How it all started...
Recognizing the need to be engaged in major urban areas, Lauren and Kourtney Seaman and a group of missional-incarnational teams moved into the city of Chicago. Their purpose was to establish a missionary presence in the city for the sake of connecting with groups of people spread throughtout the city that were disconnected from the story of Jesus. Their presence extended from Rogers Park in the North to Mt. Greenwood in the South. These teams lived among their neighbors, forged meaningful relationships, partnered with existing ministries and organizations, and sought to embody a faithful Kingdom presence throughout the city.
This Doesn't Look Like Church
As these teams embedded themselves in these local neighborhoods, their ministries would take on unique expressions. They didn't "plant churches." Instead they embodied the work of the church through life on life discipleship, moving in and among refugee communities and survivors of human trafficking, partnering with and raising funds for city ministries and organizations throughout Chicago.
Where we are headed...
Throughout seven years, families moved in and out of the city as life needs changed and ministry assignments developed. In March of 2019, Lauren Seaman facilitated a leadership shift to Jeff Stark. Arriving in the city in May of 2019, Stark took a year to get his bearings in the city to accilimate and inculturate. Throughout that year, Stark nurtured the relationships established throughout seven years of fruitful ministry and developed new ministry partnerships as well.
In the winter of 2020, a clearer picture of what lay ahead for the future of Reach77 emerged. Reach77 is now leaning into a new season of recruiting, training, and deploying the next generation of urban missionaries by focusing on the local, contextual opportunities of the various community areas of Chicago.
In the winter of 2020, a clearer picture of what lay ahead for the future of Reach77 emerged. Reach77 is now leaning into a new season of recruiting, training, and deploying the next generation of urban missionaries by focusing on the local, contextual opportunities of the various community areas of Chicago.
