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Ever since Glenn Hoburg graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston (1984-88), he has longed to return to the city. In the mean time, God was equipping and developing this call in various ways through opportunities to serve on two church staffs (Christ Presbyterian in Nashville, TN and Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, MO), where he and wife, Meg, received invaluable mentoring and experience in ministry.
After graduating from Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, MO), Glenn accepted a call to Cambridge/Boston to begin Reformed University Ministry at Harvard University. Glenn served as Campus Minister and PCA Chaplain at Harvard. Part of what drew Glenn to this work was the urban setting and the opportunity to be affiliated with Christ the King, PCA, a church plant in Cambridge, where Glenn served as Assistant Pastor.
God has blessed them with two daughters, Madeline (6) and Isabelle (4), who both enjoy parks, dancing and wrestling their father. Glenn and Meg are both grateful and enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve God and raise their family in Washington, DC.
Currently, Glenn is the pastor of Grace DC, a new church plant in Washington DC. The Movement caught up with him one afternoon to find out about this new church, its ministries and how God is working in the Washington DC community. |
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Tell me about Grace DC.
Grace DC is a new church planting project and an answer to a 15-year-long prayer. The Potomac Presbytery and McLean Presbyterian Church (MPC) have desired to start a new project in the District for a long time. Five years ago McLean's Pastor John Hutchinson started a dialog with Redeemer Presbyterian Church about a city-center church in downtown Washington DC. An emerging group of core members began meeting at that time, and I was invited to be the church planter in 2003.
Where are you in the planting process?
In the summer of 2003, my family moved to DC and began initial prayer meetings with 40 to 60 people in attendance. Public preview meetings started in Fall 2003 with approximately 100 attendees. In January 2004 we began worship services and currently average 250 people each week.
Describe the demographic and ethnographic makeup of your congregation.
During the past 10 to 15 years, Washington DC has witnessed a flood of re-migration back into the city. This migration has in large part been initiated by young single professionals; Grace DC reflects this trend with 85 percent of members being young singles (with an average age of 27).
| "If you aren't serving the poor and oppressed, you're not in the ministry of Jesus." |
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Nearly half of Grace DC attendees live in the District proper, with the other half coming from the greater Metro DC area. Most are urban professionals who work on Capitol Hill, including lawyers, politicians, educators and government workers. Our church community is comprised of Anglos, Asians, some Indian and African-Americans, representing the multicultural, global community of Washington DC.
How do you work with the diversity in your community?
While we want to reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of DC, we are trying not to be naïve regarding issues of contextualization. Having spent several years on staff of a multi-cultural church, I have observed the complexities. It takes a great deal of intentionality, wisdom and grace to navigate cultural diversity. There is a need to protect the church's focus from growing inward (i.e., getting the different cultures to work together) and thus neglecting the community outside the church. We want to be accessible to people but also realize no church this side of heaven can serve all cultures.
With its presence of foreign embassies and diverse ethnic communities, Washington DC represents global interests both in the political sphere and in individual neighborhoods. People come to Washington DC from all over the world, many of them with a vision for making a difference in the world. This vision unites them and provides a sense of commitment to a common cause. This common purpose makes DC different from other cities like New York or Boston.
In actuality, Washington DC is a tale of two cities. First, there is Washington where professionals come to work (while maintaining a residence in the suburbs). Then, there is the District of Columbia, the native city with primarily African-American constituents, Latin American immigrants and lower socio-economic populations. The re-migration of urban professionals back into the city presents an opportunity to bridge the chasm. But it will not happen simply by way of gentrification (although this isn't all bad). We can't confuse urban renewal with the opening of a new Starbucks. It's superficial to view renewal only in terms of urban amenities. As Christ's church we should care about the grace of God renewing all aspects of the city.
OK, so what does this mean in terms of your programs? How are you doing this in your ministry?
We are thinking hard about what it means to incorporate redemptive, authentic, Acts 2:42- type of community. We have adopted the purpose of being "inwardly growing, yet outwardly facing." As the gospel enables us to practice real love in community, we want it to be visible to others, not for the sake of self-righteousness but for the purpose of introducing our friends and co-workers to Jesus. We do this as we invite non-Christians to attend our picnics, weekend getaways, community groups and dinner parties. We involve them in our lives.
We also do community outreach in the city. All of our Community Groups perform a service project once a month in place of one of their meetings, such as working together at a local food pantry, providing assistance at a medical shelter for the homeless, or monthly field trips with at-risk children. This may sound extreme, but I say to my congregation: ‘If you aren't serving the poor and oppressed, you're not in the ministry of Jesus.'
| "I realize how easy it is in a church plant to substitute tasks for communion with God." |
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How are you bringing in the unchurched?
We are learning more about this– we try to establish a culture that is accessible to non-believers through every aspect of our church. We try to be mindful to everyone in the community. We are intentional about inviting non-believers to fellowship events. We are also starting seeker study groups (Discovering Christianity) for non-believers this fall so that we can address their questions and concerns about the Gospel.
Right now, we have approximately 5 to 8 percent non-believers and nominal Christians, so we need to be doing more. Church is the continuing ministry of Jesus, and therefore it should be a mix of both believers and non-believers. We make outreach a regular part of our prayer and emphasize relationships outside of the Church. We don't want to be just a haven for Christians.
Have you been challenged with having to rethink the vision?
Our vision is to be committed to basic Gospel values. We want it to be general enough so that it can take shape in the context and environment of DC. The core values have stayed the same; the way in which they are taking shape is evolving.
For example, like most other churches, we have a vision to build community. But, how do we ‘do community' in an urban setting where people are very transitional (like New York City)? We say we want to be inwardly growing but outwardly facing. But in reality, people are so busy. How do we challenge the culture of adrenaline and impart Kingdom values in a city where busyness is equated with effectiveness and importance? We have to come in and address this idea of community. I try to address this by teaching about Christian reality. We believe that the entire basis for life is the Trinity (a relationship/community). All of God's instructions fall under the two Great Commandments to love God and to love each other – again, reflecting relationship and community. There is no substitute for actually giving people your time, the most precious commodity in today's culture.
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How have you been challenged in the process of planting Grace DC?
Perhaps the biggest challenge has been learning to be a leader. As a church planter, I am not just a preacher or pastor but a leader of a growing organization. I'm not trying to suggest a corporate model for the church, but there is some aspect of leadership which is inevitable – -the values we're asking people to embrace, the energy with which we direct, the ministries that we emphasize. Our decisions have a serious impact on the shape of the ministry, not just for the present time but for the future of the church! That fires me up! It's a wide-open field and that's exciting. But it is also frightening and overwhelming at times. I feel the weight of that and the impact of that on my spiritual life. It creates a sense of desperateness that drives me to a deeper devotional life.
It takes faith to commit to the means of grace daily — for personal and corporate growth. And there's a decision-making process that has to have what I call Holy Spirit intuition. And you must have communion with God to get that.
Now that Grace DC is 9 months old, what would you have done differently?
I wish I had more time to reflect on the philosophy of ministry and the theology of worship. Everything took off rather quickly, and I needed to take more time for reflection before starting the work. As church planters, we need to put down the tasks and first take time for prayer and reflection on the direction of the church. I realize how easy it is in a church plant to substitute tasks for communion with God. It takes time to learn the city and to think about what it means to be a church in the city. The temptation exists to hurry through this phase and get on with the "real work" of launching worship services.
Has anything surprised you about church planting or Washington DC?
I have heard DC described as ‘a sleepy town that got the nation's capital dumped on it.' I wasn't expecting that. I thought the city would be predominantly cosmopolitan in demographic makeup and attitudes. I didn't expect DC to have such ‘small town' elements.
"When you give someone a job, you are inviting them into community!" |
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How are you training your lay leaders?
We have a monthly leadership brunch, where I train our lay leaders on vision, leadership characteristics and other topics we are facing as a congregation. We also use this time to pray in small groups for the functional areas of the church (children's ministry, music team, Sunday operations, community groups, and community service ). In addition, I am intentional about inviting people to get involved. When you give someone a job, you are inviting them into community!
What are the joys of your experience?
My biggest joy has been being involved with a motivated and energized group of volunteers. They are very gifted, super-industrious and a real joy to work with! People who walk into our church think we have been meeting for a few years rather than mere months.
Another great joy has been to see the grace of God in action, to see it change people. It's been a joy to come to this city, to live in the city, and to experience personally what has been happening in DC.
What do you have to say to other church planters?
Don't be satisfied with a successful-looking church. Work for radical changes in the city. Look for God's kingdom to advance in your community.
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