A Letter From the Elder Teams at New City Church and Cole Community Church
Brothers and Sisters of New City Church and Cole Community Church,
As a combined group of elders from both churches, we write to convey our love and care for you—as the family of God, and as the flocks that we bear responsibility for. We love you in the Lord and we’re grateful for the privilege of shepherding you as your pastors.
At each of our members’ meetings on February 2, we invited our two church families to begin the process of prayerfully considering the possibility of integrating our congregations to form what would essentially be a “new” local church. This idea grew out of conversations between our two lead pastors, Kirk Crager and Josh Hibbard. Kirk and Josh have known each other as friends and co-laborers in the gospel for several years, and they’ve observed that both of our church families have particular strengths that might serve well to complement each other’s areas of weakness.
At Kirk and Josh’s suggestion, the elder teams at both of our churches have had the privilege of meeting a number of times over the last several months to get to know each other better, to pray together, and to start thinking through the question, would our two churches be better together?
What we’ve seen through this process is that each of our churches has been uniquely gifted by God:
Cole Community Church has a wealth of experience and mature older believers, as well as a culture of biblical exposition, pastoral training, and mission. Cole also has a strategically-placed facility in the heart of West Boise and is in the process of renewal and revitalization with a vision for the future.
New City Church is a healthy young church with a unified theological vision, mature younger believers, and a team of gifted musicians, as well as a culture of expository teaching, deep church community, church-planting partnerships, and a desire to step into more impact for the kingdom of God in the valley.
Additionally, both churches have lead pastors who can preach and teach, and elder teams with a variety of giftings who care deeply for the congregations God has placed them in.
We’ve also recognized that each of our churches face some unique challenges:
Cole Community went through a difficult season of decline and division from 2020-2022 that saw a church of around 1,300 people become a church with a remnant of 150. Cole is rebuilding, but it takes time. This has been a season of prayerful and purposeful revitalization efforts, seeking the best way forward for the kingdom of God and Cole Community Church. Cole is healthier now, but is still in the process of renewing its culture to keep planting the gospel in this generation.
Over the last seven years, New City has worked to reshape its culture and to grow in maturity since its early days as Trademark Church. However, like many small churches using shared spaces and made up primarily of younger people, New City has tended to draw members who are in a more transitory stage of life and who often only live in Boise for a few years. This has made it difficult to achieve the level of stability that would enable New City to become a long-term disciple-making presence in Boise and a church that’s planting churches for the sake of the gospel.
Additionally, both churches have pastoral teams who desire additional co-laborers in gospel ministry.
In the providence of God, after much prayer and consideration, we want to invite you into this process with us. We ask that you would walk with us and begin to pray, ask questions, and converse with us as we continue to seek God’s will about what it might look like for our two churches to become one—as an essentially new local church. Because, to be clear, our hearts in this process are to seek a partnership of our two churches, not a takeover of one church by the other. There is no option on the table for New City to just move into Cole’s building and take over, nor is there one for Cole Community Church to simply absorb New City.
That said, we believe a fruitful merger is one that also enables both churches to take additional steps toward their existing long-term goals. For Cole Community, the elders believe that this is the next stage in our revitalization efforts—a “Stage 2” that merges into a new and healthier church, fulfilling the heart of what we have been praying for and working toward in our revitalization. For New City, this is the next stage in becoming a more stable, multigenerational church with the ability to make disciples in Boise long-term and see future churches planted in the Treasure Valley.
Essentially, what we’re considering would be akin to a “marriage” of the two churches. In these relational terms, we might say that our two pastoral teams are leading the churches into a “dating period,” during which we can begin to answer the types of big questions that every couple must consider prior to marriage—things like where to live, how to spend their money, and what they want their family values to be. As elder teams, we have had the benefit of additional time to begin processing these questions, but there is still much to be discerned.
Ultimately, we’re encouraged by the knowledge that this process of integrating two church families to become one new local church won’t be forming something entirely new, because it’s still the church! As both of our congregations are seeing in the book of 1 Timothy, the church has a clear design in God’s word. For over two thousand years, the church has lived out that design in gathering faithfully for worship, living in community, and advancing the mission of God in the world—and this is what both Cole Community and New City want to continue to do as we seek to join God in his mission in Boise in 2025 and beyond.
So, what are the next steps?
As elders, we will continue walking in relationship with one another and with our church networks (both formal & relational), seeking wisdom and counsel regarding God’s plan for our churches.
As church families, we want to begin to get to know each other. Our two elder teams are planning a combined worship gathering for Sunday, February 23 at Cole Community Church’s building at 10am. We’ll share a meal together afterward.
As church members, we ask that you would join us in prayer for the sake of God’s kingdom and God’s glory among the family of God that make up both the Cole Community Church and New City Church congregations.
We expect that you’ll have lots of questions, and we want to talk with you about them! Over the coming weeks, we’ll be planning times when members of both pastoral teams will be available to dialogue and answer questions in family meetings and other smaller gatherings. It’s our desire to listen well to our congregations as we pray and lead toward this possibility.
With brotherly love and affection,
The Elders of Cole Community Church & New City Church
Kirk Crager, Josh Hibbard, Jim Schnereger, Heath Kemper, Jim Heuring, Mitch Squires, Mike Beacham, and Josh Hamilton
