ardent prospectus revision

8/6/2019 Ardent Prospectus Revision

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Planting ProspectusSteven Castello !! |! 205.422.6856 ! |! [email protected]

The Name, Mission, and Vision...................................................... !! 2About Southside, Birmingham........................................................ ! ! 4About Steven.................................................................................. !! 6Doctrine.......................................................................................... !! 7How is this Going to Happen? ....................................................... !! 7Timeline.......................................................................................... ! ! 9Appendix A: Does the South Need More Churches?..................... ! ! 11Appendix B: What Does it Mean to Be Gospel-Centered?............. ! ! 13Appendix C: What is a Missional Community?............................... ! ! 14

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The NameArdent means to passionately pursue or go after and glowing or shining. Inthe Bible, we see God pursue His people by sending Himself, Jesus, to pursue andrescue a people who sinned against Him. The offended pursued the offender and

bought grace for us. Jesus pursued and bought the Church as a bride for Himself andpresents her as ardent, glowing and shining , washed with His own blood. God isa sending, missionary God (John 1:1-5, 14, Matthew 28:18-20) and we want to besent, missionary church, passionately pursuing the people in our city with the Gospelas Jesus did.

MissionGospel. Community. Mission.To advance the Gospel of Jesus by pursuing people in Community and on Mission .

Vision

To plant a gospel-centered, missional, church planting movement that bringsredemption , reconciliation and revival through Jesus Christ to the Birmingham area.

Gospel-CenteredThe Gospel is not simply conversion. It is salvation unto men from eternity past toeternity future. It is the power of God to purpose, save, and sanctify us. Everything isabout the Gospel because God IS the Gospel (John Piper). The entire life of thechurch is about presenting, preaching and advancing the Gospel as the hope forsinners. It s not about how good we can be but about who Jesus is and what He hasdone. (See Appendix A for more information)

MissionalBeing missional is living like a missionary. It s living intentional lives in a communitybefore others in service, love, and passion. It s truly putting love your neighbor intopractice. This type of life will create opportunities to share the Gospel. Every believeris a missionary (Ed Stetzer). Every believer is called to wrap his or her life aroundGod s mission with others in community. (See Appendix C for more information)

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Church PlantingWe want to see a gospel-centered church planted in every zip code in Birmingham.We want to share the Gospel, make disciples, get people on mission with us, trainleaders and elders, raise up church planters and send people out to plant churches inother places. As we multiply missional communities and groups begin to form in areas,we want to start churches in those areas. It s not about one big church gathering inone place. It s about many churches incarnating in communities to pursue people withthe Gospel.

RedemptionUltimately, we want to see people come to faith in Jesus. We pray that God usesArdent to show how Jesus has redeemed His people through the Cross and how Hisresurrection gives us new hope. Ardent Church is about the Great Commission. We

want to advance the Gospel to every man, woman and child in Birmingham andbeyond.

ReconciliationBirmingham has several barriers and divisions. These range from racial tosocioeconomic to class to neighborhood to family divisions. What would it look like tosee the Gospel repair and reconcile the brokenness in our city? What a beautifulpicture of Heaven to see a multiethnic, multigenerational, multi-community churchmovement show the reconciliation the Gospel brings!

RevivalBirmingham has seen a steady decline in church attendance, number of Christians,and gospel-centrality but has seen an increase in crime, hate, corruption, and abuse.We pray for revival to break loose in the hearts of believers to pray and engage ourcommunities. We aren t praying for Christendom to be reestablished but want to seethe Gospel deeply penetrate darkness and turn the hearts of the people to God inworship!

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About Southside, BirminghamBirmingham is one of the most diverse cities in America. It is home to the University ofAlabama at Birmingham (UAB), a top medical school, that ranks as the third mostdiverse university in the United States. UAB is also the state s largest employer with

over 185 different countries and all 50 states represented. Over 200,000 people live inBirmingham proper with over 50,000 living in Southside. The median age is 34 andwomen make up 54% of the population. Among men, construction is the most commonoccupation and women most frequently work in the medical eld. Birmingham is a mixof college students, young professionals, working class, and has several immigrantsthat have created rich Middle Eastern, Latin American and Asian culture.

Southside consists of the Glen Iris, Southside, 5 Points South, Highland Park,Lakeview and Titusville neighborhoods. Southside is home to many entertainmentdistricts such as Lakeview and 5 Points South, and several concert venues andtheaters such as Workplay, the Alys Stephens Center, the Virginia Samford Theatre,and Birmingham Festival Theatre.

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Birmingham is a city with a rich architectural, industrial, athletic and musical history.However, over the last 50 years, Birmingham has experienced urban ight, loss ofindustry, political corruption and inghting. Some look from afar wondering what hashappened to our great city. (See Appendix A for statistics)

But there is a renewal beginning here. Recently, an initiative called Blueprint

Birmingham alongside our city government, led by William Bell, has committed $21million dollars to jumpstart city growth and renewal by bringing businesses back to thecity. The rst step was the recent addition of Railroad Park (just voted the best newpark in America by thedailygreen.com). Railroad Park has added new life to the citycenter and a destination for young families and increased entertainment opportunities.Other plans include a new baseball park, entertainment districts, and a Light Railsystem downtown. On top of that, people are moving back into the city. In the pastyear, 27 new loft buildings have been built, are being built or are being planned.

As exciting as these things are, they can only affect the surface issues of our city. WithBirmingham s renewing spirit and diverse culture, there are incredible opportunities to

join with others to see the Gospel redeem, reconcile and revive the people of this cityfor God s renown.

God has called us to plant Ardent Church in Southside, specically in the Glen IrisNeighborhood. Southside is a beautiful mass of humanity with rich, poor, homeless,afuent, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and just about every otherbackground. Our city is broken and only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can restore her.

Less than 5% of the people in our community know the saving grace of Jesus. Webelieve God is moving in this city. We believe God is going to do something beyondour comprehension in Birmingham! God has called us to plant roots here (Jeremiah29:5-7) and seek the welfare of our city by planting the Gospel deeply, as God drawpeople from these streets to Himself to build His church and give Him honor andpraise!

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About StevenI was born and raised in a suburb of Birmingham called Clay, AL. I went to high schoolhere and graduated from Samford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Family Studiesin 2004. I have over 10 years of ministry experience working as a youth pastor, camp

director and counselor, church planter, and teacher in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona andColorado.

My life has perfectly resembled the parable of the prodigal son but not in the way youwould think. I was the elder brother. Tim Keller says " Elder brothers in thechurch can pass the Gospel test with their words, but ultimately they believetheir standing with God is based on performance. That was me. I knew all theright answers, went to church, and had a life of hidden sin I didnt want anyone else toknow about. At age 17, God revealed the Gospel of Jesus Christ that my religion couldnot save me but that it was the mere pleasure of God to show His kind mercy bysending Jesus to become sin on my behalf and give me, freely, undeservedly, Hisrighteousness. To echo Keller again, Religion: I obey therefore god accepts me.The Gospel: God has accepted me and so I obey. Thank God for the Gospel!

God has richly blessed me with a wonderful wife, Amy, three beautiful daughters, Lily(4), Addisyn (2), and Karis (1). Pray for our family as we seek to missionally take theGospel to Southside.

My story is a microcosm Southern culture. There are a bunch of elder brothers in our

culture who are just as lost the prodigals and need the Gospel just as badly! That iswhy God has called us here.

Missions exists because worship does not. - John Piper

God doesnt call the qualified. He qualifies the called. We are ordinary people trying tobe faithful to the calling God has put on our lives. Our prayer as a family has alwaysbeen to go and do whatever the Lord has called us to do with unbridled passion andtrust. We see the spiritual state of our city and it breaks our hearts. God has given usa passion for His glory in Birmingham and the hope that we can plant a church thatgives our city a glimpse of that holy city to come!

We first moved to Birmingham in August 2009 to plant Ardent. After attempts to gather a core group, we came to a realization. There are very few believers, if any, within 15minutes of our house. Most Christians we came into contact lived well outside of our context. Because of lack of engagement, it became apparent that we needed to goback to the drawing board.

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Our desire has never been to simply start a worship service that meets in the city. Wewanted to start a church that is for the city. A church is a community of believersapplying the Gospel in one anothers lives. This conviction has led us to enter a ferventseason of prayer for our city for God to open hearts to the Gospel, see people come toknow Jesus, make disciples, and do the work of an evangelist and from that see a coregroup form. We realized we need to plant the Gospel before we can plant a church.

We have been approved by the Acts 29 Church Planting Network(www.acts29network.or g) as Candidates to plant Ardent. I recently attended the Acts29 Boot Camp in N ashville and intend to attend Soma School(www.somacommun ities.org ) in early 2012 and the Gospel Communities on MissionConference in September 2011 for further training.

DoctrineArdent Church afrms:

The Acts 29 Network Doctrinal Statement(http://www.acts29network.org/about/doctrine )

The Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition(http://thegospelcoalition.org/about/who )

The Three Universal Creeds of the FaithThe Apostles CreedThe Nicene Creed

The Anthanasian Creed

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http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/athanasian.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/athanasian.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/nicene.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.htmlhttp://www.gospelcoalition.org/http://www.acts29network.org/about/doctrinehttp://www.somacommunities.org/http://www.acts29network.org/http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/athanasian.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/athanasian.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/nicene.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/nicene.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.htmlhttp://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.htmlhttp://www.gospelcoalition.org/http://www.gospelcoalition.org/http://www.acts29network.org/about/doctrinehttp://www.acts29network.org/about/doctrinehttp://www.somacommunities.org/http://www.somacommunities.org/http://www.acts29network.org/http://www.acts29network.org/


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How is This Going to Happen?

Pray"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our

persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." - Sidlow Baxter

I don t mean this as a cliche. Martin Luther believed, "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so muchbusiness I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer. We needyour prayers. We are embarking on an impossible task! Without the Holy Spirits work,we cannot do this, but nothing is impossible with God. The same God who controls thewinds and the waves controls our destinies. Pray for the Castello family as we will facemuch spiritual warfare. Pray that God opens hearts and doors for the Gospel. Praythat He prepares the hearts of the people we will meet and build community with.

Pray for what Mike Hanafee ( www.resdetroit.org ) calls the Five-Fold Chain Reactionseen in Acts - empowerment (2:1-4), proclamation and harvest (2:36:41), communityformation (2:41-47), mobilization (6:1-4, 8:4) and multiplication (9:31). Pray for God togather the people called to advance the Gospel in Birmingham. Pray for the moneynecessary to plant Ardent to come in.

GiveWe are planting Ardent in an urban

context. Studies show churc hes inurban contexts can take up to 7years to become self-sustaining.Our goal is to be self-sustainingafter 5 years. This means, to getArdent Church off the ground, weneed to raise a $100,000 a year for5 years. The money goes towardssalary (housing, health insurance,

etc.), stafng strategic leaders,administrative costs, outreach,training, special projects, andfacility rental when the time comes.

In order to meet our 5-year goal of $500,000, Ardent Church islooking for churches and individuals to join us as nancial partners. Some have theresources to give boldly and consistently, over the entire 5 year stretch, others maycommit to a portion, while others can only commit at this time to a one-time gift. In the

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Yearly Giving Needs

Outside DonorsArdent Giving

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life of a young, missional church in our contest, truly every dollar makes a difference!You can give online securely at www.ardentbirmingham.com or email me [email protected] about mailing a check to Ardent Church.

SharePlease forward this church planting prospectus to anyone who might be interested inwhat we are doing here in Birmingham.

JoinSome may consider moving to Southside. Imagine the Gospel advancing andredeeming our city, reconciling relationships, and reviving a people for the glory andrenown of Jesus! Do you want to do something that will leave a lasting impact on acity? Do you want to step out and stretch your faith by doing the seemingly

impossible? Pray about moving to Birmingham, getting a job here, starting a business,or raising money and being an integral part of Ardent Church. We are praying for atleast 10 families to move to Southside and plant their lives here with us, on mission forGod s glory. We d love for you to join us on mission!

Timeline

So, when do you launch? This is an interesting question. We want to dig deep intoour community and plant the Gospel deep. If we do, God will plant HIS church. Thesedates are a working timeline but are not set in stone. If God blesses us and thingshappen quickly, then we will adjust or if things take a little longer, that s okay too. Wewant to

August 2011 - March 2012- Fervent Prayer- Fundraising- Attend Gospel Communities on Mission Conference (September)- Develop Relationships with our Neighbors, the homeless, and the poor- Gather leaders and launch team members- Plan neighborhood projects and events to create presence in our community- Attend Soma School (January)- Begin meeting as a missional c ommunity

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April 2012 - September 2012- Aggressively engage neighbors through door-to-door conversation, relationships,

meals, discipleship- Continue praying for 32:10:6 - 32 growing, discipling relationships. 10 families

committed to move to Southside to be a part of Ardent. 6 new believers.- Continue neighborhood projects and events- Continue and multiply missional communities- Periodic worship gatherings

October 2012 -- Continue periodic preview gatherings- Continue missional communities as the backbone of Ardent Church- At 40 committed adults, plan and publicize launch and ongoing worship gatherings

Ardent Church - The FutureSome of the goals for our vision:

- A missional community engaging every neighborhood in Southside within thenext 3 years

- Start a 1-year homeless reentry program designed to take men off the street,disciple them, give them job and life skills and secure job placement and sufcientliving quarters established within the next 5 years

- Plant a sister gospel-centered church in the Birmingham area within the next 3years

- A gospel-centered church planted in every zip code in Birmingham within the next15 years

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Appendix A: Does the South Need More Churches?

The Surface Observation

- Birmingham is the third most Christian-oriented city market in the United States- 84% of people self-identify as believers

- In 1996 58% claimed to attend church regularly (Barna)- Birmingham ranked highest among all cities for people most likely to share their beliefs- 1.5 Million residents (32%) in the state of Alabama are members of a Southern Baptist church, 18%

are Methodist, and 18% identify themselves as Catholic (Barna)- There are 695 evangelical churches in Jefferson and Shelby County (thearda.com)

A Deeper Look

- From 1991 to 1996, ALL denominations in Alabama saw a decline all ve years . The trendcontinues into 2010 (Barna). The Birmingham Baptist Association alone has seen a 25.5%

decrease in church membership between 2003 and 2008 (bbaonline.org)- Congregations are greying (getting older) and are losing members faster than they are gainingthem (Barna)

- A Samford University professor, Penny Marler, found that, Church attendance is half what people report, i.e. 29% attend church weekly. That number can be cut in half for urban settings, i.e. 14.5%.

- Birmingham has the tenth highest crime rate in the country.- Barna Group states that divorce rate is HIGHEST among Christians than any other group. Also,

Alabama s divorce rate is 39% higher than the national average, ranking it fourth worst nationally.- Between 50 and 75 U.S. churches close their doors every week.- More than 80% of the churches in the U.S. have plateaued or are declining.- In the United States alone, there are over 200 million unchurched people, making the U.S. the third

largest mission eld in the world.- Since 1991, the number of adults in the U.S. who do not attend church has nearly doubled.- The Southeast is growing faster than any other part of the country.- To keep up with population growth, there would need to be 29,000 churches planted in the next 20

years to maintain the current ratio of churches per capita in the Southeast alone.

Their is a disconnect somewhere. This is an epidemic in the South. We are a church-saturated culture yet are not seeing changed lives in our cities. We need to plantgospel-centered churches across the metro area.

This isn t to say there aren t good, biblical churches in the South. We just need moreof them. The problem is that, often, churches have drifted from teaching the Gospel,and it s not always gross heresy (although this is present). It is a slight, almostunnoticeable, slippage away from the Gospel to nd a way to draw people or changethem.

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A few of the things that get exchanged for the Gospel:

MoralismThese are the rules and standards. Now, meet them! Usually, beginning with goodintentions to teach a pursuit of holiness, the focus turns from Jesus s ability to meet Hisstandard to our best effort to live holy lives by trying harder, self-discipline, fear, rules, and

commands. The result is either self-righteousness because the good people can follow therules or despair for those who can t meet the standard.

PragmatismWe need to do what it takes to reach people. No matter the cost. The desire to beall things to all people usually starts well but leaders trade in solid theology andpractice for teaching the most effective techniques, principles, and lessons instead ofpointing them to Jesus and preaching the power of the Gospel to change us.

Political AgendasWe want to affect change in our society. Too often Christians intend to have animpact on and inuence politics but the opposite ends up happening. Christians onevery side of the political arena begin to equate the Gospel with a certain political partyor platform. The focus goes from THE issue (the Gospel) to secondary issues.

The point is this. In each of these approaches, God has been moved out of Hisposition as primary focus. Good morals can t save us. Good practices won t changepeople. The government, no matter how effective, can really x the problems we seearound us. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ effectively proclaimed and lived out in thecontext of the local church is the hope to change people s hearts and defeat sin.

The South needs churches that roots everything it does in the person and work ofJesus Christ, relies on the Holy Spirit to actively work in the hearts of people, and livesout of the grace given to us by Jesus.

Gospel-centered churches teach the whole Bible in light of the Gospel, apply theGospel to every situation, practice grace among believers and unbelievers, arecommitted to not churn out rule-followers but people who are changed by the hope wehave in Jesus, and love their communities so much that they can t help but serve themby advancing the Gospel.

The Gospel begins and ends with Jesus as the focus. Gospel-centered churchesdisplay that in every arena.

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Appendix B: What does it Mean to be Gospel-Centered?

The Gospel is not just the A-B-C s but the A to Z of Christianity.

- Tim Keller

Gospel-centered has become a bit of a buzz word. What it means is that we are allabout Jesus, that we focus on the life, death, and resurrection as the climax and pointof every message. One author stated that to be gospel-centered was to see the blood of Christ staining every passage within Scripture.

To be gospel-centered is to see the Gospel as the power of God unto salvation(Romans 1:16). The Gospel is also a message to be proclaimed (Matthew 9:35, 24:14,26:13), to be believed in (Mark 1:15), and taken to the nations (2 Corinthians 10:14).

The Gospel saves us (Ephesians 1:13), ts us for service in peace (Ephesians 6:15),and abolished death (2 Timothy 1:10).

Salvation is not only conversion but as Graeme Goldsworthy says, ... the gospel is truly the power of God for salvation in that it is through the gospel we are called,regenerated, converted, sanctied, and nally gloried. Again he says, We mean that the gospel is the only means we have of beginning, continuing, and persevering in the Christian life.

Simply it means, that the church, our message, and as individuals work outour faith that we must focus every thought, every Scripture, every affection inlight of Jesus and His finished work on the Cross. Its all about Jesus!

Only where our piety forgets about ourself and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us

from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.- Sinclair Ferguson

For further reading aboutGospel-centrality check out:

The Gospel Centered Life by Bob ThuneGod is the Gospel by John Piper

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Appendix C: What is a Missional Community?

When most people, especially in theSouth, think of the church, the rstthought is building , The word churchcomes from the word ecclesia whichmeans assembly . The church is thepeople. Growing up, I thought churchwas something you did on Sunday,maybe Wednesday, and really had noother interaction with those people andthose teachings and I went about mynormal life. It wasn t something that really had an impact on who I was on a dailybasis.

Several years ago, I started asking myself, What would it look like to live out the imperatives of the Gospel on a daily basis, walking hand-in-hand with other believers,to truly live out the two great commandments. How do we love the Lord our God with everything we are and truly love our neighbor, sacricially?

We want to be a church of missional communities. Missional communities are groupsof 15-20 people who tangibly live out the Gospel in a certain context by eating, praying,loving, and being on mission together (Acts 2:41-47). Each missional community has amission within the larger mission (Jeff Vanderstelt). We don t want to simply meetor have these groups be Bible studies. We want to see the Gospel form us and ourcommunities

There are two elements here. Missional and Community.

Missional is simply putting ourselves in position to share the love of Jesus inword and deed . This means we really get to know our neighbors, love them, shareinterests, serve them, pray for them, and live out the love of God before them and withthem and share how God s love is found in Jesus. This type of life will demandexplanation as we live out what the Gospel demands of us. Living missionally isn t justsocial justice or service projects. It s digging deep into the lives of our neighbors andnding out how we can love them both as a community and individually.

Community is family . Its sharing our lives together in the context of a Gospel-formingcommunity. It s where we eat, pray, share, and serve together. Community is morethan meeting one day a week. It s walking together daily. This allows those who are

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just guring out who Jesus is a safe place to get involved in the life of the family. Weshare our lives together and see community as a place where the Gospel transformsus and shapes us for God s mission.

The heart of missional communities is to share the love and message of Jesus withothers. Missional communities are about making disciples, training leaders, and

multiplying by creating new missional communities. These new missional communitiescreate new opportunities to share Jesus with more people and reach new areas withthe Gospel. As the groups multiply, new churches are planted and the Gospel morefully penetrates our neighborhoods and communities.

Missional communities are a part of the overall mission of Ardent Church and willgather for worship. We see still see this as an important aspect of the church wherewe come together to worship Jesus in song, teaching, and communion. Instead ofSunday gatherings being called church, they are more of a springboard for people to

go be the church in communities together on mission.

For more information on Missional Communities check out:

Total Church by Steven Timmis and Tim ChesterSoma Communi ties ( www.somacommu nities.org )Verge Network ( www.vergenetwork.org )
http://www.vergenetwork.org/http://www.vergenetwork.org/http://www.somacommunities.org/http://www.somacommunities.org/http://www.vergenetwork.org/http://www.vergenetwork.org/http://www.somacommunities.org/http://www.somacommunities.org/

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