Behind the Scenes with 2 Women in Ministry Leadership

My husband and I moved to Tacoma 6 years ago when I was called to pastor a local church. I quickly connected with my good friend Becci, who had also recently moved to the area. After 4 years of friendship and supporting each other in ministry we started feeling prompted to consider new ministry opportunities together.

We were both passionate about seeing the church flourish even as we faced the obvious decline of the church in western America. At the same time, my husband and I were becoming deeply invested in our neighborhood and in our missional community. In the perfect timing of the Holy Spirit our families decided we felt called to try something new and we began to discern co-pastoring a church plant.

[Tweet “In the perfect timing of the Holy Spirit our families felt called to try something new.”]

Where are you planting your church, and why did you decide to plant there?

We are planting Gather|Tacoma in (you guessed it!) the greater Tacoma area.
After serving a traditional church for six years I felt called to start something new but didn’t feel called to move to a new place. My family is deeply rooted in our neighborhood and surrounding community and we didn’t feel called out of those relationships.
The Pacific Northwest is one of the most unchurched places in our nation and while we’re seeing more creative ways of being the church manifest in urban areas, suburbia seems largely unchanged. Yet I know the potential for the Gospel to bring healing and integration to people who live in a culture that so easily dis-integrates our lives.

What is the missional strategy of your church plant?

Becci and I are establishing a core team of 12 people whom we will disciple and train to be disciple makers. Together we will host a couple different types of gatherings. Every other week we will have a social dinner gathering, a relaxed time where we can explore spiritual questions in a non-threatening environment.
On the opposite weeks we will gather for a time that integrates dinner, prayer and sharing the word and sacraments.
Service is an essential part of our life together and our goal is that Gather|Tacoma would be connected with 1 or 2 community based groups with whom we can partner to love and serve our neighbors, throughout the month.
At the end of 18 months we hope to multiply the group that meets weekly, establishing a new core team in a new area of Tacoma, etc.
In 3 years we hope to be meeting in 4 communities; in 4.5 years we hope to be in 8 communities, and in 6 years we have a vision for being in 16 communities. With 30-40 people in each community we desire to see 500+ people come to know Jesus through Gather|Tacoma in the next 6 years!

What are some unique aspects of the church you are planting?

I think any church planted by a woman is unique because there seem to be so few church plants led by women.
Additionally, our polycentric leadership model is one of the unique things about Gather. Becci and I are committed to shared leadership and empowering/equipping others as leaders.
Lastly, it feels like our culture as a mostly suburban church plant is unique. I find many more models of urban church plants than suburban. I hope that part of the fruit of our ministry will be to encourage women to consider planting, encourage shared leadership, and help cultivate hearts for the unique culture and needs of suburbia.
 

What has been the most significant piece of learning in your time with the V3 Learning Cohort?

I can’t imagine having embarked on this journey without being a part of V3.
I know the lay of the land and how to navigate the traditional church model but once I discerned this call to church planting it felt like someone had dropped me off in a foreign country.
I had no maps for this new place. The cohort has been an essential part of learning how to make new maps for the journey ahead. The Church as Movement has been a pivotal tool, equipping us with, really, nothing short of a new frame of reference for understanding how the church as a body of people can be organized for the flourishing of our communities.

And here’s cofounder, Becci Curtis-Lillie

My call to church planting came in a roundabout way.
The funny version of this story is that I was meeting with Taeler after a bad day at work.  At the end of our time together, we joked that we should both leave our churches and plant a new church together.
I went home, told my husband about this joke, and he got a weird look on his face and said, “Actually, I had a vision from God back when I was living in Minnesota—before we even met—of a church being planted by two women.  Maybe you shouldn’t just laugh this off so quickly.”
And here we are, almost 2 years later after that conversation!

What is the missional strategy of your church plant?

While we were doing the V3 Coaching and Training program, we have been planning and praying together for how to move forward with our church plant.  However, Taeler was still employed at her former church until just this Spring, so it is only now that we are able to jump into this new ministry at full speed.
Our strategy moving forward is to first hold a gathering where everyone who has expressed interest in what we’re doing will be invited to come, listen and be offered an opportunity to participate.  We will begin meeting regularly with our Core Team shortly after that, training them similarly to how we’ve been trained through V3, using the Church As Movement book as our material.
We will also require our Core Team members to be in smaller, intimate groups (2-3) of people who will do more intense Bible Study and weekly meetings.

In regard to the five-fold typololgy (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher), how has God wired you for ministry, and how are you helping the congregation you serve live into their five-fold?

I am a Prophet-Pastor; and Taeler is an Apostle-Teacher. Between the two of us, we have 4 of the 5  covered!
This has actually been a key component of how we do ministry together.  While we do complement each other’s gifts and skills, we also realize that working with someone different than you can be a challenge at times.
Our goal with the Core Team at Gather will be to help each member discover their own five-fold giftings as well, and to encourage them to live into these areas of ministry.  Every believer has been gifted, and every member can and should be serving the Kingdom using their unique giftings and skills.