Covenant's church plant is Lincoln Square Presbyterian Church. LSPC started worship in September of 2009. They meet at Waters Elementary School (4540 N. Campbell Ave) on Sundays at 10:15am. The church office is located at 4910 N. Lincoln Ave.





www.lincolnsquarepres.org , 773.677.7782 (office phone).
Chad Lewis is the pastor and can be emailed at clewis@lincolnsquarepres.org

What kind of church is it?

LSPC is a neighborhood (or parish-model) church focused on making the kingdom present on the streets and among the people of Lincoln Square. This church will share the vision and values of Covenant in her infancy, with the understanding that over time they may be adjusted and changed.

What will happen once the new church is on its own?

We'll start on planting a new church in a new neighborhood! This isn't a capital campaign or an experiment for us; this is going to become part of the ‘DNA' at Covenant because it is the natural expression of our vision for gospel outreach in the city. We are going to be, by God's grace, a church that plants churches.

Why plant Churches?

The following are excerpts from congregational letters and notes from a congregational meeting that outline how we have come to where we are now in our vision to make space for the gospel by planting churches.

First, this is part of a letter in which the idea of ‘making space' was explained:

…I want to talk a little bit about 'making space'.

Making space is the term I've been using with people as I talk about the ways in which we as a church can look outside of ourselves and become increasingly involved in the story of what God is doing in his world. One of the most succinct ways to summarize that story is to use one word: mission. Mission is the story of what God is doing in his world. Mission is at the very heart of the promises that drive the story of God and his people. God promised Abraham that he would be his God and the God of his children. More than that; God promised that he would make of Abraham a great nation, a people too numerous for humans to be able to number. But what was the intent of that promise? Was it so that there would be one really great, really happy family running around on the earth? Not at all. The intent was that God would make a great family s o that through them all the families of the earth would be blessed (see Genesis 12.1-9). From the very beginning, God asked his people to be an outward-looking and outward-acting people. God's grace cannot be contained; to experience it is to be propelled outward.

I want for that outward impulse to be nurtured here at Covenant. And we can nurture it by thinking hard about making space for it to happen...

This is from a letter about Covenant's decision to begin church planting:

… the Session decided that the time was right for Covenant to make space by church planting. This was a really important decision, and I hope that in the next few months all of us will be able to rally together around the reasons for making that decision. In short, it became clear to us that multiplying our gospel outreach through planting a new church rather than simply growing the ministries of Covenant would be the best way to serve the overall work of the gospel in our city. In turn, we believe that the process of planting a church will strengthen, nourish and encourage us as well.

In September 2007, after months of prayer and study, the church planting investigative team presented its findings to the Session. They concluded that planting a church was a natural outcome of our vision statement, and provided us with a 9 page document outlining their work along with a 21 point summary in order to help us focus on what matters most in taking the next steps. We're deeply grateful for their work as they have provided us with a vivid map for moving forward.

Finally, these are excerpts from a January 2008 congregational meeting where we first discussed church planting together:

Why Should Covenant Plant a Church?

We need to know the answer to this question!

In order for all of us to make the real sacrifices and do the hard work that it will take to plant a church, we need to know the answer to this question and be able to articulate it to those who don't. Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Manhattan ) has said that when it comes to church planting, there are only three kinds of people:

1. People who think that church planting is unnecessary or dumb.

2. People who think that church planting is a great idea.

3. People who think that church planting is a great idea and they know why .

The first two groups make up about 99% of the Christian population. All of us need to be moving to the third category. So, why is church planing a good idea?

1. It is the most effective strategy for gospel outreach.

“The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for both the numerical growth of the Body of Christ and the continual corporate renewal of existing congregations.”

-Tim Keller

“Among churches today, the conversation – a long overdue one – is moving from church growth to Kingdom growth. These churches ... are discovering that multiplication is better than addition, and exponential growth is more effective than self-expansion.”

-Ed Stetzer

Nothing else (crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing existing churches larger) even comes close to the effectiveness of church planing for making new disciples. New churches best reach the unchurched. The average 5 year old church has gained 66% of its members from people who were not members anywhere else before joining. The average 10 year old church gains 80-90% of its new members from transfers. That means that the average congregation under 10 years old is 6 to 8 times more effective than the average 10 year old church at making new disciples.

The reason for this disparity is easy to understand: older churches focus the majority of their time and energy on themselves while young churches, by necessity, have to focus the majority of their time and energy answering the question “How do we get people in here?”

2. It is true to the Biblical mandate.

Planting churches is the pattern of the New Testament. Jesus told his followers to make disciples and baptize them (Matthew 28.18-20). Paul was a church planter; his strategy was to go to the largest city in every region and appoint elders in those towns (Titus 1.5). The call to evangelism in the New Testament is a call to church planting.

3. Church planting is true to the great commission. The most effective means (from a human way of speaking) to make disciples of new generations , new residents and new people groups is through new churches.

-New generations require new churches that speak to them

-New residents can become involved quickly in new congregations

-New people groups are always better reached by new congregations

4. Church Planting helps renew old churches. There are certain things that new churches give to older churches: energy, innovation, creativity, and new ideas. The new churches in any city are the research and development arm of the Body of Christ. Certain types of leaders are attracted to new churches, and eventually these leaders benefit the entire Body. New churches make older ones examine themselves.

5. Church planting is a great exercise in Kingdom-mindedness. The church that plants will have to be a church that looks outside itself and values the growth of the kingdom more than their own growth.

Losing key leaders and/or staff is painful. If we think about our tribe, we see that as a loss. If we think about all of the tribes, we see that as a gain. The same can be said about money, resources and time that get poured into a new church.