The Cedar Project exists to create pathways towards resilience
so churches and leaders can bear fruit for years to come.
Learn more
They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age.
-Psalm 92:13-14a (ESV)
The Conditions
Since the early 2000’s, tens of millions of dollars have been spent on starting new evangelical churches in New York City. Denominational efforts such as The SBC North American Mission Board and local efforts like The New York Project have raised tens of millions for new churches in New York. In previous decades, the interest in urban church planting was high, especially in New York, with high optimism towards new movements of urban churches. However, in recent years, interest in urban church planting has declined and social and political turmoil have created suspicion of urban environments, rather than optimism. Churches and denominations have been slower to send pastors to start new churches in these environments, mainly because there have been fewer success stories and more stories of church closures within a few years of planting. These stories often come with pastors and their families experiencing high levels of burnout, fractured marriages, isolation, financial debt, and accounts of moral failures.
"THERE ARE LOTS OF RESOURCES TOWARD STARTING CHURCHES,
BUT VERY FEW TOWARD SUSTAINING THEM."
With millions spent and millions more raised for church planting in New York, the pipeline for new churches in New York, especially Manhattan, is shrinking rapidly. There are lots of resources towards starting churches, but very few towards sustaining them. As you zoom out of New York into the Northeast, the situation is often more difficult. Many pastors are bi-vocational (by necessity, not strategy), spread thin, and experiencing isolation. The spiritual climate is dark and the resources are scarce.
Political and social turmoil in the 6-8 years have only intensified the problems for pastors and ministry leaders in the Northeast, but at times the experience of isolation, burnout, church closures, and moral failures have been self-inflicted. Many pastors have been trained and formed to know how to start, grow, and lead a church, but they have little formation towards practices of resilience and persevering through suffering. At times, pastors have been as fragile as their neighbors around them.
Our Narrative
In 2016, our church community had an opportunity to take a breath and make some self-assessments. By then, Apostles Church was 11 years old, had multiplied into 3 autonomous churches, had helped plant a handful of churches in the New York area, and had partnered with a number of church plants in the region. But those 11 years had not been easy. The trials left many of the leaders in our three churches in spiritually diminished situations. So our church community, Apostles Uptown, made some commitments towards practices of renewal and resilience, especially among our leaders. In 2017-18, our entire church community began what was called the Cedar Project, based off Psalm 92, using the imagery of the cedar tree, planted in the courts of the Lord, flourishing and bearing fruit even into old age. We didn’t simply want resilient leaders, but a resilient church culture.
Over the last 6-7 years, we’ve seen evidences of God’s work in our community. Especially among our leaders (elders, deacons, and staff), God has sustained our team with unity, energy, and Spirit-led longings towards renewal and revival. We’ve seen an increased commitment to the Body of Christ and a non-anxious presence, despite COVID and political turmoil dynamics pressuring us towards safety schemes and anxiety.
"GOD HAS SUSTAINED OUR TEAM WITH UNITY, ENERGY,
AND SPIRIT-LED LONGINGS TOWARD RENEWAL AND REVIVAL."
In the last few years, our pastors and staff and have had an increased opportunity to care for pastors and ministry leaders here in New York and the Northeast - from Connecticut, to New York State, to Washington DC. In many ways, our team has been able to provide care for ministry leaders going through seasons of grief, marriage struggles, church fractures, or burnout. It’s important to emphasize that much of this work is not simply coming from the lead pastor, but also from staff and lay elders. This work has rarely been coordinated and the right hand rarely knows the work of the left. Only recently have we begun to recognize what God has been doing and give thanks.
A Sense of Calling
One of the greatest needs for gospel-proclaiming churches in the Northeast is to have pastors and leaders who have the spiritual resources to persevere with joy in ministry in one place for a long time. By God's grace, that's been our story. Among our staff and pastors, many of us have been serving and leading at Apostles for 10+ years. While strategic planning and clarifying vision has been essential, the hallmark of our ministry has simply been a long term presence sustained by the Spirit.
We have seen both greater need and more opportunities to partner with and care for our brothers and sisters here in New York and the greater Northeast area. Many leaders and churches in the Northeast have the resources for strategic ministry planning, but far fewer have the resources to sustain that ministry for the long haul. As our leadership has sensed this calling to be a means of care and renewal for others, we have felt the need (1) to be more intentional and coordinated in our efforts, (2) to have more direction in what we can provide and hope to accomplish, and (3) to be more resourced in our efforts.
"ONE OF THE GREATEST NEEDS FOR GOSPEL-PROCLAIMING CHURCHES
IN THE NORTHEAST IS TO HAVE PASTORS AND LEADERS
WHO HAVE THE SPIRITUAL RESOURCES
TO PERSEVERE WITH JOY IN MINISTRY IN ONE PLACE FOR A LONG TIME."
Our hope is that we might be a means to bring renewal and revitalization to pastors and spiritual leaders. As a continuation and extension of the Cedar Project that begun in 2017, we want to see an increasing amount of pastors and spiritual leaders have the spiritual capacity to bear fruit, even into old age.
Right now, many pastors are stuck in rhythms of diminishment rather than spiritual resilience, feeling isolated, lonely, and burned out. We want to provide means towards relational connectivity with other brothers and sisters in the work of ministry, a path towards practices of resilience and personal renewal, mentoring and care, opportunities for personal and marriage retreats, and pathways towards healthy patterns of rest.
The Need
There are many challenges to this work, but two stick out. First, many of the churches and leaders are in contexts where a budget for coaching, counseling, retreats, or sabbaticals are outside of their financial capacities. If you factor bi-vocational realities, the financial difficulties become more complex. Second, there are minority-led churches in New York City especially that have need of this material to be culturally translated. We have partnered with Spanish-speaking church communities and there is need for more research in understanding the need and means of care towards more resilient churches. Hispanic churches are some of the fastest growing evangelical churches in the United States, but they are often severely under-resourced. This comes at the cost of the spiritual health of their leaders.
Apostles Church Uptown is seeking support from church and ministry partners and individual donors to launch the Cedar Project so that we can sustain our deeply rooted ministry presence in NYC and better serve under-resourced churches across the Northeast.
From now until June of 2024 we are hoping to raise $120,000 and over the next 5 years, we hope to raise $500,000.
We plan to spend this first ministry season continuing the work we are doing in a more coordinated way - our first step will be a 6-week pastoral cohort this spring. Beyond that, we want to bolster and expand opportunities for care and training through retreats for pastors and their families, cohorts for specific ministries (e.g. worship, outreach, etc), and one-on-one spiritual direction. We want to help pastors create a blueprint for sabbaticals that both serve the ministry family and their church, coming alongside to provide resources and financial stipends where money is lacking. We long to see renewal in our churches and in our region. We love and celebrate the efforts towards new churches here, but we also want to labor and support the churches and pastors that are here now and want to see them bear fruit into the years ahead with more spiritual power and vitality.
WOULD YOU PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH US?
The Cedar Project is a ministry of Apostles Church Uptown in NYC.
