Regardless of how long you've been connected with us, you've probably heard us casting the same vision as I just referenced. We've been saying that
Overflow Collective is "One church engaging Jesus' mission as multiple
churches." We've challenged you to think of church beyond Sunday morning
through our MCCs (Missional Church Communities). "THANK YOU" for joining everyone else on this journey. Have we, as a leadership team, done everything right? Have we communicated everything as
clearly as we wanted to? No, most likely not, but, we haven't relented from striving to lead you into a culture of making disciples,
being the church, and planting churches.
With all that being said, we've reached a point from an
organizational standpoint that we need to make some shifts to continue moving
forward in this big picture vision we've been casting.
Practically what's going to happen?
Practically what's going to happen?
1) Overflow Collective will become a network of church
plants/developing churches more so than a term related to a Sunday gathering at
South-Doyle High. The graphic below gives a visual example of what we mean by this.
2) What happens at South-Doyle High on Sunday mornings will become a Sunday
gathering of Aroma Church. Most of you either already know Benji or you have been able to
get to know him over the last year. He is a South Knoxville guy with a strong
desire to see the area where he was born, raised and has lived to become
transformed with the love and life of Jesus. It's time for us to plant Aroma
Church to the fullest, which includes the Sunday gatherings at South-Doyle
High. The first "official"
Sunday of this switch will be Easter Sunday, April 20th. Between
now and then, we'll be working mostly behind the scenes to transition leadership,
planning, and organizing to reflect Aroma Church and their specific vision, but
we'll still refer to the Sunday gathering at South-Doyle as a gathering of Overflow Collective until Easter
Sunday.
3) I (Josh) will be transitioning to begin church planting
in North Knoxville where our family lives. Starting January 26th, we'll be
having Sunday gatherings in North Knoxville every other Sunday. After Easter
Sunday, we'll be gathering in North Knoxville every Sunday. I'll continuing coaching
all of our the guys leading churches and communities within the Overflow Collective network.
4) We'll also continue developing our Catalyst and
Montgomery Village MCCs toward becoming eventual church plants. For example,
the last Sunday of this month, the Montgomery Village MCC will actually be
meeting in their separate context on Sunday morning. Catalyst on the other
hand, will continue to meet on Sunday mornings with Aroma while working to form
a foundation in Seymour.
I'm really excited about next steps for Aroma and everyone
involved in all that God is doing throughout Overflow Collective. As we look
down the road, we'll bring everyone back together a few times throughout the
year to celebrate the bigger picture of all that God is doing within Overflow
Collective.
What does this mean for you?
First, pray and discern where God is leading you to submit
to Him as your authority, but to give you some potential direction and clarity,
here are 5 potential scenarios for you to consider...
1) While there will naturally be some shifts and changes to
what's going on with Sunday gatherings at South-Doyle High as it becomes led by Aroma, you're
welcome to move forward with them. Many of you have been connecting with Aroma throughout the week, so this will be a natural progression for you. Next week, January 19th, Benji will be
sharing general vision for Aroma moving forward. In 2 weeks, when Montgomery
Village and North Knoxville are gathering separate, Benji will be drilling down
into the specifics of Aroma.
2) If God leads and you sense it may be a fit for you to
join us in forming a new church family of believers on mission, I'd love to
have a conversation with you about what we're doing. Initially, our gatherings
will have a feel very similar to what many of us were doing over the summer. We're focusing on creating a disciple-making culture that empowers each other, not on launching a Sunday morning service. While the Sunday service may happen at some point, there's a lot of disciple-making and community building that needs to happen first.
3) With Catalyst, if God leads you to continue or begin walking
with this community, they'll continue meeting as a community just as they are now
and will join with Aroma on Sunday mornings.
4) With Montgomery Village, if God leads you to continue or
begin walking with this community, they'll continue progressing forward by building community throughout the week and gathering on Sundays
with Aroma when they aren't gathering separately in Montgomery Village
5) Perhaps God will lead you to connect with a completely
different set of people. If that's the case, take everything you've hopefully
learned with us and go be the church and advance the Kingdom. Again, we'd love
to help you process through what God may be leading you to do.
To clarify... The first
"official" Sunday of this switch will be Easter Sunday, April 20th. When it comes to Sundays, there won't be a lot of change
until Easter other than occasionally (1 or 2x per month) when some people will
begin gathering separately on Sundays (Montgomery Village and North Knoxville).
However, please don't think these changes are primarily about Sunday because
through the week and behind the scenes there will be a lot of relationship
building and planning that needs to continue to happen.
All of us on our leadership team are more than willing to
have a conversation over coffee and talk through these next steps with you, so
please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
