This past Sunday (January 17th) Resurrection Presbyterian Church held its first public worship service in Carondelet.  Pastor Chris Smith and the the members of the church planting team were surprised at the large turnout—almost 180 people!  The luncheon afterwards was packed.  This is a wonderful start for Resurrection.  Continue to pray for significant outreach in the surrounding community.

Here's a picture from the worship service:

 If you want to see more images of Sunday's service, go to Tim Werkema's photo site.

This is where the church plant—Resurrection Presbyterian church—will be worshiping: St. Trinity Lutheran Church in Carondelet.

Hold your mouse button down and scroll left and right to pan the sanctuary all 360 degrees. I have also added two new photo galleries with images of Carondelet and St. Trinity Lutheran Church.

"I pronounce and declare that these men, women, and children are hereby officially commissioned to plant Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Carondelet.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!"

These were the words used by Pastor Meyers at the conclusion of the service of commissioning for our new church plant.   This past Sunday, December 6, we officially commissioned and sent out about 60 members of our church (including some from other churches) to plant Resurrection Presbyterian Church in the Carondelet area of South St. Louis.  The new banner on our website shows the members of the church plant gathered in front of the sanctuary just before we laid hands on them.  

A reception followed in the fellowship hall where we honored the service of Pastor Chris Smith and the elders and deacons who are leaving to serve at the new church Plant (Elders Steve Anderson and Tom Hanley, and Deacons Steve Dernlan, Curtis McCracken, Don Simon, Steve Sterner, and George Yoder).

You can find more pictures of the event in our photo galleries.

Follow Pastor Chris Smith and the others from Providence on their new blog: Resurrection Presbyterian Church as they begin the work of church planting in Carondelet.

Find out how this church building figures into the new plant by visiting the blog!

This morning we officially began our new church planting venture with a presentation during the Sunday school hour.  Pastor Meyers began with a brief talk to encourage the congregation to trust Pastor Smith's leadership.  He also challenged the congregation to consider what their part in the new plant would be.

Dr. Phil Douglas, professor of church planting at Covenant Seminary, explained how important church planting is in the progress and growth of the church.

Finally, Pastor Smith gave a detailed and inspiring account of why Providence is planting at this time and what his vision is for the new church.

If you would like to listen to the presentation you can click on the link here and download an 8.6mb mp3 file of the talk.