A New Church Planting Partnership

Continuing a Legacy
of Church Planting

From its beginning, The Chapel has a history of helping plant churches in Northeast Ohio and around the world. As we’ve turned a new page as a church, our commitment to church planting and bringing the gospel to new communities remains unchanged. As a key part of our mission to Make Disciples, we’re beginning a new church planting partnership.

In the past few years, Christ Community Chapel, a church we once helped get started, began their own church planting initiative called Orchard NEO. Orchard NEO is seeking to see every community with a gospel-preaching church. Between our shared history and our shared desire to plant churches, we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Christ Community Chapel and Orchard NEO to plant a church in Northeast Ohio.

A New Opportunity
to Reach Our Community

This partnership began with many conversations between Orchard NEO leadership, and Pastor Tim, Pastor Dominic, Nate and our Oversight Elder Board. They’ve each spent time with Orchard NEO’s Leadership to vet their process and ensure alignment with our desires around church planting. Our church leadership is very excited about this partnership!

As this partnership started to take shape, we were brought a unique opportunity to help support and plant a Spanish-speaking congregation in our area. Pastor Tim and Pastor Dominic were both part of the vetting process for this church planter and are going to be involved in his training and development. The Chapel has a longstanding connection to several other local churches that reach our international community, and we’re excited by the opportunity to support another!

Later this fall you can expect:

  • To hear more about our partnership with Orchard NEO

  • To meet the church planter we’ve partnered with

  • To be kept in the loop about progress in the church planting process

  • An opportunity to learn more and ask questions about the partnership and church

Process & Timeline

1. Preparation Phase

Summer 2025

It all begins with assessing the church planter’s background, gifts and suitability for a specific local community. This assessment will help them prepare to share the gospel in a meaningful and contextually relevant way.

2. Missionary Phase

Fall/Winter 2025

The focus is on helping the church planter immerse themselves in the community—observing with openness and building relationships—to lay the foundation for a church that’s deeply connected and responsive to local needs.

3. Church Planter Phase

Spring/Summer 2026

The church planter develops a vision and strategy rooted in the community’s needs, builds a launch team with local partners and prepares to launch the church around the one-year mark of their residency.

4. Pastor Phase

Fall 2026 & Beyond

The church planter begins actively pastoring their new church, while receiving support to develop its ministry and operations, ultimately leading to a fully independent congregation in Northeast Ohio.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The church planter we’re supporting joined Orchard NEO in July of 2025 and is planning for his church to be autonomous in the summer of 2027.

  • Orchard NEO has built a repeatable system and process for planting churches. They have also built out a core staff to help support these church planters. The Chapel has certain subject area expertise and money designated for church planting. We plan to provide funding and help support the church planter. Orchard NEO will own the process and support structure.

  • Christ Community Chapel is a local church in Hudson, Ohio and Orchard NEO is the organization they created that’s focused on planting new local churches in Northeast Ohio.

  • We’re only currently committed to supporting this specific Spanish speaking church for the next two years. This is the first time Orchard NEO is partnering with a church other than Christ Community Chapel, so this is new for both of us! We’re confident that this process will be fruitful, but maintain the option to revisit our partnership in the future.

  • This effort is being accomplished through previously given and designated dollars towards the ‘Saturate’ campaign. Because of the overwhelming generosity of many of you several years ago, this campaign will have no effect on our regular church budget.

  • One of the exciting things about this initiative is that Christ Community Chapel has built in the overhead costs for their organization into their normal operating budget. 100% of the money that we plan to use to support a church planter will go directly to the church being planted. This funding model helps us get a higher percentage of our dollars mobilized into the communities we’re trying to reach. As the church begins meeting, they’ll also take offerings. That money will be banked for them and given to them as a gift or reserve as they launch independently.

  • The church is a fully autonomous and independent church. Christ Community Chapel has committed to giving them a reduced amount of support over the course of their proceeding years. The Chapel would have the option of continuing to support the church as well.

  • No, these will be independent, autonomous churches with their own governance and Oversight Elder Boards.

  • We’ve voiced to Christ Community Chapel and NEO Orchard that we’re primarily interested in helping plant churches outside of our current scope of influence. We’re less interested in planting churches right down the street and more interested in planting in areas the people of our church are unable to reach.

Have a question we haven’t answered? Please email it to hello@thechapel.life and we’ll plan to incorporate it into future communications.