YMCA & Church

To further our efforts to plant more churches in the YMCA, we believe the next steps to take are training and sending Pastors to plant and lead churches in the YMCA. Therefore, we’ve established our residency program called, “Train and Send”.  “Train and Send” is the CITY Movement’s deliberate strategy to train resident Pastors for two years…

Looking for ways to love and serve your YMCA around the holidays? If you are a CITY Movement church or are meeting in a YMCA or community center currently, you have an incredible opportunity to reach out to your community this time of year. While you might be tempted to worry about end of the…

“A few weeks ago I had the privilege to attend the YMCA Christian Mission Conference at Silver Bay with about 70 other YMCA leaders, pastors and chaplains. At this point in my life, I’ve attended lots of practical conferences and spiritual retreats but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this one. Would it be heavy on…

“Is this what your church is like on Sunday mornings?” Sarah*, a YMCA Child Development Center teacher asked me. “I’d love to come check it out.” “Yes! Well… yes and no,” I responded. Our church is full of lively people worshiping the Father and listening to Biblical instruction, so yes! But our church is not…

I love being a CITY Pastor. I’m not talking about being a pastor in a “city” per se, as opposed to a rural community. When I say “C.I.T.Y.”, I mean “Church in the YMCA”.  I am a Pastor of a church in the YMCA, and here’s what I love about God’s calling on my life:…

Recently, I attended a conference in Nashville centered around making disciples of today’s young people, ages 0-18. The main thrust of the conference was that today’s churches are using ‘old maps’ of child discipleship in an era where ‘new maps’ might be required. A modern-day explorer would not use a map from the 1500s. Are…