Each month, we send out a note from Erik reflecting on life in the church, current happenings, and more.
November 9, 2026
Dear City Church,
This coming weekend, November 14th-15th, is City Church’s Annual Missions Weekend. It’s a weekend designed to help us focus on how God is working in the world and how God is calling us to participate more fully in that work.
For years I resisted the idea of Missions Sunday because I believed that every Sunday is a missions Sunday. I continue to stand by that idea in principle, but in practice it’s helpful for us to dedicate a weekend to missions each year. Without intentional focus, missions can get lost in the overall noise and busyness of weekly church life.
For Missions Weekend this year, our featured speaker is Matt Allison, the Executive Director of Serge. For more than 40 years, Serge has worked to equip both individuals and churches for the work of global missions. Throughout City Church's 20-year history, we have maintained close ties with Serge, supporting multiple ministry partners on their staff. Currently, City Church members Boas and Jenna Opedun (along with their five children) live and serve in Fort Portal, Uganda.
Crucial to Serge’s work is a twin focus on missions and renewal. As they say on their website, “As we seek to make the gospel known to others, we want this same grace to continually renew our lives.” That emphasis is essential. It means that the first great work of missions takes place in our hearts. Our hearts are an unreached people group, needing the softening work of grace to come to them again and again. That renewal combined with an outward focus on missions creates a flywheel for the Christian life.
Specifics of Missions Weekend
Here are some specifics for this year’s Missions Weekend:
First, Matt Allison will preach during City Church’s 4 PM worship service on Sunday, November 15th. He will also lead the Sunday Formation time immediately following the service. That Formation time will include everyone ranging from middle school through adults in order to cultivate a shared commitment to missions as a church family. And because we want our children to understand that God’s mission includes all of us, Katherine and the Children’s Ministry Team will lead our 4-year-olds through 5th graders in age-appropriate activities meant to introduce them to the gospel imperative of missions.
Second, on Saturday evening, November 14th, we’ll have an opportunity to learn from Matt in a smaller setting. Sarah and I will host Matt at our house for an informal dessert from 7-9 PM. During that time, we’ll glean Matt’s wide experience and wisdom to learn how City Church can mature as a missionary-sending congregation. We’ll also learn more about how to support our ministry partners by cultivating relationships of mutuality with them.
Third, on Sunday morning, November 15th, 9:30-11 AM, a group from City Church will engage in neighborhood service by picking up trash at Frances W. McClenney Elementary School (3817 Chamberlayne Avenue) in Richmond’s Northside. We don’t want missions to only be something we talk about. We want to roll up our sleeves (and pick up our trash-grabbers) and get to work serving our city. If you’re interested in helping, contact Caley Crawford (caleywcrawford@gmail.com) for more information.
More Missions at City Church
In God’s perfect providence, as we mark Missions Weekend at City Church, three members of City Church—Faith Cho, Rachel Koh, and Phillip Worden—will be in Japan on a short-term mission trip. They will be gone from November 12th-23rd serving alongside local missionaries in Japan to provide care and enrichment to the children of pastors and ministry leaders from across Japan while they attend a conference designed to encourage and refresh them in the gospel.
City Church desires that more members of our church would answer the call to go to the nations as missionaries. Our Missions Team is eager to meet with anyone who is sensing the Holy Spirit nudging them into vocational mission work. Have you ever considered a life in another country, embodying and proclaiming the gospel? If so, please reach out to me or to Maddy Huffman so that we can help you discern how God might be leading you.
Ministry Partner Giving
Did you know that last year City Church gave away nearly $225,000 to missions? In fact, every year we give away fully 20% of all that we receive from the congregation. This is our demonstration of taking seriously the New Testament exhortation to generosity. We believe that we have been blessed to be a blessing. The $225,000 we give away is allocated among more than two dozen ministry partners—both global partners and local ministries doing important gospel work in Richmond. We support local campus ministries, local church-planting efforts, international evangelism, and ministries advancing the cause of mercy and justice.
If you are encouraged by City Church’s commitment to missions, please get involved. We are always in need of additional members of our Missions Team, which meets several times a year to coordinate efforts like supporting our existing ministry partners, planning and executing short-term mission trips, and growing our congregation’s commitment to global missions.
We also need new members for our Ministry Partner Giving Team, which meets quarterly to give away that $225,000. Do you have the gift of generosity or the gift of discernment? Reach out to Maddy Huffman (maddy@citychurchrva.com) and come join us in this exciting work. What is better than giving money away? It’s the closest most of us will ever get to showing up in someone’s life with one of those oversized checks.
It’s been said before that God doesn’t have a mission for the church. Rather, he has a church for his mission. God’s Kingdom is advancing in people’s hearts and across the world. The question before City Church is: Will we join with him? Will we believe that the secret to finding our lives is by laying them down for the sake of Christ? We’re confident that this year's Missions Weekend will help us all get more on mission with God. Come and join us.
Stay Well & Do Good,
Erik