We are a non-denominational church that believes in the authority of the Christian scriptures for our life and practice. Our strategy is to plant neighborhood churches all across the Nashville metropolitan area in both under resourced and well-resourced communities. This church strategy is diverse in its essential nature, uniting women, men, and families from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds across a major metropolitan area. Each neighborhood church will have it’s own leadership team who provide spiritual direction and a specific missional vocation for the congregation. However, the neighborhood churches will share centralized resources such as student, workplace, family and artistic ministries, as well as services such as a counseling center and citywide mercy projects. These neighborhood churches will hold weekend worship gatherings that highlight how the kingdom of God is being expressed all across the neighborhood. Each community has the freedom to contextualize its worship to the culture of its neighborhood; communities meeting in areas with many families may focus on developing a thriving children’s ministry, while a gathering in a neighborhood full of artists may include interactive, creative elements in its worship. Lead Pastor: Darren Whitehead
Darren and Brandy Whitehead founded Church of the City with a vision to plant a family of diverse churches that work together for the common good and the renewal of Nashville. What began as a small team meeting in living rooms in 2013 has grown to over 4,000 people worshiping in four churches around the greater Nashville area. Originally from Australia, Darren has lived in the United States for more than 17 years, serving as teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church for 8 of those years. Darren is a graduate of Wesley Seminary and released his first book, Rumors of God, co-authored with his long time friend Jon Tyson. Darren & Brandy live with their their three daughters in Nashville, Tennessee.
