Jericho Ridge began in the spring of 2005 as a satellite campus of North Langley Community Church (NLCC). As the leadership and staff in Walnut Grove witnessed the rapid growth of the developing community of Willoughby, a vision emerged to see a fully-functioning, Christ-proclaiming, God-honouring church plant take root early in the life-cycle of this area.
The following is an approximate timeline of JRCC's history:
2004: Laying Foundations to Plant
April: Prayer begins and NLCC leadership and staff begin researching different church planting models.
May: The vision is shared and teams begin to train for Saturday night services.
Summer: A launch team is selected and they begin to meet regularly. The launch team includes Pastors Brad and Meg Sumner, NLCC moderator Gord Fleming and his wife Marcy, two elder couples from NLCC (Gord and Myrna Bloch, Herb and Nancy Thiessen), and various ministry leaders from JRCC (Aaron & Kimberly Rowe: worship and community care).
September: NLCC launches Saturday night services to develop additional ministry teams needed for the satellite campus.
October / November: The team continues to pray and participates in regular walks in Willoughby; they also hold Willoughby outreach events and evangelism.
December: Publicity for Christmas at NLCC and the upcoming launch of the Willoughby church is announced. An invaluable partner both in terms of finances and in church planting expertise was our BC Mennonite Brethren Board of Church Extension (BOCE).
2005: Launching JRCC
April: Public services are launched in the Willoughby area, largely using live and DVD messages from Pastor Rob Thiessen and Pastor Brad Sumner. Brad becomes the campus pastor, while Rob and the NLCC elders team provide leadership to both campuses.
July: Change to a live preaching rotation with Pastor Rob and Pastor Brad.
September: Pastor Brad takes on the preaching role with some help from NLCC.
2006: Growth and Transitions
JRCC begins to launch original programming and develops indiginous leadership. Health markers are established and NCD (Natural Church Development) assessment conducted to determine readiness for autonomous ministry. We would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of John F. Caplin Coaching & Consulting for this assessment.
God brings people from the community and JRCC sees its first individual come to faith. JRCC invites their own elders to the NLCC leadership team in preperation for transitioning to full-partnership.
2007: Full Partnership
JRCC formulates and takes ownership for its 2007 budget and staffing plan. Guelda Redman is hired as the Administrative Coordinator, Keith Reed is hired as a Pastoral Intern in the area of ministry development, and Renee Wikerink is hired as the Children's Director of Kids @ the Ridge.
April 29, 2007: NLCC, the Provincial Conference, and the people of Jericho Ridge celebrate full partnership: a celebration of JRCC's movement from interdependance to independance as a separate, fully functional, missionally contributing church within the BC Conference of Mennonite Brethren and the community of Langley.
Today: Just as North Langley was generous in her contributions and support to Jericho Ridge during the initial launch, she continues to be an invaluable resource for Jericho Ridge. Both churches are members of the Mennonite Brethren Conference.
More Information on Church Planting and resources (including a video that features JRCC and other BCMB church plants) can be found online at www.churchplantingbc.com.
