inSpirit Church is Ready to Launch

About 150 people listened as Pastor Randy Ledeboer began speaking about the vision for starting and building  "inSpirit  Church" – a newly formed "unique church" that meets in a office/warehouse just south of Grand Rapids, Mich., in the Cutlerville - Byron Center area.

Supported by Christian Reformed Home Missions, and Classis GR South, inSpirit was more than a year in the making. Ledeboer served for five years in a traditional CRC congregation before being called to start this new ministry. InSpirit held two services in late August to start working out the approach this place of worship will take.

Looking around at the people sitting in folding and stacking chairs on the second Sunday morning, Ledeboer smiled and shook his head. “This place is pretty full. That is really awesome. God is glad that you are here.”

A team of people, mostly from nearby CRC congregations, have played an important role in preparing the way for inSpirit Church. They have caught the vision that Ledeboer is following.  The Vision: inSpirit Church, as described in its material, “is a DIVERSE COMMUNITY of Christ Followers who ACCEPT, LOVE, and ENCOURAGE one another to GROW in our faith and SERVE God and our neighbors.”

It also is a ministry that will make sure lots of bagels, donuts and coffee are available before and after every service.

"This is a ministry where we can feel community, get to know one another, and do life together," Ledeboer said on the second of the two services. InSpirit Church holds its grand opening at 10 a.m. onSept. 13.

A former sales manager who went to Calvin Theological Seminary to start a second career, Ledeboer stood in the front of a portable wooden stage (intentionally keeping the warehouse look/feel) on which sat instruments for the praise team that just got done playing. Dressed casually in a polo shirt and slacks, he was describing the "simple church" that inSpirit intends to be.

"This is a place where we can come as we are and be special and experience something. That’s what an Acts 2 church is all about," he said, referring the chapter in the Bible that talks about the joy and energy of the just-forming, First Century Christian church.

"Acts 2 talks about the fellowship of believers. It gives a picture of the church when it is working right," he said.

Too often, he added, things don't work right. “There is a lot of brokenness in life. Things are hard and complicated and confusing. I wonder what this country is all about. We live socially in community on the Internet, but we don’t even know the people living next door to us."

Ledeboer says the book, Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger, has been inspirational to him and his leadership team. In the book, the authors describe what makes a simple church.  These are churches that keep a clear focus on their mission, which is to help make people disciples of Christ and to bring them to spiritual maturity through worship, small groups and service projects.

Key is a staff and leadership team that shares the same vision and works to implement it. Extraneous programs and ministries, even if they are very successful, are shut down if they don’t promote the overall mission to make disciples for God.

"A simple church is a congregation designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth," say the authors. This is done intentionally and with a clear focus.

"The process flows logically and is implemented in each area of the church. The church abandons everything that is not in the process (focus)," the authors write.

There will be three ministries for inSpirit: Gathering, Growing and Going (3G). Instead of establishing various programs, they will partner with existing ones whose job is to better the lives of people and the community at large.

"We will pray … and proclaim God’s word in and out of season. We will preach the truth in love," said Ledeboer. In the end, the goal is to develop Christians who reach out in services to others. "We will need to put our faith into action by serving. Serving changes us by taking the focus off of us," the pastor said.