Music City, Songwriting capitol of the world, Athens of the south. All these labels describe the types of work our city does well—the types of work that cause people to move to Nashville. But when you talk to people about why they want to stay in Nashville, you don’t usually hear them talk about their type of work. Instead, you hear them talk about the type of people in Nashville. They describe the area as friendly, warm, fun, etc. Music may bring them here, but the people make them want to stay.

There will inevitably be a wide range of reasons why people come to Redemption City. But we understand that one of the key reasons they’ll want to stay (or not) has to do with the type of people we are. We believe that the type of community Jesus is calling us to be is seen in the book of Acts. This Redemptive Community is marked by both Depth and Growth. In Acts 2:41-47, we see the early church doing life with each other at a relational depth that we all long for, yet, frankly, probably think is impossible. They know each other and are known by each other. BUT their relational depth did not stunt numerical growth. Their community didn’t turn into a relational cul-de-sac. Instead, we see a community experiencing explosive growth, as God multiplied their community greatly. Their community was marked by both Depth and Growth.

We are praying that Redemption City Church will be marked by both Depth and Growth as well. And in order to do this, we think that we have to be a people marked by four key things:

Intentional People – Creating a community marked by both Depth and Growth won’t happen on accident. With overcommitted schedules, the Facebook and twitter illusion of friends, and other factors, it can be difficult to create a community like this. We have to be intentional about engaging people at a deeper level relationally WHILE reaching out to the people Jesus has placed all around us. Let’s live life on purpose.

Flexible People – One of the prayers for Redemption City is that our church look like our community. And our community is made up everything from white collar, blue collar, and no collar folks. We have everything from artists to rednecks. We have introverts and extroverts. We have Cardinals fans (sadly) and Cubs fans:). Each group of people have their own unique views on parenting, marriage, lifestyle, etc. When you put all those different types of people in a home group, church, etc., it will be messy. It was messy for the early church and it will be messy for us. But the community that we all long for only exists in that mess. In order to thrive in the mess, we have to be a flexible people.

Prayerful People – We won’t have the Depth or Growth that we want apart from Jesus’ help. This, of course, is why we have to be a prayerful people. In prayer, we are acknowledging that we can’t create this and asking God to do it for his glory. Without the prayer in Acts 1, we probably wouldn’t have the power displayed in Acts 2. Let’s ask Jesus to do the impossible as we pursue the path to which he’s called us.

Gospel People – Redemptive Community has the gospel at the center. It creates a community marked by Depth and Growth. It has Depth because the gospel removes the need to pretend like we have it all together. If we did, then there would be no need for the cross. The good news of the gospel can only be heard in contrast to the bad news of our situation. In groups then, we don’t have to pretend like everything is okay. And when we stop pretending, we become a people of depth. Also, the Gospel cause Growth. In short, it is the best news in the world. If we truly understand the gospel, we will want to share it. We all tell people about our favorite restaurants, movies, etc. It’s silly to think that we wouldn’t share the best news in the world. As a gospel people we will be marked by both Depth and Growth.

At Redemption City, we hope that our community will be marked by both Depth and Growth. It marked the early church and meets many of the needs for which our community longs. We’d love for you to consider helping us build this kind of community as we build his city in our city.

The Vision for Redemption City Church

Since its founding in 1779, Nashville has been a strategic place of opportunity and influence. Although Nashville initially was known for its important river port and railroad center, it has become a major center for several industries. Perhaps the Nashville metro area—an area consisting of over 1.6 million people— is most popularly known as “Music City,” since it is a hub for pop, rock, bluegrass, Americana, jazz, classical, contemporary Christian, blues, and soul music. But it is also known as the “Athens of the South,” since over 24 colleges and universities call it home. Of course, the metro area is also a hub for book publishing houses, and the healthcare, finance, and transportation industries. These realities make the Nashville metro area a place of great influence and diversity, attracting people from all over the globe to its opportunities. Thankfully, the Nashville metro area has a wide range of churches. As such, it is fair to ask if the Nashville metro area is in need of another church. I certainly asked this. In short, the answer is. “Yes.”

There are at least three key reasons why the Nashville metro area needs another church. First, about 70-75% of people do not attend an evangelical church at all.[1] This means 1.2 million people out of the 1.6 million people in the Nashville metro area stay home each Sunday, without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While we’re grateful that this is a higher percentage than other places in the world, the work is far from finished. Secondly, the percentage of unchurched people in the Nashville metro area is growing. In the targeted area, population growth rate is 3.5%, which is well above the national population growth rate. Unfortunately, it is also well above the rate of growth for the church in the area. This means the percentage of the population attending a local church is shrinking every year. Thirdly, church plants typically reach the unchurched faster, 6-8 times faster than established churches.[2] While established churches must become more evangelistic, they must also plant new churches. This reality led Peter Wagner, a leading thinker of church practices, to say, “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches.”[3] These three key reasons lead us to believe that the Nashville metro area needs new churches. We plan to plant Redemption City on the southside of the city in Franklin, TN.