Greetings!

I am writing to let you know that last week, I informed the Senior Leadership Team that I believe my time has come to step down as Lead Pastor of CityChurch as of May 2021.

I know this may come as a surprise to you but, in truth, this is a decision that I have been wrestling with for a while now. After 15 years in this role I still love CityChurch and passionately believe in the Lord's plans for us as a church. However, again and again through good seasons as well as hard I have felt the Lord saying it is now time to step down and let somebody else take over the leadership of our church.

This is not a decision I have come to lightly and I know that it will generate some uncertainty at the end of year which has already had more than its share of uncertainty. I can only say that when the Lord makes it as clear, as He has, then no matter how it may seem right now, we can be confident that He is at work and has plans to use this powerfully for His glory and our blessing. 

I want to stress that I will be remaining fully in my current role as Lead Pastor until May 2021 and that, even beyond then, Niki and I hope to remain active parts of the CityChurch community.

I am most grateful to the Senior Leadership Team for their support and understanding in this and I will be supporting them as they now begin to put in place a search team & process. I believe we should have high expectations of the Lord bringing us a fantastic new leader who not only has a vision for the future but also gets our unique culture and heart.  

For now, I am sorry I haven't had the chance to tell everyone in person and I hope that in the weeks ahead I will have a chance to chat to you about it more. I will be speaking this Sunday and will share more then. I hope you will understand my determination to follow the call of the Lord and will, like me, stand firm in faith and in prayer as we see what the Lord will do in the months ahead.

With much love and gratitude for our church,

Al
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