As Third Church heads into 2025 and beyond, we are grateful to be in a flourishing chapter of our church’s life. We have just completed a major building renovation after nearly 10 years of planning, fundraising and construction. We have navigated through challenging years of a pandemic and economic uncertainty, but are currently blessed by a gifted staff team, a strong financial position, and a growing community. All these blessings are gifts of God’s grace, and we are grateful. 

Today, as we look around, we are aware of many challenges before us, both internal and external to our church. Internally, we see the ongoing need to help people find clearer pathways for robust spiritual formation and entry into authentic community. We struggle to figure out ways to empower people for mission in their everyday lives. We also desire to continue to grow as a congregation, but believe that growth should not (and cannot) only happen centrally at Forest Avenue. 

Externally, we recognize increasing levels of social isolation and loneliness, growing mental health concerns, and rising cultural fragmentation and socio-political divisions. This growing social isolation is not just a problem for individuals, but for our society as a whole, as tribalism and suspicion toward the “other” is at an all-time high. 

At Third, we believe that the crises of isolation, loneliness and division are an opportunity for God’s people to be a part of God’s work of healing. We believe that our calling is to bear witness to resurrection hope and the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God which is both personal and communal, tangible and intangible. 

This plan is our prayerful, Spirit led response to what we are witnessing around us, and asking what God is specifically calling us to in this next season. We long to be a part of the healing and reconciling work of God in our city, nation and world, and believe this to be the fruit of our continual shepherding and discipling of our own people.

The concept of “Growing Small” encapsulates two paradoxical yet complementary ideas: we desire for our Third congregation to grow spiritually, communally and even numerically, but that growth will likely come through smaller, more local, and more intentional pathways—not in the typical way that growth—much less church growth—is understood.

The book of Acts is a story of the early church “growing small.” Up until Acts chapter 8, the early church was a homogenous, culturally Jewish community that was centralized in Jerusalem and led by the apostles. But in Acts 7-8, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and “all except the apostle were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1). Instead of destroying the church, however, this persecution resulted in the church becoming a radically decentralized mission movement across the ancient world. We learn later that Jewish Christians didn’t just keep to themselves, but told many others about the good news of Jesus and that “the Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed.” This risky mission resulted in healings, conversions, and “great joy in the city” (Acts 8:8).

Several characteristics stand out in this “growing small” movement.

1. First, growth happened in a decentralized way. While the movement of Jesus followers grew remarkably in numbers throughout the first century, this growth did not happen in one centralized location, but through a network of small Jesus-communities scattered throughout the ancient world. 

2. Second, the movement was lay-led, not led by apostles and professional clergy. The decentralized growth pattern required a new movement of leadership from “bottom-up.” 

3. Third, the movement was boundary-crossing. The Spirit empowered the Christian community to cross boundaries of race, ethnicity, and religion to build relationships with those who were radically different, resulting in new kinds of Christian communities. 

4. Finally, the growth was contextualized. Each new Jesus community had its own “DNA,” resembling the unique cultural environment in which the Christian community was established. 

Through our new Strategic Plan, we are recommitting to this model of discipleship and growth that we see in Acts: to move outward from our center, to be lay-led, and to be contextualized, boundary-crossing, and incarnational in where we are called to care and serve. This is "growing small." This is growth in the Upside-Down Kingdom.