The Valley Church in Norwood Celebrates a Milestone Year

The last twelve months have seen incredible production at The Valley Church in Norwood. Last June the church moved to Norwood as a 1 ½ year old church plant and determined that to be their long-term location. Church planter and pastor Chuck Smith reports that the summer started with a week's worth of Party in the Parks that saw 850 of their neighbors introduced to the young church. The following week hosted their very first Vacation Bible School where 110 children attended with an average of 79 children per night. Fourteen kids (between the ages of 8-14) received Jesus in salvation.

Overall the last 12 months have been incredibly fruitful for the Kingdom. A total of 22 salvations and 12 baptisms were witnessed during those 12 months. An additional 2 baptisms are already scheduled.

Attendance has also steadily grown. The church’s first calendar year saw an average attendance of 45, and year two average 60. The months of September to December 2017 saw a small increase with an average attendance of 65, and the first four months of 2018 saw greater momentum with an average of 86. A high attendance (not factored into the average) was seen on Easter when 162 people attended the Valley Church. Attendance above 95 has been seen several times since Easter.

The church was given its very own building this year. A church located on South Madison in Norwood was closing its doors and offered their building to the Valley Church, free of charge. The Valley Church began the process of remodeling and have seen great momentum since then. The church sign is permanently on the building and neighbors are thrilled that they are there to stay.

The worship ministry team has grown from 2 members to 6 members, the kids ministry volunteer team increased from 4 members to 15 members, and the welcome ministry team has gone from 2 members to 9 members.  Church membership continues to grow as well as officially 53 people have signed membership covenants to become active members of the church.

Sunday mornings see an average of 32 children.  Pastor Chuck Smith has preached expository through the books of Acts, Galatians, James, Haggai, Nehemiah, Jonah, Habakkuk, and is currently preaching verse by verse through the book of Colossians.  Their small group ministry occurs throughout the year and averages 52 people over 3 groups that currently meet.

In June preaching workshops will begin for the training of three men in the church, two of those in eldership training and one considering pastoring another church plant which the Valley Church plans to launch.  The church is also tapping into NAMB’s church planter pipeline with the training.  Pastor Chuck Smith also started this winter as the NAMB Church Plant Coaching Champion for the Cincinnati region and is working to create a more sustainable and effective coaching network.

The Valley Church shows its passion for missions as it faithfully gives to the Cooperative Program and directly supports five international church plant ministries on a monthly basis while they also serve their community in monthly outreach events.