Church As Network

Our Vision

We would like to invite you to imagine for a moment. Imagine a worship gathering of local missionaries all striving to be Good Neighbors. They gather to worship Jesus and celebrate how He has moved in their neighborhoods, then scatter around Battle Creek to continue the ministry He has called us to.  

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For many, this looks like leading microchurches, small communities of people who fully surrender their lives to Jesus and take on a piece of His mission in the world.  Some microchurches have a very specific mission, such as the Freehub Cycle Club, whose mission is to see their neighbors discover freedom in Jesus through the joy of cycling. The group facilitates an "earn-a-bike" program where kids from the neighborhood learn to be safe and responsible cyclists as well as spiritually and emotionally healthy members of their community. Another microchurch, Cultivate, gathers in one another’s homes to cultivate Kingdom dreams that emerge around the dinner table.

Through prayer, discernment, and service, they build community in their neighborhoods through initiatives like school gardens & prayer walks.

Each Microchurch will look very different, but they all embody a commitment to a simple ecclesial minimum: worship, community, and mission. Like the lights on a Christmas tree, they are networked together, each shining the light of Jesus in their neighborhood in their own small and beautiful way. Vision is a “picture of a preferred future,” and this is the vision of the kind of church we at the Good Neighbor Network have been called to plant in Battle Creek, Michigan.

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Through this work, we’re seeing neighborhoods change—not through large programs or worship services, but through Good Neighbors stepping into their calling and loving their neighbors intentionally.