Denver Presbytery hired its first two New Worshiping Community (NWC) Incubator Leaders at the beginning of the year. Bethany and Evan have begun their ministries in our presbytery and we are looking forward to seeing how God uses them to gather new communities.
We are happy to announce the hiring of our third NWC Incubator Leader, Rev. Raafat Girgis. He will begin his work with us on March 1st and will have the wonderful partnership of Grace Presbyterian Church in Highlands Ranch as a home base.
The NWC Incubator initiative is made possible thanks to the generosity of Jane Hays. Thanks to the bequest she left of $1.9 million, we have been able to support the salaries of the leadership of existing NWCs, while also supporting the new Incubator Leaders.
We are thrilled to welcome Rev. Girgis as NWC Incubator Leader. You can read more about him in his bio below. The search team hopes to announce the fourth NWC Incubator Leader in the near future. May God continue to guide Denver Presbytery as it seeks to support and create space for new expressions of church in our midst.
Raafat Girgis has been serving the church in America and abroad since his ordination by al Delta Presbytery, Synod of the Nile, Presbyterian Church in Egypt. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by joining the Presbytery of James in Richmond, VA in 1993. Raafat has spent equal years of his ministry in the USA & abroad. He also received degrees from Egypt and the US.
Before arriving in Denver, Raafat served as a Lead Pastor for New Rehoboth-Greenville and Pisgah Presbyterian Churches located in two counties in PA. Previously he served as a Mission Agent in the Presbyterian Mission Agency as Associate Director for Evangelism and Racial/Cultural Diversity.
Raafat is passionate about launching Intercultural New Worshiping Communities and the Lord utilized him in initiating two of them; in Richmond, VA and Clarion, PA. Raafat believes that he was called “to make disciples of all nations” and believes that small groups or community cells be an effective approach particularly in starting an Intercultural NWC. These gatherings will not be clubs of likeminded people. They will work as intersections where differences meet, interact, and collaborate. He envisions them to be spaces of spiritual and intellectual learning that are safe and secure to all practices of faith where people can share visions and participate in mutual learning.
Welcome Raafat by sending email!