Planting a new church in 2026!

Hey Elim family, my wife Emily and I were "healed in heart and formed for service" as students of Elim Bible Institute way back in the 1990s. During my freshman year, I experienced a call to ministry while we were praying for the city of Rochester one night during a special evening service. In those moments I had visions of people's faces, many of them internationals, who were lost and needing to be born again in Christ. I wept my heart out, moved by the love of God for people in our city. Fast forward more than 30 years, after serving together in pastoral ministry in MD, teaching and deaning at Elim, and my most recent role at Elim Life Church, and we are now setting our sites on the city of Rochester to plant a new church for the glory of God.

Our hearts are full with a burden of love for the lost and broken all over Rochester, and especially the university crowds and neighborhood of the south city area. This area is highly diverse, with people from all over the world! As I often say, if you live near Rochester, it's a short drive to reach the world. Our mission in planting Flower City Church, the primary reason we're doing this, is to introduce as many people as possible to new life through Jesus Christ. We believe God has called us to raise up a multi-ethnic, missional people who pursue the presence of God and live as fully devoted followers of Jesus. Our official launch date is Sunday, October 4th, 2026!

We just released our first newsletter prayer update, you can check it out here: https://fccnewsletter.my.canva.site/v1. In the near future, we will be sharing about the church plant on social media outlets. Our Launch Team is growing with people who believe God is calling them to help see the vision become reality. We are actively meeting with people and reaching out to build a strong network of connections, prayer and financial supporters, and Launch Team members who feel called to join this new work in some way. 

There are a number of ways you can help us launch Flower City Church:

1. Join our Prayer Team - go to flowercity.church and fill out the form on our landing page, or email me at [email protected]. This will also sign you up for our newsletter udpates. We want to build a huge prayer team!
2. Give to the church plant: we are in need of a strong monthly support team as well as one-time gifts and strategic donations to help us raise the first 3 years of projected operating costs for the new church, currently around 700k. Right now, all funds are being processed through Elim Life Church, our primary sponsoring church. To make a donation, go to https://elimlife.church/giving/, then scroll and click “Give Online,” then use the drop-down menu and select “Church Plant.” 
3. Become a Partner Church - we're believing God for 10 partner churches who want to be a part of the story of the founding of Flower City Church by supporting us monthly and making one-time donations and strategic gifts as they feel led to respond to needs and opportunities. We're asking for churches to consider a monthly commitment for three years at whatever level they believe God would have them to give. Nathan is available to travel to your church to meet with pastors and elders as needed, and both Nathan and Emily are available to come share about the vision or speak in a service. If you're interested in exploring this option, email me at [email protected]. 
4. Connect us to potential Launch Team members: a pastor from Ohio we met at a Stadia church planting event in August '25 shared about our church plant a few days ago with a university student who just moved to the Rochester area as a student at RIT. The student reached out to us wanting to get plugged in! How cool is that?! If there is someone you know, a relative, friend, or even a co-worker in our area that you believe may be a fit for joining Flower City Church in some way, please feel free to share our information with them. 

Thank you for reading and for considering any way you can join our launching story. Feel free to reach out to us by email, we would love to hear from you! in Christ's love, Nathan and Emily Sanders