Reflections from a New Church Planter

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About a year ago, my wife and I were driving home from her parents’ house, and we decided to take a detour through a growing community in the suburban edge of the Twin Cities metro area. We drove by one new housing development. Then another. And then another! We saw new streets with new houses. So many houses. So many new residents. But so few churches. I kept wondering, where are the churches?

We drove by farm fields newly sold and saw how they were being quickly constructed into new neighborhoods. The Holy Spirit began planting ideas in my head: Could God be calling me to plant a church here?

I have connections here. Some of the families at our church live in the area. I’ve been playing pick-up basketball in nearby Chaska for eight years and know those guys really well. I coached at the Christian school for two years and built connections through Edina Rotary too. The small Christian Reformed Church in the area had recently closed, and there’s a cluster of believers in this region. Might I be the guy to lead this new church?

I had been serving on the Home Missions Committee tasked to revitalize and plant new churches. We had been trying for two years to call a church planter to the area. Again and again and again, doors closed. People kept saying “no.” We even tried bringing in a pastor from the Dominican Republic, but the potential sending church said “no.” Was God wanting me to say “yes”?

For the past eight years, I’ve been serving at Calvary Christian Reformed Church as the pastor of discipleship. It is a wonderful church with committed Christians experiencing a revitalization by the grace of God. I found I love making disciples for Christ. I love preaching God’s Word. I love relational evangelism.

As I drove the minivan home, I turned to my wife and said, “I think God is calling me to plant a church out here.”

Maybe a church plant right here, on the developing edge of the Twin Cities?

That thought, that drive, that detour, led to months of discernment with my wife, my brothers, our church council, Classis, Resonate, local church planters, and potential core team members. I quickly felt the Spirit was leading. In February, Calvary voted “yes” to be our mother church. In March, Classis Lake Superior approved supporting us.

One Retreat and Three Takeaways

This past April, I joined other new CRC church planters in Arizona to discuss what planting might look like at a Resonate church planters retreat. We gathered in Paradise Valley with Tim Sheridan, director of church planting for Resonate. This retreat kicked off a year-long cohort that includes monthly Zoom meetings, a church-planting course through Fuller Seminary, forging relationships with fellow church planters, and prayer.

During the retreat, we enjoyed conversations about our church-planting experience, heard Sheridan’s vision for church planting in the CRC, and enjoyed a few outings around Phoenix, Ariz. Some of us got up early to hike Camelback Mountain (highly recommended!) and even took a Waymo to get there (the new self-driving cars).

I enjoyed all these experiences, and I left with three insights that inform and form how I will begin planting. Here are my takeaways:

Church planting is an incredible adventure for your family.

One planter said she has five kids and has absolutely loved the experience for her family. Church planting deeply shaped and united them as a family as they serve the Lord together. They actually just hired their oldest son as their music leader!

My wife and I have a 5-year-old daughter, a 3-year-old son, and a brand-new baby girl who arrived in May. Church planting will be a significant change for my family from my current role. But we trust this is God’s will for our life together; the Spirit will strengthen all of us in Christ. It will be formative for our kids to see us take this step of faith by starting a new church. And my daughter is already excited that “our new church has a playground!” (We are renting a Christian school with a nice playground right outside the building.)

Church planting reaches the dechurched.

New churches can be a fresh start for many. No history. No baggage. A new spiritual community for a new lifestyle. Church plants need to grow to survive. I love that about church plants! Evangelism is woven into our identity from day one. One of our church’s values is relationships, which leads to relational evangelism.

I officiated a wedding ceremony for a young man in our church. Afterward, a man in his 50s stopped me and said, “Good message! I heard you are starting a church!” We had a good conversation, and then had a follow-up at a local brewery the next week. He had fallen away from church during COVID and was looking to recommit to Christ and the church.

I attended an event with the local chamber of commerce. I met a girl in her 30s who was looking for a new church. She had a bad experience at her church growing up but believed the Lord was calling her back. We had a follow-up meeting at Caribou Coffee the next week. She told her life story, and I pointed her to God’s grace through Christ. She is excited to start fresh with Redemption CRC.

One afternoon I did some door-to-door gospeling. One man who was weed whacking asked me, “Will you teach the Bible or tradition?” We had a good conversation in his front yard and had a follow-up at Starbucks the next week. He had tried all the different churches and religions but didn’t think any were biblical enough. I asked him, “Have you heard of the Christian Reformed Church? You should give us a try.” He hadn’t and is planning to check out our church.

Church planting and the renewal of all things.

Since the Spirit has pointed me to church planting, I have been reading and listening to any resource I can find. Some say all you need to do is evangelism. Some say all you need to do is social justice. I really appreciate the CRC’s vision. The CRC has a holistic perspective that includes both. We don’t water down the gospel to be seeker-sensitive. We don’t only focus on community involvement. All things were made in, through, and for Christ.

Jesus is renewing all things, both his people and his world. New churches are called to join this redemptive work of Christ. We have a strong theological foundation with this worldview. We have a covenantal network of about 900 churches. We have wisdom from the 169-year history of our denomination. We are primed and ready to start new churches for the glory of our Lord God Almighty.

Jesus calls all his followers to make disciples of all peoples. One way our Sovereign Lord is accomplishing the Great Commission through the Christian Reformed Church is by starting churches. New churches reach the unchurched, dechurched, and underchurched with the gospel while forming new spiritual communities to nurture believers in the faith.

And so, in August, we planted Redemption Christian Reformed Church in Chanhassen, Minn., trusting Christ will build a gospel community that proclaims and participates in his renewal of all things.

Editor’s note: Eli Groendyk recently became a CRC church planter. Since writing this article, he has launched a new church plant, Redemption Christian Reformed Church in Chanhassen, Minn., on Aug. 9, 2026.