Hi Navah Family -

Our season at Plexpod Westport Commons has come to a close. We wanted to share the plan for the adventure ahead. We are especially writing to those who are not yet connected to a Navah Community (MC or CC), to help provide a pathway of connection in the days ahead.

Our new Sunday rhythm will be Navah “Gathering Sundays” (1st and 3rd) and “Home Sundays” on (2nd and 4th).

On 1st and 3rd Sundays every month our whole Navah family will be Gathering in one location as the Father leads us. We will prayerfully discern how long to be at each location as we go. We believe that God has us “following the cloud” from region to region both to build his love for the city into us and bless the city through us! When all of Navah gathers in unity the Kingdom comes in ways we cannot see by ourselves.

For the “Home Sundays” (2nd and 4th Sundays), Navah will be gathering across Kansas City in homes. We will be supplying home resources for these Sundays. Many will meet with their existing Missional Communities or Connect Communities welcoming friends and neighbors as we love Jesus and one another in our neighborhoods. This environment teaches us to be the church as a family of families where everyone is seen and heard, gives and receives with Jesus at the center.

We realize that some of you are not connected to a Navah Community (MC or CC) at this time and our Regional Teams are creating ‘Open Houses’ for the 2nd Sundays of each month to welcome you into. If you don’t have a home to go to please email us at hello@navahchurchkc.com and we will help connect you to your Regional Team and communicate times, address’ and dates for you to join an ‘Open House’. Long term we would like to help get you connected to a Navah Community (MC or CC).

We are also working with the KC City Wide Prayer Team to host a monthly night of prayer and worship for the different Regions of our city in partnership with local churches. We will give you more information about those times as we settle dates and locations.

Feel free to listen to this audio recording to catch more of the heart of our transition

Navah Transition: Follow the Cloud 

If you would like to give us your feedback on this transition  please fill out the Navah Family Feedback Form Below 

Navah Family Feedback Nov 2018

DATE UPDATE: We have finalized that our last day in the Plexpod facility will be March 31, 2019

Here is a letter explaining the transition we shared with our Navah Family at our Sunday Gathering on November 11, 2018

Dear Navah Family,

We wanted to share some news with you as soon as possible for your prayer, input, and ‘withness’. In this letter, we would like to explain our prayerful process to move our gathering space, offices, prayer space, and training room out of Plexpod Westport Commons.

It was a seven-year journey of promise and faith to move into the dream that finally materialized at Plexpod Westport Commons in March 2017. In light of the preparation and significance of the move into this space, it is with much sobriety, council, and depth of prayer that we have considered this move. The journey and time in this building has sealed in our hearts that He is our promise and very great reward.

The dream which led us to Plexpod Westport Commons was about far more than a building, it was about being the church in every part of our city and sphere of society, and that calling continues with deeper conviction than ever.

Here is some context to help shed light on our current moment. In the fall of 2017, during our annual strategic planning, we heard the word “organize to mobilize”. Appropriately, since moving into Plexpod earlier that year, we had given much attention into the centralized expression of the church, but we felt it was time to focus on the decentralized expression. The leadership set their attention towards “Mobilization”.

Here are some of the “Mobilization” highlights in 2018 so far:

• We organized the database and mapped where we all live and identified our members and committed participants. There are about 500 of us!
• We focused on “Love KC” and saw the Holy Spirit beautifully begin to lead us to bless our neighbors and co-workers like never before.
• We have trained, equipped, and coached around 60 new and existing Missional and Connect Community leaders scattered throughout the city.
• We have started highlighting those within Navah who serve or lead local community ministries that are investing into Kansas City.
• We are running a 2-year internship called “Prepare” to raise up new leaders in our midst.
• We felt the Holy Spirit prompt us to recast vision about the scattered and gathered Church. (We encourage you to listen to those teachings. They are posted in the “Love KC” series on the Navah website.)
• We have just implemented our first ever “FaithFund” which expands our faith to invest in the establishment of the kingdom locally, nationally, and internationally.
• We began work on forming regional leadership teams in 8 regions of the metroplex to oversee, pastor, and equip the Missional and Connect Communities and other committed participants of Navah. We are currently in the process of forming and appointing those teams.

All of these elements of mobilization were God’s amazing preparation and foresight to prepare us for the transition that is coming.

Over the summer, two areas became apparent that we needed to give attention to. First, as we have grown into the Plexpod space on Sundays, our vision for serving kids no longer required use of the gym (flat floor event space). We wanted to move kids into the classroom spaces exclusively. Second, for most of the months in 2018, our operating expenses have been higher than our income. We anticipated this discrepancy and started the year with surplus savings to cover that shortfall. As we moved into the 2nd half of the year, through prayer and agreement from our Stewardship Board, we thought it right to renegotiate our membership agreement with Plexpod to remove the gym from our contract. We hoped this would save money and were confident it would improve our Sunday kids’ experience.

We met with the Plexpod team in late September to share with them our desire to reduce our membership rate and change our space use. They asked for time to consider the options in light of a new pricing structure they were implementing. We left the meeting with a sense that things would possibly be changing with Plexpod. The Father began to bring our hearts into a posture of deep surrender to follow Jesus no matter what it meant.

The Navah Oversight team was in town on October 18-20. This had been scheduled months in advance and they arrived 3 weeks after our meeting with Plexpod. What strategic timing! When we brought the situation before our Oversight team for listening prayer, we had not heard back from Plexpod about the re-negotiation process. To our surprise, the entire core team and oversight team heard from the Lord that our time at Plexpod was done. Clear words were given about new wine and a new wineskin. This was also powerfully confirmed by prophetic words from friends not present in KC.

Hours after we heard in prayer about moving, Plexpod sent us their reply. The new proposal was not able to provide an option that meets our space needs without including a significant financial increase. It brought us deep peace and confirmation that God had spoken before the new proposal arrived. We are currently in a conversation with Plexpod about a final move day sometime between January 1st and April 1st. Join us in praying for the best timing.

We are in this together and believe Jesus is with us to lead us and He is in no way surprised by what is happening. We do not yet know where, or how often, we will gather on Sundays. We are also not sure where we will office or have a centralized prayer or training space. All these things are being held before the Father with this community in prayer.

What is clear and has always been clear is that the church is not a building, it is us. This is the same conviction we have held from day one, it is nothing new. However, there is a fresh invitation to live into what we believe, to be courageous and fully trust how Jesus leads us!

Two things that give us confidence in the midst of so many unknowns: 1. Jesus. He has historically led us miraculously in his faithfulness; 2. Family. The people that call Navah their family and who have devoted themselves to following Jesus as prayerful families on mission, are amazing!

We are His people and He is forming us the way He wants us. God has made it clear that He is mobilizing every person. Changing the venue is but one aspect of what He is doing.  

In Christ,

The Navah Church KC Core Team

Adam & Juli Cox, David Blackwell, Shawn Cardwell, Graham Catto, and Katie Egli
 

Listen to the sharing time from the Sunday Gathering on 11/11/18 
Go to MISCELLANEOUS TEACHINGS or click the link below:
The Transition from Plexpod