When you need to pull a group of people together for a meeting, how do you do that? When you are a family of families, you do it like you do everything else--as a family! At the beginning of the summer, our two Antioch School cohorts met together to discuss why we are going through this training, and what to expect during the summer, and the whole family was invited. We invite you to take a peak inside our meeting.
When a network of house churches grows, adding services isn't an options. But to plant to new churches, you need qualified, trained leaders. Our Antioch School cohorts exist to provide the network with those leaders.
When I was a kid, we would go every year to this thing my parents called the “Memorial Day Picnic”. I didn’t know what Memorial Day was, but I knew what “picnic” meant – cinnamon rolls and monkey bread, buttermilk pancakes fresh off the griddle, OJ and fruit salad, a sneaked donut or two, eaten at long tables with family and friends of all ages. Afterwards there would be games of frisbee and volleyball and expeditions with my friends to explore the old fire engine.
Ever wonder what it looks like to participate in one of our ordered learning classes? Check out these images for a first-hand view.
Read more of A Class Act - Ordered Learning in the CityChurch Network
“Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the door, and see all the people.” What is a church? The rhyme has it right, the church is really the people. However, it also assumes that the church has a steeple. If asked explicitly, no one would say the church is a building. Yet, in practice, most of us have fundamentally bad habits in how we think, talk, and act about church.
File this under "better late than never": This past fall our youth group held their annual pie-sales fundraiser, and for one afternoon, the Oakwood Road Community Center played pie-making assembly line!
Who wants to wake up on at 7:30am on a Saturday morning for a class requiring intense discussion and participation? Over the past three years a group of emerging leaders in the Ames City Church have been doing just that. We walk in with our coffee in one hand and a heavy Leadership Series courses in the other.
The annual CityChurch Christmas programs gives youngsters the opportunity to contribute to the network through their participation in the arts.
Each year during the annual BILD Conference, a church-wide team assembles to provide support, service, and assistance of all kinds. The work of some is visible to all--yet it could be easy to overlook the contribution of others. In the spirit of giving honor and respect to the hard work of everyone who made the conference possible--and especially those whose work kept them out of the spotlight--we present this photo essay.
From October 25th through November 3rd, the CityChurch of Ames/Des Moines hosted the 2017 BILD International conference. We invite you to take a look inside the events of a day of that conference.
The transition from childhood to adulthood is fraught with difficulties. Peril, wonder, confusion, triumphs: it runs the gamut of emotions from the highs to the lows. How can we prepare our children for this transition,…
Read more of Commending young people into a new phase of life
This October the Ames/Des Moines CityChurch will host the 2017 BILD Conference, an event we look forward to all year. Church leaders from around the world will converge on our Community Center for a time of learning, networking, strategizing, and fellowship. Many will stay in our homes, get to know our families, and participate in our churches.
Read more of Whole-church workforce prepares for annual BILD Conference
The sound of hammers and saws and cracking wood filled the air. A contractor and his team were in my parents’ (Randy and Carol Beckett) backyard, ripping up their deck in preparation for building a new one. A few things about this building crew were atypical. For one thing, they were letting a large number of church members help them out. For another, they were planning on living at my parents’ house for a week. In fact, this construction crew had come all the way from North Carolina.
Read more of Building connections within the CityChurch Network
Every Monday and Thursday evening this past summer, five young adults gathered with a group from the Ames-Des Moines CityChurch to soak up knowledge and mature in their faith. These individuals were a part of our network’s summer program, Immerse, which is designed to help young adults prepare for life by building strong, biblical foundations.
There’s something to be said about camping with your own family. You’ve seen each other at your worst, at your most dirty. Sweaty. Now include about eight other families and the barriers of being at your best inside your own home are torn down. There is no escaping the realness of being with people when you see them when they first wake up--before coffee. That’s when you feel like a family.
All eyes are on her, as she sits in the big comfy chair in front of the room. Her belly is abnormally bulged, with signs of a little one growing inside. Warm laughter, bright smiles, and sweet smells fill the air. The coffee and tea are brewing and loved ones gather. Gifts wrapped in colors of blue, pink, or neutral greens are stacked high behind her. Guessing games of names and gender are played. The excitement of added kin brings dreamy stories of near-family joys, and childhood tales are shar
On a hot Sunday afternoon, on the banks of the Skunk River, Du stood before our church cluster ready to be baptized. Using the words of Joshua he testified to us, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” When he came up out of the water we broke into cheers.
This spring has been a time of growth in spiritual maturity for many of us in the Des Moines cluster of Ames-Des Moines CityChurch. That growth is attributed to the ordered learning classes that have been offered as part of the Antioch School leadership series to the Des Moines cluster and many of its cohorts on Thursday nights. What began several years ago as two classes or one large class has grown to nearly 25 people in four classes.
Read more of Ordered learning and equipping leaders identifies need to reach more people
The Des Moines cluster of Ames-Des Moines CityChurch has embraced a unique opportunity in its offering of ordered learning classes. What began five years ago with Des Moines church leaders plus a couple leaders from Crossway Community Church in Altoona has expanded to include emerging leaders from the CityChurch network, leaders’ wives, and even some teenagers.
On a bright May morning, Aaron and Kathy Keller arrive at Brookside Park for the annual Memorial Day picnic. As they unpack their basket, the church family begins to arrive, setting up griddles and coffee stations. The morning begins comfortably, and unfolds into a delightful time of good fellowship and good food.
Read more of Memorial Day picnic gives vision of the larger network