During those same 10 months, we had been looking for a location to begin meeting in the heart of downtown Orlando.
It was clear God has uniquely gifted us to reach the people who resonate with life in the city center—those who find culture, art, progress and innovation important components of living. And He had begun to give us favor in the process and was continually opening doors.
When our team brought City Beautiful Church to our elders and church body, it was accompanied by asking three important questions.
Why “City”?
It implies relationship. One of our artists would coin the phrase, “Never because of ‘me,’ always because of ‘we.’ ” And lends toward the human component of co-laboring in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.
Why “Beautiful”?
It’s personal. It speaks to the process of God’s desire to bring beauty out of brokenness in the process of the reconciliation of all things back to Himself.
Why “Church”?
It says who we are, and it connects us to the millions of people who are alive today and who have come before us who have carried the person of Jesus in their spirits.
And while these words are significant in and of themselves, they are exponentially more significant together.
City Beautiful Church represents our desire to be present in our city. Relationally with the people of Orlando and with the businesses, organizations, ethos and identity of who Orlando is and who it is becoming.
Through this process, God has led us to believe “God wants the Church in Orlando to be an example to churches in cities around the world of what it means for the Church to influence a city.” That doesn’t happen solely by City Beautiful Church accomplishing great things. It happens through the unification of the Church as a whole uniting in loving our city well in the name of Jesus.
We believe in immense cultural change, but not change through protest or rants, slander or criticism. We believe in cultural change by means of participation, that the Church will be the primary driving force in creating culture.
As we’re filled with the Spirit of God and given the mind of Christ, we believe our city will be a different place. We believe those in government, science, culture, arts and media will have a supernatural ability to solve natural problems. As a result of the influence of Christ, our city’s roads will be better, our art will be astounding, our government will be efficient, our businesses will be revolutionary, our scientists will be beyond human knowledge and our people will be full of life. We believe cultural change is not happening through deconstruction but through the reconciliation of all things to God and the supernatural revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We’ll build a culture that’s so compelling that people cannot help but ask how it came to be. And in that, is the root of all things—the name above all names—Jesus.
