Church Planting in Greeley, CO by Doug Dale
As the location of our meeting place at Summitview Community Church here in Greeley, Colorado moved eastward, we wanted to have a presence again to the west where much of the city’s growth occurs.
There were questions we were considering, too. Could we think about church in a way that would better emphasize ministry during the week with neighbors, coworkers, and others? Could we rethink the service to better promote community?
This yielded a plan to start a second Summitview location in west Greeley on Easter 2014, giving us the benefit of
shared ministries between the locations and the opportunities that a church plant environment presents.
Simplicity has been one of our goals in everything from our bands to our children’s programs. We hope people in
the church will focus less during the week on things like band practice and Sunday School lessons and more on relationships inside and outside the church.
During our gatherings, we sit around tables and have shorter messages followed by a discussion and time to pray
together. The same group sits around each table every week and also meets during the week. Periodically we change these groups up so that people get to know each other over time. Admittedly, this can be a hard environment for a visitor that walks in the door to step into, but is a great environment for those we bring to church personally, which is our focus. This format has been the best received part of what we’ve done.
We have seen much spiritual growth, but not much numerical growth in our first year. As we move forward, we’re making some adjustments to get back on the course we feel God gave us at the start, and we hope to see growth in every area in the months ahead!
