Christ Central Church Annual Report 2021

WORSHIP................................................................................................................................................................ 3 VISION AND PRIORITIES................................................................................................................................4 BECOME................................................................................................................................................................... 5 CENTRAL KIDS..................................................................................................................................................... 7 CENTRAL YOUTH.............................................................................................................................................. 9 FORMATION....................................................................................................................................................... 11 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT................................................................................................................. 13 OPERATIONS....................................................................................................................................................... 15

LEADERSHIP’S LETTER Dear Christ Central Church,

In March of 2020, right when the first strain of Covid-19 broke out in our country, I was drawn to Psalm 24, where David writes, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” (v.3-6) I communicated to you, our church, that I believed God was going to use the pain, the unknown, to purify His church and to cause His people to turn back to seeking the presence of God. I said that because God promises to bring beauty out of ashes, joy out of sadness, and resurrection out of death. Little did we know that it would be close to two years of pain, disruption, discomfort, fear, and all the other emotions and difficulties we have encountered and still encounter.

I am still confident that God is drawing His people back to finding our greatest delight in Him, making us a generation of people basking in His goodness and presence. But, it does not mean it is an easy process. 2021 was another extremely challenging year.

It has often felt like languishing, drifting, and pruning, each happening over and over again. But through the unknowns, the concerns, the suffering, the unsettledness, God shows Himself to be faithful.

God has shown His faithfulness to our church. He has provided, He has been at work, lives are being transformed, and by His grace, He is making us into who He wants us to be.

We are thankful to God for the opportunity to share with you how He was at work in 2021 in this annual report. May you find your heart stirred by His faithfulness, and may He use even this report to encourage us all to seek His presence continually and find in Him our greatest joy. May He continue to be the anchor amidst the ups and downs of life. May His glory always be our chief aim!

Grace and Peace, Rev. Daniel Mason on behalf of the leadership of Christ Central Church

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WOR S H I P

In 2021, we were thankful to have had the opportunity to gather each week. We could sing songs together through worship, pray for our city, and partake of the sacrament of Communion. In addition, we celebrated new members, baptisms, and communicants class completions. Not only were we able to physically gather safely again, but we were able to do it inside our new space at Durham Nativity School. The entire building has been an enormous blessing to our church by providing office spaces, Central Kids’ classrooms, and so much more. Our Worship and Arts Director, Charles Sands, also joined us in 2021. Charles has been a true blessing to our church and worship team by bringing the word of the Lord to life through song.

We also upgraded our streaming equipment to minister to those in the Christ Central family who aren’t yet comfortable gathering or those joining us virtually from across the country. As a result, we’ve been able to reach dozens of people we wouldn’t through the gift of technology!

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Pastor Daniel took a four-month sabbatical over the summer, and we welcomed many guest speakers to preach the word, including Irwyn Ince, Jonah Hooper, Russell McCutcheon, and others.

VISION AND PRIORITIES Near the end of 2020, we outlined our priorities for 2021: formation, multi-ethnic community, and continuing to pursue our Become Initiative.

We believe that formation is an essential part of the Christian life. We believe that expressing ourselves in the world should result from a deeply rooted life with Jesus Christ.

In 2021, we relaunched traditional City Groups and continued smaller gatherings called Huddles from the prior year. These groups met throughout the pandemic and enabled their participants to maintain a sense of Christian community in isolating times. We also launched our Women’s Bible Study and Men’s Small Groups in the fall, which were rich, intimate times. Our Central Kids and Youth also continued to meet safely during the pandemic, growing in grace through age-appropriate teaching – Central Kids on Sunday mornings and Central Youth at the Jungle on Wednesday nights.

One of our churches core values is to embrace one another. We believe all people are created in God’s image. God created us--every tongue, tribe, and nation--to be a reflection of Himself, so we can celebrate our similarities and embrace our differences as complementary aspects of the same God. In 2021 we prioritized fostering multiethnic community through church staff and leadership equipping around cultural intelligence, staff hiring practices, and welcoming a diverse selection of guest speakers on Sunday mornings over the summer.

In 2021 we finished the fundraising portion of our Become Initiative, a priority for the year. We are so thankful for all who gave and made this initiative possible. Become is all about us becoming the church God has called us to be for His glory and the good of Durham. We believe that this is accomplished best through four priorities – a longterm home, church planting, leadership development, and mercy & justice. You can learn more about our Become Initiative on page six.

The priorities we laid out for the end of 2021 through mid-2022 were: Become, Formation, and Community Development.

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In December, we concluded the two-year fundraising portion of our five-year Become Initiative. Our goal for Become was to raise $2M in addition to our operational budget, for a total of $5.5M. In the end, through the generosity of our church, we raised $5.2M, which will enable us to become the church God has called us to be for His glory and the good of Durham.

One of the priorities of Become was to find a long-term home in the heart of Durham.

We were able to take a huge step in achieving this goal through our 15-year lease with Durham Nativity School. In the summer of 2021, we completed renovations and fully moved in. Our new space offers offices, children’s classrooms, an updated sanctuary for worship, and additional meeting spaces. We are also excited about partnering more deeply with Durham Nativity School to help them see their vision and mission come to fruition.

We sincerely believe that church planting is one of the best ways to reach people with the gospel and see people discipled and formed. We have spent $180,000, close to 50% of the allocation for the church planting pillar of Become, to support church plants thus far. We hope to plant a church in Durham in the next few years and partner with two global church plants.

We have spent just under 40% of the allocated $400,000 towards mercy and justice as a part of Become. We desire to be a blessing to the marginalized and in need in our city. In 2021, we came alongside the DPS Foundation and the YMCA of Durham with significant grants to support students in our city during the pandemic. We also poured resources and renewed energy into outreach ministries – Repair, Educational Partnership Outreach, and the Adoption & Foster Care Ministry.

When Become began, we believed God would move us out of the church-plant phase into more of an established church in Durham. Our prayer is that God would continue His gracious work of forming and shaping us to be His people in Durham; that we would become a faithful church in this city that continues to minister to Durham long after all of us have passed into glory.

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CENTRAL KIDS Families are important to all of us at Christ Central. The goal of Central Kids is to partner with parents, equipping them so that the word of the Lord would grow in the hearts of their children. We continued to adapt and grow during 2021. Our Central Kids team was excited to move into our newly renovated classrooms and open our sixth age-appropriate classroom, thanks to our volunteers and our new space. One of our highlights from the year was having our children participate in the mission of Christ Central by blessing our neighbors in need with over 40 “blessing bags.” This year, our staff team and volunteers also hosted an in-person “Concretes and Cranes” VBS, which was fun and formational for everyone in attendance. In addition, Central Kids enjoyed seasonally-themed Craft Times with Mrs. Kristin throughout the year. Finally, we hosted a Birds and Bees conference in September, giving parents the tools and confidence to talk with their kids about sex. The Central Kids team is looking forward to what is in store for 2022 and welcoming our new little ones who are already being connected through our growing Expectant Family Ministry.

To see the excitement and absolute joy on each child’s face as they returned to Central Kids showed the abundance of God’s presence at Christ Central. To have the children return was a blessing but to now have so many “older” children wanting and feeling the need to serve the “younger” children by volunteering showed that God was truly a part of their minds, hearts, and souls.

- Kristin Sullivan, Nursery Director

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CENTRAL YOUTH The Lord so visibly works in and through (and despite!) Central Youth. The consistent highlight of my week is watching Him grow our community of youth and volunteers in love, truth, and grace. What a blessing to see our students engage, together, with the Gospel. On any given Wednesday night, we’ll go from egg-throwing to singing praise, to bottle-flipping, to learning scripture; truly, this is a ministry in which the joy of the Spirit is present!

- Tate Heisler, Central Youth Volunteer

2021 was an exciting year for Central Youth! Our youth were able to grow closer to one another while participating in the mission of Christ Central–being a youth group for the glory of God and the good of Durham. Despite the pandemic, our youth continued to meet weekly on Wednesday nights for the Jungle and averaged about 40 youth each week! We also welcomed three Central Youth Interns for the summer: Grace, Rose, and Sanha. They did a fantastic job loving, leading, and discipling the youth.

From spontaneous slushies to intense ping pong battles, they were the boots on the ground in our mission to reach Durham’s youth. They also helped lead our Central Youth summer small groups alongside our leadership team.

In July, our youth and staff traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the first-ever mission trip from Christ Central. Central Youth had the opportunity to serve a beautiful community in East Chattanooga. Our youth mowed lawns, delivered food, worked on projects for the community center, and hosted a Bible Club for the neighborhood.

All of these experiences helped our youth think differently about how we serve our neighbors and our city. Our youth spent lots of time together throughout the year, participating in many outreach events, which are touchpoints for Central Youth where unchurched or non-Christian youth can connect to the body of Christ in a safe and fun space. Our students are so excellent at bringing their friends into the fold! The young men got a weekend away together at Camp Willow Run in October, where they grew closer to one another and heard from camp speaker Carter Rief. We are incredibly thankful for how the Lord used our staff and volunteer teams to continue cultivating a faith-driven life and community for Central Youth.

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FORMATION Christ Central is positioned right at the heart of so many colleges and universities. So we were excited to have our college students back in town as they returned to in-person learning at their respective schools in the fall. We kicked off the fall with a Welcome Back luncheon for our students, where they enjoyed connecting and hearing from our staff team. We also hosted a three-week Theology 101 College Sunday School Class.

We introduced college students to Dr. Brent Strawn (Duke Divinity School) and Matt Mahla (Duke RUF), who taught this class alongside our pastoral team. With students back in town, we relaunched our Adopt-A-College-Student program, which allows families at Christ Central to mentor and connect with college students by providing meals and supporting students away from home.

We believe that life is best lived in the context of community. In 2021 we continued our men’s and women’s ministries and returned to a sense of normalcy by gathering safely in person. We were incredibly thankful to have the ability to come together after an isolating year.

Christie Bowman and our women’s ministry team came into 2021 seeking to carry out the vision of Christ Central by providing avenues that foster spiritual growth and allowing women to connect and be known by one another. We hosted Women’s Sunday Suppers throughout the summer, allowing our women to come around the table together and enjoy community and a meal while learning from different women in our church. The women also studied Jen Wilkin’s God of Creation this fall as a part of our Women’s Bible studies that met throughout the week. In November, recording artist Christy Nockels joined us for a teaching time, followed by a churchwide concert.

All of these events and the efforts of our incredible women’s ministry team made for an exciting year of ministry.

Participating in Wednesday morning Bible study this year has felt like a breath of fresh air.

After feeling as though life has been in limbo over the last two years of Covid, it has been redemptive and restorative to once again gather regularly with women at our church to learn, pray, and fellowship with one another. The study of Genesis has been rich and deep. Learning such foundational truths along with women from all walks of life, including those who have studied the Bible for years as well as those who are brand new to Bible study, has been a muchneeded visible expression of the body of Christ after a season that tended toward loneliness and isolation for so many of us.

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- Jennifer Vincent, Women’s Bible Study Participant

Our men’s ministry, led by Pastor Timothy, continued to grow this past year. In the fall, the men of Christ Central met early on Wednesday mornings for a study through Chip Dodd’s The Voice of the Heart, culminating in a weekend retreat led in teaching by Chip Dodd. Throughout the year, we hosted men’s events including our Men’s Pancake Breakfast, Durham Bulls Night, and Football Tailgate. Our 1:7 group also continued to meet, providing a safe space for men to Biblically process and grow from sexual sin. We are thankful for all the Lord has done and continues to do in our men’s ministry.

We offered many seminars in 2021. In April, we hosted our Loss and Suffering Seminar.

Attendees heard from Wendy Alsup and Dr. Kelly Kapic on what the Bible says about loss and suffering and how we as believers should respond to the pronounced sense of pain we feel in those moments. We also hosted a Redemptive Ethnic Unity seminar in February; Dr. Soong Chan Rah and Yana Conner shared about how the Bible speaks about redemptive ethnic unity. Over the summer we hosted Rosaria Butterfield to our church to teach and discuss her book The Gospel Comes With a House Key, equipping us with ways to use hospitality as a tool to share God’s kingdom.

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Community development is one of the main ways we engage with our city and our vision of seeking the “good of Durham” as well as the mercy and justice arm of the Become Initiative. Over the past year, we have focused on building our three internal community development ministries–Repair, Educational Partnership Outreach (EPO), and Adoption and Foster Care (AFC).

Repair

Repair is a practical expression of Christ’s love and hope to neighbors in our city. The goal of this ministry is to assist Durham homeowners by making essential repairs to their homes. Before 2021 we partnered with Habitat for Humanity to help in these repairs.

In 2021, we built off that partnership to create an in-house ministry that identifies homeowners in need and equips our congregation to serve them appropriately. Our Repair team was hard at work throughout the year and most recently completed their first repairs as an independent ministry.

Educational Partnership Outreach

Educational Partnership Outreach continued to grow in 2021. We are incredibly thankful for our relationship with our neighbors at Durham Nativity School and C.C. Spaulding Elementary and the partnership opportunities that have arisen. In what has been an extremely challenging year for schools, EPO provided staff appreciation gifts and breakfasts throughout the year. Our EPO team also supported schools by providing Thanksgiving Meals for families at C.C. Spaulding and Christmas Meals for Durham Nativity School families by collecting donations from within our congregation. EPO also held a school supply drive to kick off the school year well for both partner schools.

Adoption and Foster Care

In 2021 we established our Adoption and Foster Care (AFC) ministry. AFC desires to practically and prayerfully coming alongside families and individuals pursuing foster care and adoption. As this ministry launched, we’ve partnered with nearly a dozen families at Christ Central to surround them with care communities as they walk the journey of foster care and adoption. We are excited to see how the Lord uses this ministry as it continues to grow in 2022.

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Missions

In 2021 our Missions Team was faithful in stewarding the resources entrusted to them as a team, investing them in Gospel centered resources both in local ministry, on campuses, in church plants, and in ministry work around the world. The desire of our Missions Team is to invest in work that aligns with our values as a church, and equips and empowers Gods people in Durham and around the world.

During the 2021 fiscal year we gave a total of $145,565 to both our local and global partners that they might accomplish their missions. This total represents about 10% of our annual operating budget, a practice we strive for annually.

In the coming year our Missions Team is hopeful that they can develop and refresh their vision, mission and processes, that they might be able to engage our congregation with opportunities to support our partners through prayer and engagement beyond finances.

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OPERATIONS Building

In the summer of 2021, we completed renovations on our new long-term home at Durham Nativity School. In total, we spent $1.2M on all of our renovation. The new space offers office spaces, children’s classrooms, an updated sanctuary for worship, and additional meeting spaces.

Your generous giving enabled us to pay cash for the renovations in this space. This giving allows us to pay lower rent, carry no debt, and save significantly year over year.

We terminated the lease for our previous office space at Golden Belt, saving the church a significant expense. Our new church home provides room to continue to grow. Most churches of our size spend around 30% of their annual budget on facility costs. After terminating our lease at Golden Belt, facility costs make up about 5% of our budget.

This is remarkable and a gift from the Lord that will equip us to further accomplish our mission as a church.

We have spent all of the 35% allotment to a long-term home from our Become Initiative in addition to money from our cash reserves on upgrading our new space.

Staff Team

We are incredibly thankful for everyone that makes up our staff team at Christ Central.

The many gifts each person brings to ministry make everything we do here at Christ Central possible.

Pastor Evan passed the rigorous ordination process of our denomination and was ordained on February 28th, 2021, inside our new sanctuary. Evan is the third AfricanAmerican to be ordained in the Eastern Carolina Presbytery.

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In 2021 we welcomed several new faces to our staff team at Christ Central. Lindsay Youssef served our church faithfully as Interim Operations Director while Meredith Miller was on maternity leave. Charles Sands also joined our staff as Worship and Arts Director, working alongside our incredibly talented musicians to make Sunday morning worship possible. We also welcomed Bradley Moore to our staff team as Communications Director, overseeing our Sunday live streams, video production, website, social media, and all things communication. We are excited to continue growing our staff team in the new year!

Giving

2021 was a tumultuous year for many at Christ Central, but the Lord was faithful in providing families and individuals that gave financially to make our mission possible.

We are incredibly thankful for you all. Through your generosity, we were able to nearly reach our goal for our Become Initiative and finish 2021 with our strongest month of giving in the history of Christ Central.

All of your gifts equip us as a church to serve the city of Durham through our three community development ministries: Repair, Educational Partnership Outreach, and Adoption and Foster Care. We also partnered with Mission to North America and other organizations to provide disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Ida and the tornadoes that devastated parts of Kentucky.

All that Christ Central Church has done and will continue to do is possible because of God at work through individuals and families like you.

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C O N TA C T U S WWW.CHRISTCENTRALDURHAM.COM info@ChristCentralDurham.com 919-908-7787