“R” church is a new congregation comprised of developing missional communities on the Southside of Richmond, VA. “R” church is being sponsored by Imago Dei and is led by Matt and Amy Senger. We are excited to have them part of our growing family and look forward to see what God is going to do through this new expression. Matt and Amy are two of the most gifted leaders you could meet and we are honored to have them part of Ecclesia.
Here’s a brief description of “R” Church
R church is a newly forming church in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. We find ourselves creating spaces for people in a variety of settings that serve to create community and show people who Jesus is. Seeing people form into disciples of Jesus is what we aim for in all we do. As we take on the posture of a missionary our hope is to create communities that make disciples.
Also, check out this interview with Matt about “R” Church:
Matt, tell us a bit about what has influenced the beginnings of “R” church?
As a newly forming church, recently named Rchurch, we are excited about what we have been experiencing together. In starting we have placed a big emphasis on discipleship and maintaining a healthy rhythm as a church. In this we created a discipleship environment that lends itself to offering a lot of support and accountability with a high degree of challenge. From this we have seen significant growth from those that are involved in this relational form of discipleship. We are already seeing how this growth is forming us as missionaries in our context.
R church is planting and establishing multiple mid-sized missional communities, tell us a little bit about that process?
As a church we have found focus in one particular suburban neighborhood outside of Richmond. We have spent several months together creating what we call a missional community there. A missional community is basically a small church, big enough to carry out its mission, but not so big that relationships become lost. One distinguishing factor in this community is that it is driven by its mission. For the past few months forming this community has been about building trust and relationships through consistency in serving and providing space for the neighborhood to come together. We have done this by serving the neighborhood through several large and small community events and dinners. We have introduced spiritual content along the way by explaining what we are doing with those involved. It is hoped that this Fall we will enter into a new phase with this community. We are hoping to establish more of a spiritual influence within the trust and relationships that we have created. Part of this will include developing smaller sub-groups within the larger community that create room for spiritual conversation. In addition to this there are also two other groups that are newly forming, but do not yet have the momentum of the neighborhood missional community. These groups are split between kayakers and triathletes.
What principles have you been using to guide the development of these missional communities?
We have defined our schedule and practice in the language of UP, IN, and OUT. Basically doing things that are focused on God, building relationships within the church, and serving those we are trying to reach. We are hoping to one day establish these rhythms within each missional community that is being developed. In all we do we are keeping disciple making at the front of what we are doing as we take on the posture of missionaries in our context.
Lastly, tell us a little about your progress?
Over the past few months we have interacted with those that are currently not in the church that once were, and those that have never had any part of church. We have had spiritual conversations with those that know Jesus and those that have no clear idea of what the gospel is. What can be said is that in the first few months our team of believers has grown spiritually while laying the groundwork for disciple making within their own lives. We have also seen a new church community forming in a suburb outside of Richmond that is made up of people seeking God while experiencing something they are unfamiliar with, the Church.
