FIRST Urbana

After prayer, fasting, candid conversations, wise counsel, and clarity from the Spirit, we are confident in the decision and is with heavy hearts that we have decided to move forward as 1 Church in 1 Location - and begin the process of rallying our Urbana Location towards our Champaign Location.

While the answer to this question would take hours, the simplest and clearest determining factor was direction from God (Acts 15:28). Arguably the most important thing to share is the unity that FIRST leadership (elders, Eric, and Josh) arrived on this decision. While we all prayed and fasted separately, when we came together it was abundantly clear we all were on the same page not just with each other, but with the Spirit as well. Much prayer and conversation has been occurring for over a year now; but, specifically since Easter of this year, God made it abundantly clear we were nearing a defining moment for us as a church.

The decision was not one purely based over money, attendance, or ministry resources. While all of those aspects were objectively considered, this was a clear step of obedience. We do believe this decision will allow us to be even better stewards of our finances, staff, volunteers, and overall influence in our local community.

We believe God is leading us to ‘reset our table’ with a redefined clarity on our mission of discipleship, desire for establishing more rich communities for spiritual growth, and development of leaders both inside and outside our church walls using their spiritual giftedness and resources for greater Kingdom impact.

Further, we want to clarify that we do not believe being a multi-site church is wrong or unbiblical. It is just one of many different “models” or approaches local churches can employ in their expression of being a church connected to the global body of Christ.

The past 6 years have, by no means, been a failure! God has brought immense fruit, joy, and connection to His Kingdom. The Urbana Location has been a grace-filled season of worship and connection furthering the mission of God. With that said, everything in life - including churches! - have seasons (Eccesiastes 3). We are extraordinarily grateful for the hundreds of people who gave of their time, talents, and finances to help make the name of Jesus known in Lincoln Square Mall!

We will be making the public announcement on Sunday, June 25, with the final Sunday service occurring on Sunday, July 9. The service on July 9th will be one service, family-style, to share “12 stone” stories to help deepen community as we move forward together.

There will also be a Champaign Building Tour and BBQ on Saturday, July 8 to help acclimate people to the Champaign facility. Our desire is for all to feel comfortable knowing where to go! From kids check-in to student ministry to the donuts and coffee, we hope you will feel right at home!

We do understand this is a quick turnaround. FIRST leadership sought wise outside counsel who suggested a shorter timeline so that the final memories and services at the Urbana Location are ones full of life!

Absolutely! And perhaps even more! While the size of the facility will be larger, the amount of opportunities to connect will increase as well. (For example, if you have a 4th grade student and a Junior High student, they both will have programming for them on Sunday mornings.)

On top of that, all of our elders, staff, and leaders will be at the same location every single week - aka you will know where to find us! This shift frees up the tiring demands and responsibilities of providing 4 Sunday services nearly in half! As a result, nearly all of our staff will have greater bandwidth to spend even more time creating connections and community for the FIRST family.

We describe the move as one providing unity, community, and clarity.

We feel our church family will be more unified being under one roof. From events to leadership development to ministry opportunities, we look forward to the intentionality we will be able to move forward in ministry.

We feel our church family will have a greater community being under one roof. Not only will we be able to steward our leaders and staff better, but we also have a fantastic facility to provide more and different opportunities for further community in the life of our church. We believe ministries for men, marriages, and others are on the horizon!

We feel our church family will have greater clarity being under one roof. With the continuity of the presence of elders and staff, providing clearer language, assimilation, and next step opportunities, is something we passionately anticipate the positive effect it will have on our church family.

Josh is going to NASA to begin training as the next man to walk on the moon!

Actually, Josh isn’t going anywhere! While the title and specifics are still in the works, and he will still be a part of our teaching team, we are collectively discerning how to best put his passions, gifting, and desires in the right spot for Kingdom work in our community.

We are setting up a van/shuttle service from Lincoln Square Mall to our Champaign Location and back. If you would like to find out more please reach out to us at info@fcc-online.org and someone on our team will be in touch with you.

While we hope that as much of our Urbana family will feel welcome and comfortable at the Champaign Location, we understand the logistics of distance - even though it’s 6.2 miles away and only about 10 minutes away! Here are 3 churches near Lincoln Square mall that we can recommend with full confidence:

Stone Creek Church - nearby on S. Race St. has an amazing diverse community that does some incredible local outreach initiatives - sccwired.com

All Souls - less than a block away from Lincoln Square Mall - allsoulspca.org

CU Church - offers a service at the Webber Street Christian Church facility less than a half-mile from Lincoln Square - cuchurch.com

In our week of prayer and fasting, we had an unsolicited congregation, unaware of our process, inquiry about our space. While nothing definitive has been secured, we are in conversations about a partnership to potentially assist another local congregation to use our space.

Additionally, we are planning to maintain our Tuesday morning prayer meeting at 7A at our leased space in Lincoln Square until the end of our contract in February of 2024.

Our church, as a whole, is thriving in our ministry efforts, growing in our attendance, and solidifying our firm foundation for future impact in the CU area. Since reopening from the Covid season, FIRST has nearly tripled in size! Our adult services and kids ministry in particular are seeing immense life with many new people and families finding their church home with us!

This decision was not made because FIRST is hurting, nor was it related in any capacity to our recent transitions of staff. While we are not in the same financial spot we once were in the past, we believe the health and vibrancy we are currently experiencing is only going to continue as we are able to better steward all of our resources as we help each other follow Jesus!

FIRST leadership strongly believes our current staff team not only has the right people in the right roles with the right culture, but also set-up to provide even better ministry experiences in some of our vital ministry programs to further our discipleship efforts for kids, students, families, and everyone who calls FIRST home!