Circle the City Vision
THE VISION: Circle the City
In the Baltimore region, a sobering reality exists: 92% of residents, over one million people, live without a life-giving church home. This is more than a statistic; it represents neighbors, coworkers, and families navigating life without the transformative power of Jesus or the strength of a faith community. This reality has created in us a holy discontent — a God-given burden to do something. It’s this discontent that is driving us toward a new vision.
We believe God is calling Grace Fellowship Church to Circle the City with His grace, launching dynamic, connected campuses that share one heartbeat: to reach the lost by making disciples who make disciples. Each campus will carry the same multicultural, disciple-making movement; meeting local needs, connecting people relationally, emotionally, and spiritually, and serving as a beacon of light in the community.
THE NEED: Expand Our Reach
Strengthen our Timonium campus to sustain its rapid growth.
Establish new multi-site campuses across the Baltimore region.
THE NUMBERS: Investing in Eternity
The Circle the City vision requires significant investment to bring this movement to life.
Estimated costs include:
Timonium Campus Upgrades:
$2 million for facility improvements, including a roof replacement, repaving the parking lot, and upgrading to advanced technology to conduct hybrid worship services with excellence.
New Campus Development:
$3 million for a campus launch, including three years of facility, staffing, and operational costs.
Total Estimated Cost: $5 million
The ministry of Grace Fellowship Church is fueled and funded by the faithful giving of God’s people. Last year, our giving households contributed over $4.2 million to resource our mission, covering staffing, operational, and ministry programming expenses. In our current fiscal year, church staff and leadership have worked diligently to steward this giving responsibly, setting the annual operating budget at $4.2 million. Additionally, Grace Fellowship Church maintains a healthy cash reserve exceeding $1 million, equivalent to three to four months of operating expenses.
THE NEXT STEPS: Partner With Us
- Praying about what God is asking from you and for you in this vision.
- Embracing the Circle the City vision.
- Giving heroically so that countless others can encounter the love, grace, and hope of Jesus.
- Serving faithfully by offering your time and talents to advance this vision.
Guiding Scripture
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
– 2 Chronicles 7:14
Prayer Points
As we embark on the Circle the City vision at Grace Fellowship Church, we invite the entire congregation to join in fervent prayer. Below is a list of targeted prayer points to guide your intercession. We encourage you to pray these daily, in groups, or during services, trusting that God will move mightily as we pursue His call.
- For the Lost in the Baltimore Region: Pray for the one million residents without a faith community, that their hearts would be softened and drawn to Jesus. Ask God to awaken spiritual hunger in families and neighborhoods facing isolation, hardship, and brokenness, and to use GFC as a beacon of hope and restoration.
- For Divine Guidance in the Vision: Seek God’s wisdom for scaling our multi-cultural, disciple-making efforts beyond Timonium. Pray for clarity in site selection, feasibility studies starting in 2026, and the overall strategy to multiply kingdom hubs where thousands will encounter Christ’s life-changing power.
- For Individual Calling & Participation: Pray that each member of our church family would discern and respond to God’s personal invitation to participate in this vision, whether through sharing their gifts, stepping into new roles of service, inviting others to get to know Christ, or contributing in unique ways that align with His purpose for their lives.
- For Ultimate Transformation & Awakening: Pray for a spiritual awakening in the Baltimore region. Pray that God would renew lives, heal communities, and that there would be a ripple effect of God’s love throughout the region. Thank Him in advance for the movement He is igniting and for the eternal impact it will have on generations to come.
Devotional Guide
Join us in going deeper into Grace Fellowship Church’s Circle the City Vision with this 4-week spiritual companion devotional guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are we discerning God's leading in this vision, and where does prayer fit in?
Our Circle the City vision seeks to answer the foundational question, “Where is God leading us?” We don’t take this question lightly and know it requires a posture of discernment and prayer. Discernment begins with the leading of the Holy Spirit, which we prioritize as our primary criterion in all decision-making. Prayer is not just a leadership activity but a church-wide invitation. We invite you to pray alongside the elders and senior staff as we seek to steward this discernment process responsibly. Ultimately, we trust that if this is God-called, He will confirm it through unity, provision, and transformed lives, as we pursue this bold vision.
Why are we excited about the Circle the City vision, and what difference will it make for communities along the 695 corridor?
We are excited about the Circle the City vision because it aligns with our core vision of being an outward-facing church that transforms communities with the love of Jesus, as we’ve pursued for 45 years. This vision expands our reach beyond Timonium, extending ministries like our dynamic weekend services, Grace Disabilities, Rooted, etc., into new neighborhoods, drawing in new attendees. It equips and unleashes our congregation to bring Christ into areas along the 695 corridor where we work, live, serve, and play.
How is Circle the City different from past initiatives like Exponential?
Exponential was an initiative we embraced as a church in 2021, centered on a bold, 10-year plan to multiply our kingdom impact through starting kingdom hubs in South Asia, leading thousands through our Rooted disciple-making experience, baptizing thousands, planting new churches, and launching multisite campuses.
Our Circle the City vision builds directly on Exponential’s foundation, sharpening the focus to a specific aspect of that original vision: starting campuses. This new initiative adopts a targeted, beltway-centric strategy along the 695 corridor, emphasizing multisite expansion through data-driven site selection, strategic collaborations with regional partners, and sustainable resourcing via volunteer empowerment. It also aims to support our Timonium site, preparing it for an effective multisite strategy.
What is the timeline for rolling out the vision?
Our initial focus over the next year is to rally every heart and voice around our Circle the City Vision, making it the heartbeat of all we do. We will accomplish this through compelling, unified communication that equips 100% of elders, staff, leaders, and volunteers to articulate and champion the Circle the City vision.
The next 12 months will involve prayerful preparation, including:
- A congregational survey in September 2025
- A capital campaign beginning in February 2026
- The assessment of potential sites in Q3 and Q4 of 2026
- Ongoing leadership development, training, and partnership building.
Currently, we are engaging in due diligence to explore and discern where the Lord would have us start our first campus. Our phased approach begins with site selection and feasibility studies in 2026. We have an eye on Q4 of 2027 as the earliest launch. Ultimately, the timing will depend on multiple factors, such as available space, staff and congregation readiness, and funds available for launch.
What areas will we target initially for campus expansion? Does this vision include Baltimore City?
While the 695 corridor frames the strategy as a “circle” around Baltimore, the vision explicitly encompasses Baltimore City itself, aligning with our commitment to being a multicultural church that celebrates people from every tribe and nation. We project our first campus to be 5–15 miles from the Timonium campus to leverage proximity and accessibility.
Our campus locations will be chosen by analyzing demographics and prioritizing six key criteria:
- The leading of the Holy Spirit, discerned through community prayer, fasting, and seeking where God is already at work.
- Community needs, identified by existing churches in the area, and opportunities to strengthen overall church impact in underserved neighborhoods.
- Locations with a critical mass of existing GFC households to build on natural constituencies.
- Alignment with the beltway corridor for regional synergy.
- Feasibility for an initial launch soon enough to receive support from the current Timonium campus staff and volunteers.
- Available space for gatherings, such as purchased or leased facilities or partnerships.
What will multisite services look like? What will staffing look like at each site?
Multisite services will mirror our Timonium experience—casual, contemporary, and welcoming, maintaining unity across campuses. Each site will have a dedicated Campus Pastor who will provide shepherding, relational leadership, and localized ministry, as well as support staff to facilitate other ministry offerings such as Next Gen, Groups, etc. Preaching will be live at the central campus and streamed to the campuses. Worship will be live at all campuses. This model, inspired by successful churches we’ve studied, ensures consistency in our disciple-making mission while allowing flexibility for community needs, such as our extended Disabilities and Rooted programs.
What about staff and volunteer capacity—will we lose people to new sites, and how will we backfill?
We anticipate some volunteers and staff shifting to new sites, but we’re planning ahead to minimize disruption by surveying current volunteers for interest and recruiting and training new ones through programs like our new Serve Track Experience coming in the fall of 2025. We will create leadership development pipelines to inspire and train emerging leaders and plan phased transitions out to our new campuses.
Are we ready for this? How do we know we have the leadership depth?
Readiness is discerned through prayer, data, and community input. We believe God calls us, in unity, to endeavors greater than ourselves, and calls us to prepare, in faith, even when they feel “scary.”
To increase our leadership depth, we continue to value God’s kingdom principle of multiplication and encourage all leaders and volunteers to identify others they can develop and release. Our current staff includes experienced executives, and we’re investing in training up-and-coming leaders for what God will require of us in the future.
How is the staff preparing to go multisite?
Our staff has connections with some large multisite churches across the country, as well as with local and regional churches like Mountain Christian Church and LCBC. We are actively learning from these models and adapting the approach for our multisite strategy. Some of our staff also already have multisite experience. We’re committed to learning, growing, and educating our staff to do multisite ministry effectively.
What is the cost? How will we handle budget constraints and ensure financial sustainability?
We estimate the Circle the City campaign to cost $5 million in total over 2 years, over and above our normal operating budget: $3 million for new campus development, including 3 years of facility, staffing, and operational costs, and $2 million for facility improvements at our Timonium Campus, including a roof replacement, repaving the parking lot, and upgrading to advanced technology for hybrid worship.
As we move forward, our intention is to rely primarily on the over-and-above generosity of the Circle the City campaign rather than taking on additional debt. Our plan is to live within what is raised and to steward those resources carefully, avoiding unnecessary financial burden on the church. While this approach may adapt over time as circumstances or opportunities arise, sustainability will come through diversified giving, efficient use of existing and increased resources, and strategic partnerships that help share costs. As we build a proven and responsible model for campus ministry, we will continue to prioritize wise, disciplined growth, trusting God for provision while remaining committed to prudent, flexible stewardship that protects and strengthens our current ministries.
What sacrifices might the congregation need to make as we shift to multiple campuses?
To see this vision come to life, we will ask everyone to increase their serving commitments, including: starting to serve, giving financial resources to fund the vision, and exercising flexibility as resources shift temporarily. While some may experience the “stretch” of new roles to equip our campuses, we will rely on the Holy Spirit’s power to unite us, ensuring no one feels overburdened.
How will you communicate updates, answer questions, and incorporate feedback?
How can I get involved, through training, prayer, or serving?
Your involvement is crucial. Start by joining us in prayer using the specific prayer points provided at gfc.org. If you’re a current volunteer, join our upcoming Serve Track Experience to confidently share the vision. Consider serving more frequently in current ministries or take the next step into leadership. If you don’t currently serve, start serving. Spread the word with excitement to friends and family and attend Q&A events. We’ll offer scripts and resources to equip you, aligning with our empowering church vision to release everyone into their calling. Let us know if you’re interested in participating in our first campus launch.
Still Have Questions?
We’d love to address any question or concern you may have. Click the button below to submit your question online.
Testimony Videos
“It’s about reaching the 92% of our region living without a life-giving church home, with the hope of the Gospel!”
Discover why the Grace Fellowship Church community is excited to join God’s work through the Circle the City Vision.
Partner with Us
Shea Strickland
Lead Pastor
