Having been planted out of the Confluence family in 2006, it has been a privilege here at New Community Church in Tacoma, WA to hear the many amazing stories of God’s faithfulness all over the US, in Mexico, and around the world. We have been encouraged by breathtaking stories of salvation, provision, Spirit-filled power…the list goes on and on. It is always faith-building to hear of God’s kingdom taking ground in ways that were unexpected and miraculous, and though we have seen God’s faithfulness on many, many occasions, we haven’t found ourselves in the middle of one of those awe-inspiring stories that stop you in your tracks…at least, not until now.

The best bits of our story began in July 2018 with an encounter in a coffee shop. (Where else would a good Pacific NW story begin?) But the story actually started in 2009. One day, Bo Noonan, who leads the team here at NCC, felt a nudge from the Spirit to contact a local pastor. The pastor led Destiny City Church, a local church with whom we had good relationship. Bo had heard the Spirit say, “Talk to Kurt (the lead pastor at Destiny City). He has keys to a facility for you.”

At this point, NCC was meeting in a renovated yoga studio but had grown to the point that we desperately needed a new facility. The conversation with Kurt led to an opportunity for us to change venues, which allowed us to take our next step in going from “church plant” to being a fully established church. It was such an encouragement to see God’s faithfulness in opening that door and providing us with a much-needed facility. Honestly, we thought that was the end of that story, until the aforementioned encounter at the coffee shop last July.

That fateful, caffeinated day, Bo saw a friend at a local coffee shop who informed him that Kurt, the pastor at Destiny City Church, was stepping away from leading. Because of the relationship they had, Bo reached out to learn more. The conversation that followed led to more conversations and a few more coffees, which led to the elders of both churches meeting together regularly to discuss what a merging of churches might look like. After a few months of conversation, mutually seeking God’s direction, and asking for input (which included helpful visits from Travis Aiklin and Mark Condie from Radiant Church in Visalia, CA), Destiny City Church began to merge into NCC.

The full process of merging continues, but there was one piece that needed immediate attention. That was for keys to be given. Keys to a facility. An amazing facility that Destiny City had owned for about 8 years. The prophetic nudge that God had given in 2009 still hadn’t been fully accomplished. From September through December of 2018 the facility (formerly a movie theater located in a prime part of Central Tacoma) was renovated. On December 2, 2018 we kicked off our first full gathering as merged churches by baptizing five people and worshipping Jesus in our newly renovated space.

Since then, we have been doing the hard work of blending church families, yet it has been a joy to see how people have jumped into the mission together! It has also spoken a powerful message to our city to see churches coming together in unity, rather than splitting apart. Each Sunday since we merged, we’ve seen a significant uptick in first-time visitors, many of whom are being added into Community Groups and are serving in the church. Instead of adding two churches together, we have seen God multiply our efforts, and New Community Church is better for it!

As a family of churches, it is always a helpful encouragement to hear how God is at work in other contexts. We rejoice with our brothers and sisters as they rejoice! Thank you for rejoicing with us, and may you find yourself in a similar situation, where you can say, “Wow, we’re living out one of those amazing moments of God’s miraculous provision.” We look forward to hearing about it!