By Carl Stagner

As a teen, Trevor Maggart was certain about the call on his life—in some way, shape, or form, he’d be involved in church leadership. While the call to become a church planter wasn’t on his radar at first, over time the direction from the Holy Spirit became clear. Ten years in an associate role primed the pump, preparing him to accept a position that would stretch and grow the gifted minister, not to mention those under his intentional influence and discipleship. As fresh expressions of church offer creative alternatives to norms like time, setting, and style, he and his wife Kaitlyn have seized the providential moment not to just add another church institution to the community landscape, but moreover to truly expand God’s kingdom.

Does America really need another church? Trevor Maggart wrestled with the question at first, acknowledging what he’d observed to be true for at least a few generations. After all, driving through parts of the country reveal church after church, often situated immediately next door or across the street from another. But a shift from what was proved unsettling for Trevor, and might come as a surprise to some. The changing cultural landscape shows current estimates up to 1,500 churches per year shuttering their doors. “I realized that we need more churches, not fewer,” he says. “But the conviction grew that these churches should be planted with a strong, pastorally informed awareness of the particular region—and that we should be willing to embrace, or set-aside, conventional approaches, depending on the context.”

Trevor’s core group was about thirty-five strong, attaining the goal of creating what they call a “simple gathering of reproducing disciples.” Rather than complicating church, their focus would be simplicity and reflections of the historic nature of the church—especially for those who might be skeptical about the current state of the institutional church. Instead of conveying an antithetical attitude toward the historical church, they “hope to create an environment that honors the contributions of the last 2,000 years of church history.” Pastor Trevor notices that “this is an effective way to connect lost, or questioning people, to the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence with the body of Christ.”

Maggart family

Even the name of the new church communicates ancient-modern, traditional-yet-always-relevant truth and application. Resurrection Church demonstrates in its name that the primary question someone far from God must answer is whether or not Jesus conquered death. For the Fort Wayne group, it’s also about new life in Christ today.

“The Resurrection is the primary image that Paul offers of the spiritual life,” Trevor reflects. “Ephesians 2, Romans 6, and elsewhere show that the resurrection happened to Christ, and if it happened to him, it can happen within us now, spiritually. And one day it will happen to us, physically.”

On September 15, the church held its “launch day.” The grand occasion welcomed over a hundred people for singing, Communion, and the Word, as well as a meal that followed. Gathering in an older church building, but at 5:00 in the late afternoon each Sunday only, Pastor Trevor notes that the church’s approach to weekly scheduling is unconventional but very helpful. “We want to meet a need in Fort Wayne of having a gathering time that is outside of the Sunday morning gathering,” he explains. “Fort Wayne has around 300,000 residents, many of whom are off-hours workers. And we have found that evenings simply work better for some families.”

Lots of work went into getting Resurrection Church off the ground, of course. A core team made long-term commitments to helping the Maggart’s ministry, and there was a “fall support team” that also invested heavily in preparation. The support team included members of other churches—as many as six—in the Fort Wayne area. As it turns out, buy-in from local churches through a demonstration of unity (and assurances that competition isn’t part of the picture), is indispensable for an effort like this.

“Our main prayer is that the Lord of the harvest would send his workers into the harvest field,” Trevor concludes. “We are excited about the harvest field and look for the Lord’s provision to continue sending people passionate about discipling those who feel disillusioned from the church.”

Learn more about the Church of God movement at www.JesusIsTheSubject.org.