mercy northeast

Coming Easter Sunday 2021
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the next step for mercy church

Our church’s mission is to make disciples who love God, love each other, and love our world. Living out this mission always requires bold faith, a pioneering spirit, and a willingness to humble ourselves to follow where it seems the Lord is leading us. Because the gospel changes everything, we want to reach all people in the Charlotte area with the hope of the gospel. The elders of Mercy Church feel the Lord is calling us to launch a new campus in the Northeast Charlotte area. Although Northeast Charlotte is not the only area of our city that we want to reach, we believe planting a campus in this area will be both faithful and effective for Mercy Church.

If you’re interested in joining the launch team, complete the interest form below.

Connect

Why Northeast Charlotte?

Mercy is already in this area. 

There are several community groups in this area and a strong base of members. If our people are already in this area, we can catalyze the ministry they’ve already begun with their neighbors and coworkers.

Cultural diversity is in this area. 

Mercy Church is seeking multicultural unity, and Northeast Charlotte represents an opportunity for us to move toward our goal of becoming a multicultural, multigenerational church.

College Students are in this area. 

College students are some of the most reachable, moldable, and sendable people. Reaching this generation is crucial because these students will shape the future church. They need to learn how to love and function in the local church.

Families are in this area. 

Harrisburg, Concord, Kannapolis, and Northeast Charlotte house hundreds of thousands of families who live a Christ-less routine each week. Mercy Church can reach these families.

frequently asked questions

When is our projected timeline?

We are aiming to launch this campus April 4 (Easter Sunday) of 2021!

Where will the new campus be located?
We hope to be within a five-mile radius of the intersection of I-485 and I-85.
Will there be live preaching?
Yes! There will be a mixture of live-streaming and in-person preaching. Mercy is one church that meets in two locations. To promote the unity of our church our regular practice is to sit under the same preaching from God’s word. While our elders are constantly assessing the most faithful and effective ministry strategy, this currently means about two thirds of our sermons are live streamed each year and about one third are preached in person.
Who needs to be a part of this campus launch?
We need YOU! Seriously, though, we need you. A thriving campus launch is an all-church effort, and we will need as many people as possible to jump into our Launch Team to help pull this off.
What does being a launch team member mean?
The Launch Team is the group of people who will work together to help make the launch of Mercy Northeast happen. Beginning in the fall of 2020 this group will gather monthly for prayer, training, and building community. We envision launching a campus with needs for all of our current Ministry Team roles, so however you feel called to serve, we would love to have you!
Who is leading this campus?
While we have not finalized all of our staff roles for the launching of Mercy Northeast, we do know  Pastor Rashard Barnes will the Campus Pastor of this Northeast location. Joseph Anderson will be the Associate Campus Director.  Noah Aderman, our Worship Resident, will be leading the worship team at this campus. Beyond that, we are still deciding who will be a part of this campus, and we’ll keep you posted. We do anticipate that we will need additional staff added to the current team in order to effectively launch this campus.
How will this affect Community Groups?
We believe that part of becoming a disciple of Jesus requires investment in a local community. At Mercy, one of the primary places where community happens is inside of a Community Group. We currently have a small number of community groups already in our target launch area and we hope to double the number of our groups as we approach launch day.

If you are in a group already, you do not have to leave that group in order to be a part of the launch team. But we do want you to pray about potentially leading a new Community Group in this area. You can learn more about leading a group at our launch team meetings.

If you’re not in a group, we would love for you to join one here! 

How will launching a new campus affect our church's operating budget?
We know the mission of a local church goes as far as the generosity of God’s people take it. Launching Mercy Northeast is a step of faith for Mercy Church based on the belief that this is a faithful and effective next step God is calling us to, in order to see a gospel awakening here in our community that will be carried to the ends of the earth. For the mission to advance, God’s people must give generously. That has always been true and remains true today. We believe God will call some of you to increase your giving and he will call many more of you to begin giving to the mission of Mercy Church. You can begin giving here. You can learn more about the bible’s teaching on generosity here.

We are currently in the budgeting season at Mercy. The elders will present the budget to our membership at our annual budget meeting near the end of 2020.

What does this mean for those who were a part of the Mercy Independence Campus?
God has done an incredible work at our Independence Campus and the Levine Center will always hold a place in our hearts as the first location Mercy Church gathered in. We recognize many Mercy members live nearby and we believe our ministry in the Matthews/Union County area is just beginning! We are planting more community groups in this area right now and are hoping to launch a campus somewhere in Union County in 2022, but we must take it one step at a time. 

The closing of our Independence campus creates an opportunity for members to prayerfully consider being a part of the Mercy Northeast Launch Team. For some, God may call you to be a part of this new work. For others, God may call you to consider jumping into the ministry at our Mercy Providence Road campus. We invite you to prayerfully consider what He may be calling you to!

Meet the Staff Team

Rashard Barnes

Campus Pastor – Mercy Northeast

Joseph Anderson

Associate Campus Director

Scott Urbanek

College & Missions Pastor

Mandy Foster

Operations Director

Noah Aderman

Worship Resident

Becky Bender

Connections Resident

connect with us!

Join us for our next Connection Event where we will share information regarding our building search, update you on launch initiatives, and create space for us to get to know one another better! Weather permitting, this event will be held outside, so dress accordingly and bring your own chair/blanket to sit on. In the event of inclement weather, we will move inside (same location) with masks and social distancing protocols in place. Children are welcome and an optional, Chick-Fil-A boxed meal is available for you and your family if you plan to stick around for lunch.

RSVP