While we are a Church called to reach the people who live on the North Shore with the gospel of Jesus Christ, when we gather for weekly worship people join us from 12 different parishes in our city.  Who will care for all these people? Who will lead them to live missionally faithful lives in their own neighborhoods? 

Our answer assumes that being the Church is more basic than "going" to Church services.  Our answer is that our PARISH ELDERS provide oversight through fellowship groups in each of these parishes and our PARISH DEACONS lead us in service to one another and our neighbors.

• where are our Chattanooga parishes?

• the big picture on parishes

• big hopes

Where are our chattanooga parishes?

Currently, we have divided Chattanooga into 9 parishes based on geographical locations across the area...

• North Chattanooga (East of Barton Ave)
• North Chattanooga (Middle)
• Hixson 
• 27 Corridor (Red Bank / Soddy Daisy / Dayton)
• Lookout Mountain & Valley
• St. Elmo / Flintstone
• Southside
• Brainerd / East Ridge / Missionary Ridge
• East Brainerd / Ooltewah / Harrison

This fall, we will launch a worship site on Signal Mountain.  Details will soon be available on the "Church Planting" link on the homepage. We have hopes of planting smaller, parish-based churches across the city in an effort to better care for our people and our neighbors.

the Big Picture on parishes

Since we are the Church we look out for one another and reach out together.  This model is as old as the Exodus (Ex 18) and the earliest Christians (Acts 6), as traditionally Presbyterian as Thomas Chalmers, and as fresh as current attempts (1st Pres Augusta and Westside Pres Atlanta) to go for it!  Read Walter Heneger's article entitled Location, Location, Location to get an idea of what we long for here in Chattanooga.  Here's what others in our denomination are saying about parishes.

Big Hopes

Structuring ourselves like this helps us realize our original vision. The original vision for NSF was to be a part of a church planting network around our city. Shared ministry with one another in our local parishes and with our neighbors in mind will help us discern where to plant new churches.   Keeping our original vision in mind, our members who live in North Chatt are our front line for outreach to this part of the city. As they partner with one another to build relationships with the people and institutions of this part of the city, they open doors for all of us to embody Jesus here and inspire us to imitate them all over our region.