City Life, Event, Serve the City, Service, Video | by Micah Rickard

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” – John 17:3

Jesus begins his prayer for his disciples and all believers, recorded in John 17, with this brief and beautiful statement on what it means to be in Christ. Later in this prayer, Jesus prays, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (v. 22-23). The reality that we are in Christ brings a transformational unity with each other, and God uses this unity to display his glory to the world, that others may know him and have eternal life. Paul highlights this when he refers to believers as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

It is out of these deep truths that we are committed to building a great city, not just a great church. It’s why our desire as a church is to see gospel renewal take place from the avenues to the alleyways. We have been infinitely served and loved by Christ, and out of the joy and gratitude that brings, we get to serve together as God’s people to display his glory in our city!

Last month, on July 15th, Downtown Cornerstone had the opportunity to partner with Gatewood Elementary School in West Seattle to help out with a variety of grounds work projects, including repainting US and World maps, repainting foursquare and tetherball courts, turning up ground and laying down mulch to outline a new track, removing massive amounts of ivy from fences, weeding along edges and fence lines, and more!

One woman and her family walked past the school, witnessed our efforts, and were moved to tears to see us “carrying out Jesus’ mission to serve others.” She mailed a thank you note sharing her appreciation saying, “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for living the true Spirit of love and community. I will never forget your collective and individual kindness.” Her son will attend kindergarten at Gatewood Elementary this fall!

It’s stories like this that remind us we really are the hands and feet of Christ, sharing the love He’s given us with those in our community. With over 200 volunteers (plus kids!) serving a total of 800+ hours we accomplished an incredible amount of service and support for the students and staff at Gatewood! If the Department of Neighborhood approves the grant Gatewood’s Parent-Teacher Association submitted, they’ll receive an equal amount of paid hours toward additional improvements. What an incredible gift!

Thank you to all who came out to help!

– Deacon Micah Rickard

Community, Discipleship, Video | by Pastor Adam Sinnett

Many of you know that we, as a church, are part of Acts 29 – a diverse, global network of church-planting churches characterized by (1) theological clarity, (2) cultural engagement and (3) missional innovation. About a month ago, Jen and I travelled to Miami to be part of a week-long annual conference with other lead pastors and their wives. I posted a brief follow-up immediately after the conference on the City, but I wanted to do a more thorough follow-up in this post – particularly for those who are unfamiliar Acts 29. It is also important to note, and this is new as of last year, that the Acts 29 designation not only belongs to me (as the initial “planter”) but to us as the church.  

Acts 29 is not a denomination, but a network of like-minded, Jesus-loving, theologically-strong, gospel-driven, missionally-engaged churches. That means that while all of the churches within Acts 29 have many of the same values, there is also incredible diversity – there  are presbyterians (PCA), baptists, and independent; some are paedo-baptists (those who baptize babies) and others are creedo-baptists (those who only baptize followers of Jesus); some are governed by a plurality of elders while others employ presbyteries and congregational elements; some focus on missional communities while others leverage more “attractional” methods; many are suburban but there are a growing number found in urban settings, like our own. What we all agree on, however, is the centrality of the gospel and the urgent need to take it to the ends of the earth. Therefore, Acts 29 specializes in assessing, training, coaching and networking church planters in order to make that a reality. 

Here are some of the most recent data points: 

• Total number of Acts 29 churches globally: 503
• Total attendance of Acts 29 churches: 171,769
• Median attendance per church: 165
• Number of applicants in process of applying to Acts 29: 578
• Total number of church planters sent out from Acts 29 congregations in 2013: 174
• Number of church planters in training to be sent out within two years: 605
• Total money given to church planting by Acs 29 churches in 2013: $20.1M

I hope you can see that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves – we’re part of a global church planting movement. As I’ve previously mentioned, I have never been more thankful and excited about where Acts 29 is at in terms of overall health and leadership with Matt Chandler as president (The Village Church, Dallas) and Steve Timmis as the Executive Director (Crowded House, Sheffield, England). The men within Acts 29 are among the finest, most respectable, Jesus-loving, risk-taking men I’ve ever been among. They love Jesus, His church and His mission and are laying their lives down to make it happen. There couldn’t be a better organization of churches for us to be a part of – and that is why we are Acts 29.

Here is a brief vision video put together for the Acts 29 conference that we should all watch – maybe a couple times.

Acts 29 Global ACTION Video from Acts 29 Network on Vimeo.

Jesus is building His church, from the neighborhoods of Seattle to the nations of the world, and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it (Mt 16:18).

Until the world knows,

Pastor Adam

Serve the City, Service, Video

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7 

We’re just over 1 week away from our Serve the City event! If you haven’t registered yet, or have yet to reach out and invite others, do so today!

As a church, we not only want to be about proclaiming the Gospel in word, but demonstrating it in deed.

The Seattle School District has only 5 groundskeepers to maintain 34 schools in the South Seattle school district. This leaves many of the schools without adequate funding and manpower to maintain the properties. As such, these schools heavily rely on volunteer efforts to come alongside and help maintain their properties and facilities. We asked Seattle Schools where their greatest need is this year, and they told us Gatewood Elementary.

Romans 5:8 says that even while we were enemies of God, Christ died for us. As a church, we believe that we’ve been infinitely loved and served by God, through the person and work of Jesus. Because of that, we believe that the good news of the Gospel is not only shared in word, but demonstrated in deed. Serving is not just “giving back” but a tangible expression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – serving as we’ve been served, in Christ.

We hope to see you there! If you are on the fence about joining, watch this video from last year’s event:

Event, Video

Last Sunday, we celebrated our 3rd birthday as a newly formed church in Downtown Seattle! If you missed seeing our 3rd birthday video, you can watch it here. God has been exceedingly gracious to our church over the last three years. He is building his church and bringing together a people across the city, who trust and treasure him! Thank you Jesus!

Discipleship, Teaching, Video

Yesterday we kicked off a New Sermon Series in the Gospel of Mark. If you missed the first sermon, you can listen to it here when it’s posted.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, in a small rural province of Roman-ruled Israel, there was a man who claimed to not only be a king, but the King; not only one sent from God, but the Son of God. His name was Jesus. In dramatic detail, the Gospel of Mark tells the riveting story of Jesus’ brief years of ministry in sixteen short, action-packed chapters.

Mark, an assistant to the apostle Peter, is a masterful story-teller. Using a style of writing that is simple and original he recounts the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; events which form the very center of cosmic and human history. Join us as we explore the life and work of the One who fulfilled all the Old Testament hopes for the coming Christ, the Messiah, and see first-hand how only his story makes sense of our own.

You can find more details about the current sermon series and our Sunday gathering, here!

City Life, Photos, Serve the City, Service, Video

At Downtown Cornerstone Church we are committed to building a great city, not just a great church. Our desire is to see gospel renewal take place from the avenues to the alleyways. On July 20^th over 100 people from DCC partnered with Dunlap Elementary School in Rainier Valley to help with some much needed maintenance.

Dunlap is located in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, and over 85% of the students receive free or subsidized lunches. As a church, we believe that we have been infinitely loved and served by God through the person and work of Jesus, so we serve as we’ve been served in Christ.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Serve the City this year! Check out the video and photos  from the event below and be sure to join us next time we gather as a family to serve the city, loving it to life.

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”(Jeremiah 29:7)

Having trouble viewing the video? Click here to open it in a new window.

News, Video | by Pastor David Parker

On Sunday, April 7th 2013, we celebrated our 2nd birthday as a newly forming church in the heart of downtown Seattle. It was an exciting and grace filled day as we recalled God’s faithfulness to us these past 2 1/2 years! We put this short video together to remember some of our brief history as a church, and recount His grace to us along the way.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Baptism, Community, City Life, Video

On August 16th, 2012, we had the privilege and honor of holding our second annual summer baptisms as a newly forming church in the heart of downtown Seattle. Simply speaking, it was an awesome evening. There were testimonies of God’s grace, great food and 12 baptisms. What a night!

God has not called us to plant this church in order to merely build a great church – but to build a great city, from the avenues to the alley ways. That happens as individual lives are changed by Jesus and sent into the city armed with His message and mercy. Baptism marks that change and for that we rejoice.
Learn more about baptism here.

News, Video

On Sunday, April 1st 2012 Downtown Cornerstone celebrated our first birthday as a church plant in the heart of downtown Seattle! It was an exciting day as we moved in to our new venue and recalled God’s great grace to us.

News, Video