Church Plant Spotlight: Harbour Community Church
As we embrace being BOLDLY FORWARD, NEVER ALONE as Fellowship Pacific, one of the key ways we live this out is through church planting and we are excited to share more stories from our church plants this year! This month we want to introduce you to Harbour Community Church in Nanaimo, BC!
Who will provide shelter for the spiritual refugees?
As the Covid-19 pandemic left so many individuals spiritually displaced, Stephen Philps saw how many were walking away from Sunday mornings and began to pray about what the Spirit was doing. Through conversation, he heard from many who expressed that they loved Jesus, but their faith was languishing. They wanted and needed a different kind of community.
At the same time, Stephen and his wife, Nicole, felt a rooting in Nanaimo to explore how God might work through a different Gospel expression. Through reading and discussion, God was shaping the concept of missional communities/microchurches as a way to re-engage spiritual refugees and those who would never darken the doors of a traditional church building.
In response, Harbour Community was launched in April 2022 as a church that is exploring what a faith community looks like in a non-Christian, post-pandemic environment. Over meals, in neighbourhoods, and through conversation, Harbour Community is seeking to meet individuals and families right where they are. Rather than gathering for regular events, they believe that the Gospel takes root over dinner tables, soccer games, and backyard BBQs. Part of this process is exploring a network of smaller churches (or missional communities) that together form Harbour Community. The intimacy of these smaller communities incubates discipleship as the churches study the Word together. It promotes a culture of mission as the churches live locally in their areas, immediately able to respond to the needs of their community.
“Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?
These questions prompted Isaiah to respond with the simple “Here I am. Send me.” Harbour Community is a small group of believers who claim this question and promise as their own. Sent into the everyday of life, everyone is called to be a missionary.