we have established a series leadership/ministry principle that will help the planted churches to be healthy and striving for the Glory of God!
7 Key Principles Model
- Umbrella: Planting the Church Under the umbrella of a mother church (Fellowship Canadian Church). It becomes a church integrated within a church.
- Membership: The members of the planted church are members in the mother church.
- Pastor: The pastor of the planted church is part of the leadership team of the mother church where he gets the spiritual and leadership support needed for his ministry in order to focus totally on building a healthy and mature church. And, he is accountable to the lead pastor of the mother church.
- Second and Third Generation: The second and third generation (Kids and Youth) of the planted church participate in the activities and ministries designed for them in the mother church so they can grow in their faith by learning and worshiping in their English or French mother tongue.
- Budget: The budget of the planted church is a line in the general budget of the mother church. The mother church will organize the finances of the planted church including the salary of the pastor.
- Core Leadership Team: The core leadership team of the planted church will work together with the pastor and the members in order to fulfill and accomplish the Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan of the church which is under the vision of the mother church and in harmony with it.
- Church on Mission: All the principles above will release the resources of the planted church in order to reach out to the Arab and Islamic communities by the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the area where the church is planted and beyond.