In God’s kindness, our night church in Holden Hill is launching in March!
We have seen an exciting gospel opportunity amongst the next generation. Across the Local Government Areas of our four morning churches in the north, there are around 35,000 young adults who don’t know Jesus. Among this generation, often referred to as Gen Z (born roughly 1997 to 2012), we’re seeing more openness to the gospel, and the data seems to support this. Roughly three in four (76%) teenagers believe in God or some kind of higher power, even though many do not identify with an organised religion.
We’re also seeing an openness to spiritual things in a way that previous generations haven’t been. 51% of Australians aged 18 to 24 say they are extremely/very open to having spiritual conversations that involve different views to their own. They’ve experienced the confusion and brokenness of a world that ignores God, and they’re looking for something more. We know they won’t be satisfied until they find life in Jesus.
This opportunity has been on our hearts as we’ve considered the gospel opportunities before us. Over the past few years, as the northern region of the Trinity Network has talked and prayed, we’ve realised we might be more effective if we partnered together to plant healthy, gospel-hearted churches, rather than each church carrying the load alone. So, we’ve committed to collaborating to plant several churches over the next few years.
Our first combined plant will be a night church specifically geared towards reaching young adults. Our new night church wants to see the next generation, in the north and beyond, walking in hope with Jesus. Each of the existing churches will make it ‘their’ night church, with the aim of helping young adults reach their friends with the good news of Jesus.
There’s been plenty happening! In recent months, we’ve prayed and had many conversations with people in our Northern Region about partnering with night church. In God’s kindness, He has been bringing together a bunch of people with a heart for sharing the good news of the gospel with the next generation. We have begun our ‘soft launch’ phase this month and are hurtling towards our public launch on Sunday 22 March.
We’re praying our community will quickly grow. We long for the room to be filled with people who don’t yet know Jesus coming to know him. We’re praying for those who thought they were Christians to hear the gospel clearly, for those who had walked away to return, and for young adults from our morning churches to stick with Jesus and be equipped for a lifetime of serving him.
Only God knows how our night church will play out in the coming years, but we’re so excited to be a part of what He’s doing.
Please pray for us as we prepare and launch. Pray that many people come to know Jesus in the coming years, and that this would be a place where everyone who comes is prepared and excited to serve Him for the long haul. Please also pray that this joint planting endeavour will be the start of many more in the north of Adelaide.
