Being Attentive to God's Moving

In addition to ARC, I mentioned in a previous post about another established "network" of churches in Montana that has been seeking to partner with us in planting a high-impact church like the one we've outlined in our Launch Prospectus.

We had a follow-up meeting in Butte with a few other leaders in this network. During a deeper conversation, we discussed the expectations on both sides, and explored how such a partnership might work. We see it as a great benefit to partner with a network that knows and understands Montana culture, but also had a large infrastructure throughout the country to support us and our vision with resources and funds.

I have to tell you that Andrea and I are really excited about this opportunity, but It is a difficult decision that we must consider carefully. Can we join this Montana network, and also partner with ARC? It may be possible to draw from our ARC partnership financially and from the other resources and the relationships we've already formed with other ARC church planters.

We can't ignore how God has set upon our hearts to plant a missional, outward-focused, and relevant church community in Helena — while at the same time, He's led this network of churches to plant the same kind of churches in Montana's biggest cities. And then He's allowed our paths to cross. We must always be attentive to God's moving in our lives and circumstances. This is why we've pursued this opportunity in addition to the other partnerships that have emerged.

We ask that you pray for our wisdom in this decision of partnership. We want to be able to clearly hear and heed God's guidance as we consider which network partnerships will allow Encounter to effectively seek out God's vision for us.