The Journey…

On September 5, 1993 at 7:57 PM in the original Chapel of Applewood Baptist Church TNL opened its doors for the first time to 60 people. TNL began with a desire to create a service with relevant music and authentic teaching for college students. We had no idea that God had something much greater in mind.

TNL quickly went from being just a Tuesday night service to a growing community. We changed our name from Tuesday NiteLife to The Next Level. After just one year our desire was to no longer just reach college students, it was to reach a generation; a generation at many different levels spiritually. Our goal was to help people go to the next level in their relationship with God. For most of us our journey had just begun. TNL went from being just college students to professionals; from mostly single to some engaged and married; from no one having kids to single and married parents and dozens of kids. TNL may have started as a small service for college students; a place to come together on Tuesday nights; but it soon became clear that God had intended so much more.

On September 2, 1997, The Next Level became The Next Level Church. We would have never guessed what road would lie ahead. The following years would see thousands of people come through the doors of TNL. Lives were transformed as hundreds of people gave of their time, finances, creativity, and efforts to make TNL a reality. Over the years our journey would lead us to five different locations for Tuesday nights and we would meet together in hundreds of homes. The road would hold joy and pain, laughter and tears. Becoming a church, becoming what we believe God intended, would require a stretching of our faith and lessons in perseverance and hope.

Who we are today…

The Next Level Church is not perfect. If you thought you found a faultless organization full of flawless people it is time for you to know the truth. We are a community of individuals that have fallen and fail; we are people in need of forgiveness and grace. It is the understanding of grace that binds us together rather than an illusion of perfection which would push us apart. Our dependence on grace creates an environment of safety and acceptance which we believe is what everyone is truly searching for.

The basis for our community as The Next Level Church is our common need. We share a need for grace - to be saved from what we were, what we are, and what we would become. The common thread which knits us to each other is our relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. We believe that grace was made available to each of us because of God’s love, not our efforts. Our understanding of that need has come at different times and places. Some were raised in homes that led to an understanding of the need for grace early in life. Others have recently discovered the truth after years of searching. The length of time we have known Christ and accepted life through him is not what matters most; rather it is the depth of our relationship with Him because of His grace that is most vital. Our lives, through both words and our actions, reveal the impact God’s grace has had on us.

Our hope is to be a community that is consistently sharing our lives because of the presence of God’s grace. As a good friend of our community has said, “I am most interested in the conversation of why you need Jesus today”. It is honesty, vulnerability, and integrity that we strive towards. As individuals and as a community we constantly believe in and move towards the next level in our relationship with God.

Each year on our anniversary we celebrate the fact that God has allowed our community to continue the amazing journey of following and serving Him. We are committed to seeing people introduced or reintroduced to God and His church, to see people go to the next level in their relationship with God, to be a holistic, communal, transformational, missional faith community, and together be changed by God to change the world.