The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
City Church draws many seeking Jesus
2,000 come to 5 campuses in state
NEW HAVEN — If you go to City Church, don’t worry about how loud the praise music might be.
Earplugs are available for the asking.
As the service begins at the College Street Music Hall, the multicolored lights begin to flash, the rock band kicks in, and worship leader Chrisy Kendrick — wife of Lead Pastor Justin Kendrick — brings the members of the congregation to their feet, lifting their hands and singing along. Like her, they may be dressed in jeans with hip tears at the knees.
But not all. City Church, while drawing a largely young crowd, is nothing if not diverse.
Justin Kendrick’s message for last week’s Palm Sunday, livestreamed to the church’s four other campuses in Bridgeport, Middletown, Hartford and North Haven, is about “the secret to happiness.” “Oh, we’re promising big today!” he says.
The 1½-hour service, one of 13 last Sunday at the church’s five locations, is lively and a bit raucous, but it’s for a reason.
“We try to make it something that everybody can enjoy,” Kendrick said. “We try to present the timeless truths in a timely way, in a relevant way. … Nothing is done with the intention of it
being a performance. Everything’s done with the intention of an honest expression of thanks to God.”
City Church, which held its first service at Toad’s Place on Easter Sunday 2011 and met monthly until that Sept. 18, when weekly services started at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, now attracts up to 2,000 people each Sunday.
Easter was an appropriate day to found the church.
“It’s the centerpiece of the Gospel,” Kendrick said. “If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then this is all for nothing, and if he did, then this is the most important truth on Earth.”
The nondenominational church was launched by “a team of leaders that really felt like we wanted to start churches that really embodied an authentic pursuit of God and a deep commitment to the Scriptures with the desire really to be in the urban centers across New England,” Kendrick said.
“New England presently is the least-churched region in the United States ... Our desire was really to be a part of seeing New England open up spiritually.
“I think that New England needs resurrection and so hope is what our heart’s looking for and the Resurrection provides that,” he said.
According to a 2014 Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study, the least religious states are Massachusetts at No. 50, followed by New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Connecticut (Rhode Island ranks 35th). The study asked about how important religion was in people’s lives, how often they prayed and attended worship services and whether they believe in God “with absolute certainty.”
According to Pew, the decline in religious belief is largely because of the growing number of “nones,” mostly millennials, who do not belong to any organized religion. It’s those people in their 20s and 30s that City Church appears to attract most.
Kendrick, 35, who grew up in North Haven, said he sees “a deep history of committed spirituality” in New England. “I just think it’s going through an awakening right now of a deep desire to pursue God.”
Kendrick said he believes that City Church is growing because it’s offering a positive message based on God’s word.
Jesus, community and mission
All of the decision-making is based on three core values: “Jesus at the center,” “intentional community” and “city mission.”
While Kendrick said he “would not be quick to criticize the work of any other church, I think that people in New England are hungry for something real.” He calls the Gospel “the greatest agent of transformation on Earth.”
“Traditional religion may teach you this is what you’re supposed to do. The Gospel teaches you this is what Christ has done,” Kendrick said. “Traditional religion may say, ‘Be a good person and God will accept you.’ The Gospel says, ‘Through Christ, God has accepted you,’ and that makes your heart desire to please him. I think the teaching of the Gospel is an outrageously contagious power and that’s why our church is growing.”
As part of the plan to open sites in cities across the region — all part of the one church — City Church launched in Bridgeport in 2013 (it meets at the Downtown Cabaret Theatre, 263 Golden Hill St.), at 653 S. Main St. in Middletown in 2015, at the Spotlight Theatre, 39 Front St., in Hartford in 2016 and in North Haven at 161 Mill Road in 2017. Next in sight is Springfield, Mass.
At the music hall at 238 College St., some in the congregation bringing in cups of coffee, Chrisy Kendrick leads the band in popular Christian pop, like Cory Asbury’s “Reckless Love”: “O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God,” she sings. “There’s no shadow you won’t light up, mountain you won’t climb up, coming after me. There’s no wall you won't kick down, lie you won’t tear down, coming after me.”
During his message, Justin Kendrick talks about hope. “Hope is an inner celebration inspired by convincing evidence,” he says. It’s not optimism but belief based on God’s word in the Bible. “The Old Testament gives us 300 biblical prophesies about a coming messiah,” he says.
“Jesus did not come to rid the world of the evil of Rome,” Kendrick preaches. “He came to rid the world of the evil of sin that was informing every heart.”
Turning back to his theme, Kendrick says, “The secret to happiness is hopefulness. Your heart was created to be fueled by hope.” Those who rely on money or celebrity “don’t have an anchor for their soul.
“We do have to step back, look at our society and say something is broken,” he said. “Kids should not be in danger while they’re learning algebra.”
Besides Sunday services, every campus has “community groups” for men, women, singles, married couples, and for parenting and financial issues. Damian Castro, director of operations, leads City Students for middle and high school students.
“My heart is to see kids learning what the church learns at such a young age,” Castro said. “They see the love. Church becomes almost a normal thing instead of just ‘adults do that.’” Teens also volunteer to help on Sundays.
In Middletown, where the church has grown from 100 to 325 people attending services since September, seven young people in a “roots class” gave their lives to Jesus, Kendrick said.
In fulfilling its mission to build up the cities it calls home, City Church members volunteer with already established organizations.
“Our attitude is, rather than starting services that already exist, we’d rather support a ministry that’s already successful and just needs volunteers and maybe some support and we don’t care who gets the credit,” Kendrick said.
In New Haven, they work with Columbus House, Loaves and Fishes, the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen and New Reach, which works to reduce homelessness.
In Bridgeport, City Church works with the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Pivot Ministries, an addiction-re-entry program, and Urban Impact, which focuses on at-risk youth. And in Middletown, City Church’s partners are the ABC Women’s Center and St. Vincent de Paul.
“We are in the cities and we believe that we’re there to serve and love the people of the community,” said Lauren Corso, central outreach coordinator. “We’re sending the same people every week so they build community while they’re serving the city.”
Traditional Christian beliefs
In describing the church’s beliefs, Kendrick said, “We would consider ourselves probably what you would consider historically orthodox Protestant Christian doctrine,” based in the Nicene and Apostles’ creeds and, most of all, the Bible.
The church’s beliefs and practices tend to be conservative and traditional. Its Central Elder Board is composed of four men. While women serve in important roles, men are the heads of their families and of the church, “because we feel like that’s what the Scripture tell the church to do.”
Kendrick said the church wrestles with contemporary issues. “We just finished a sermon series in which we talked gender issues, human life, relationships … and sexuality.” He said he avoids soundbites.
“Our stance is not, What does society say is in right now? … We’re first and foremost asking the question: What does the Bible say about this issue?”
While the church considers sexuality appropriate only within the marriage of a man and a woman, Kendrick said, “We’re a church (that) is open to everybody and there are a huge number of people who attend our church who don’t believe in everything we say. Maybe a quarter of them are members and then there are a lot who are seekers.”
While 2,000 may attend City Church’s services, the church counts its committed membership as closer to 500.
“All of our members are the people who are more deeply involved,” Kendrick said. To join, seekers attend a fivehour class and sign a membership covenant. The church practices adult baptism by full immersion.
“We do believe salvation is a work of God’s grace, which means we can’t earn it and we don’t deserve it, so salvation comes to someone when they place their faith in Christ,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick was licensed for ministry by Frontline Christian Church in Hamden and has a degree in social work. He and Chrisy have three boys, Gabriel, 11, Noah, 9, and Ezra, 4.
Dennis Martinez of Bethany has been attending City Church since January 2017. “I think that everybody in their life has a time when they’re broken” and things “haven’t turned out the way they planned it and I found a way for Jesus Christ to save my life and at the age of 64 I just got baptized.”
Emmanuel Kassim of Virginia attends Yale Law School and said, “It’s been good to be away from home and have community here. … I was told about the church by some people at the Christian fellowship at the law school. … It helped me adapt to, adjust to New Haven life since I’ve been here.”
For Deputy Police Chief Mike Timbro of Middletown, “It wasn’t until 18 years ago that I made the decision that I was going to walk with the Lord. The last 2½ years, almost three now that I’ve been to City Church, I’ve grown and stretched in my faith, my walk with Jesus.” He said he’s seen God’s plan in his career rising through the Police Department’s ranks.
“I pray faithfully,” Timbro said. “It just means starting my day off with (Jesus) ... reading the word, reading the Bible ... and just being aware of how he works in my life throughout my day.”
Middletown’s campus pastor is Ryan Wetherhead and under his leadership “the involvement and the willingness of City Church to work with the community is really something that impressed me,” Timbro said. “The servant-minded attitude of City Church … stems from the core leadership and it’s consistent among all the campuses, not just Middletown.”
Chuck Lepper of Hamden said of Kendrick, “He breaks the Bible down to where you can understand it. It’s a simpler way of learning how to get closer to God because without God you cannot do anything.”
“Danielle Yagovane of Wallingford said that when she suffered a miscarriage in January, “Our church just poured love and grace on us in that time and through the love of our church and God in our church we were able to overcome that.”
Her husband, Jonny Yagovane lost his job the same day but has since gotten a new job closer to home. “The community here has helped us get through impossible things, it seems like,” he said.
Alex Tucker of Trumbull is an elder at the Bridgeport campus and part of the music ministry. He said the church “gives me community. Our church in Bridgeport is a wealth of beautiful and capable people who I get to do life with. Through my involvement with the church I also get to see the community improve. Bridgeport has a long history of hurts and pains and many people who come and go.
Mike Schnepp, executive pastor, said, “We are kind of in this for life. We would do this for free if we could afford to, because we are deeply passionate about this mission and this team and this church.”
“I think the teaching of the Gospel is an outrageously contagious power and that’s why our church is growing.” Pastor Justin Kendrick