Citylight Lincoln Church

A BRICK IN HIS CHURCH

Our dream is to see God grow a movement of disciples multiplying disciples in their networks, the next generation, new cities, & the nations! And Jesus has been doing that right in front of us! We've seen over 300 people baptized in the last 5 years. We've gotten to plant 3 churches and 1 of them is planting their first church this year! We're sending 3 long-term missionaries to unreached people groups! God has had His hand on our ministry & continues to transform lives by His grace!

We believe God is inviting us into taking a huge step of faith by moving to a new location to create more space to see more people meet Jesus & grow in Him. We have seen the evidence that in our current building, we aren't able to reach out to people or to plant churches the way God is calling us to. We know that with the increase of space, we will have the tools to impact and be a part of the Gospel transforming lives throughout our city and world on a whole new level.

We want to see God grow a movement of disciples multiplying disciples in their Networks, the next generation, new cities and the nations. A new building will have a direct impact on each and every one of those elements of our vision.

THE UPDATE

At the beginning of this process, we identified 5 miracles that needed to happen in order for us to get the Kelly's Carpet building:

1. Kelly’s becoming available again
2. We get under contract and they accept our terms
3. We sell our building
4. We raise 1 million dollars to put down on the building
5. We increase our churches monthly giving by about $20,000/month

God said yes to the first 3 miracles! The building became available, contracts were signed and a church was pursuing to buy our building! We are so proud of our church. Faith was stretched, 213 people committed to pray together weekly, and we saw crazy stories of generosity! We trusted Jesus, but we had some hurdles that we believe God is using to direct us elsewhere.
1. We weren't approved for a high enough loan
2. Renovation budget came back way higher than expected

Our elders prayerfully felt that it was not wise to continue forward with Kelly's Carpet. Our purpose was not the pursuit of brick and mortar, but to pursue God and to move when he moves.
Bob Walz, one of our elders, reminded us of Proverbs 16:9:
"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."

It took more faith to say no.

So where does that leave us? Well, we are still trying to figure it out. We know God has shown us that we are going to move, we know that God has shown us it is not purchasing Kelly's, and we are just as confident that he will show us His next steps.

One opportunity is that He has given us a time to focus in on the health of our church! Growing in discipleship. Caring for our neighbors. Sending out missionaries. We are trusting in Him!

Pray with us!

1. Pray for a new building opportunity! We are still out of space and desperately need a bigger building to gather in!

2. Pray for clarity in what we should do next! That leadership would be sensitive to where God wants to lead us and that we would be obedient to his timing!

3. Pray for ways our church can grow in health in this waiting time! There is always ways we can grow and mature in our individual walks and as a church body!

Want to give towards a new space?

We want to invite you to join us in this huge step God is calling us to take at Citylight!

GIVE : Recurring

We'd be so blessed by your financial gift! Click one of the amounts below to start a recurring giving amount:

GIVE : One-Time

Click one of the amounts below to give a one-time gift to our the Building Fund. It will have an immediate and eternal impact!

Q&A

Did we sell our building to Redeemer Church?

No! The agreement with Redeemer was always contingent on our purchase of the other building.

What happens to money we have given?

We will be in contact with everyone who had contributed to the building fund in the following weeks. You will have a choice to get your money back or to steward it as a donation that will be 100% allocated towards our future building.

What are future plans for a building?

We are going to keep going! We already are looking into where our next opportunity might be! In the meantime, we will be working on creative solutions to make our current building work more suitable!

How can we help?

Pray. Pray. Pray. We need everyone to be asking God for Him to move and to provide a space! Another thing you can do is consider a reoccurring or one-time donation towards the building fund so that when we do find a building, we will be ready!

Next Generation:

KIDS | Our current kids ministry space has been great and the ministry is impacting families in unbelievable ways! BUT…The space we have is tight and there are new families that visit and don't return because we're too packed in our classrooms. The new building would immediately TRIPLE our kids space, multiplying the possibilities of impact! This would provide classrooms, gathering space, check in area and increased security layout. All of these things will immediately impact our new families and help them to connect with our ministry as well as bless current families!

COLLEGE | Our college ministry, Salt Company, often fills the entire gathering space on Tuesdays. Can you imagine the impact we'll have on the campus with a gathering space that is double or triple what we currently have? When Citylight started, there were over 30,000 students in the city of Lincoln, and less than 1000 were active within a local church. 5 years later, we have 500+ students active within our church. With a new gathering space, the skies the limit to how many college students we can reach, raise up, & release out to make Jesus famous where He takes them next.

Networks:

Each of us have a network that God has placed us in. Neighborhoods, workplaces, & friendships. He has given each of us a special place where we are called to share our lives and to share the Gospel. As we create relationships, we are able to share the Gospel.
BUT…it is often hard to find seats on Sunday morning to share with a friend. It can be hectic to find them, connect with them, locate a seat and settle in together. Our dream is to have a space that would sit 800-1000 to open up new seats to be shared with our networks.

New Cities:

We love planting churches! And we are praying over a couple of new church plants in the near future. We know God is calling us toward cities like Kearney and we're getting ready for more!
BUT… the last three churches we planted were really costly. Without having a strong central base & foundation, sending church plants out can cripple our church & hurt our health. With growing into a bigger space, we gain more stability to increase our sending capacity! We're confident that the new building would allow us to sustainably plant more churches

Nations:

Our mission team and our development of missionaries is growing rapidly. We're asking Jesus to raise up & send out 150 long terms goers to unreached people groups in the next 10 years. We want to be a part of God reaching the nations & spreading His Gospel to every corner of the world.

BUT… in order to send that many people, we've got to invite a lot of people into discovering God's heart for the nations, developing them, & deploying them into their unique contribution towards the nations. Some will be welcomers. Some will be prayers. Some will be senders and some will be goers. But the larger number of people we have, the more people we can invite into joining into this mission!