The Burlington Project

In November of last year, our church was introduced to NETS, the New England Training and Sending Center for Church Planting and Revitalization. Wes Pastor, the President of NETS was with us and over lunch, explained the mission of NETS and shared about a new church plant in a very gospel needy area of the country.

Burlington, Vermont (and Chittenden County) is home to 25% of the entire state’s population. South Burlington is the county’s fastest growing town. Most residents are in their 20s and 30s with a growing number age 65+. Very few evangelical churches exist in the county. Fifty-one percent of the population claim no religious affiliation at all. Less than 1% are affiliated with any baptistic church. Burlington, VT is the second most churchless city in America.

All of that makes Burlington a perfect place for a new church. For many years, Christ Memorial Church, near Burlington, has been praying for an opportunity to plant near the campus of the University of Vermont in Burlington. That time has come. Christ Transformation Church has been in the specific planning stages for more than a year and will officially launch on Sunday, September 21, 2025.

Eric Abbey is the lead pastor, along with 40 core members, including Wes Pastor as one of the elders. Christ Memorial Church in Williston is the sending church from which most of the core members are coming. Eric earned an MDiv in 2011 from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and has been an elder at Christ Memorial Church and a staff member with NETS for since 2019. He completed the NETS residency program in 2012. Eric is married to Shannon and together they have four children.

As they plant, Christ Transformation Church will also become the primary place from which NETS residents, training for future church planting, will be developed. Residents will be gaining hands on experience in church planting through this new church.

Currently the church plant is about $78,000 short of their annual need of $360,000 as they launch. Summit Woods, in our 2025 budget, planned to invest $12,000 in direct church planting support through NETS and will aim to invest this money this fall to help support the launch of CTC.

Our aim will be to include Christ Transformation Church in our regular times of prayer on Sunday evenings, provide regular updates on the ministry and aim to find opportunities for elders from CTC to give personal updates to SWBC. As needs present themselves, we will make them available to our members to see how the Lord might use us to be of further assistance.

If you would like to learn more about Christ Transformation Church and the Burlington Project, visit: https://www.thenetscenter.org/christtransformation. There you can also download a prospectus providing additional detailed information about the new church plant.

Join us in praying for the gospel to spread in the greater Burlington, VT region through the ministry of Christ Transformation Church.