Pre-Launch Priorities

Our new church is technically in what's known as the "pre-launch" phase of church planting.

During this season, gathering mission-minded and passionate believers together, along with forming relationships with new and non-Christians is critical for our future health as a spiritually healthy church family and, ultimately, essential in order for us to become a church-planting-church.

With this overall goal in mind, as we draw closer to weekly worship at Mercy Hill this Fall, our launch team will need to consider three priorities. (Click below to read more.)

First, we are striving to build authentic relationships with not-yet-Christians, non-Christians, and people who have dropped out of church.

These are relationships in which we both give blessing and receive blessing, believing that God is at work in everyone's life we meet.

Second, out of those relationships, we are striving to see the center of gravity of the Christian lives less in terms of attending, at a certain time, a Sunday "worship event," and more in terms of "our shared life together."

In this way, we are placing an emphasis on the priesthood of all belivers and our individual responsibility to grow in faith and grace in the context of community.

Finally, we want to show "mercy" at Mercy Hill.

Our desire is to have a reputation for mercy before we have a reputation for worship. We are planning on making a tangible impact on the communities of South Jersey in terms of practical acts of Christian love and justice.