New Year Update

Friends and family,

It’s been four and a half years since I came back to Cleveland and over one year since Julia and I got married. The ministry in Cleveland is a response to what Jesus did in the gospel, and our mission is to lead others to know this Jesus and respond in heart and life worship. We write to update you on what God is doing through CityView and how you might pray with us.

Shoreway (W. 65^th)

Our relational youth ministry has been reformed this year. Most teens were met through Saturday park outreaches and do not have a church-attending parent. We’ve structured formal, one-on-one, discipleship meetings on Tuesdays; our leaders meet with several teens on a weekly basis. Thursday is our main gathering, and involves a hangout time, a meal, and a service. Caleb preaches twice a month at Shoreway and once a month downtown.

Two of Shoreway’s greatest challenges come with the territory: rough behavior and getting transportation for 20-30 teens. Please pray for heart change among our teens and worshipful faithfulness among our leaders.

Downtown (E. 9^th)

We have been looking for a building for a whole year. Though we trust God where He has us, we have vision for what He might do should we find a larger, more versatile building to lease. In the meantime, we are seeing spiritual growth in individuals, though the growth is not necessarily numerical. A neighbor of ours with a rough past and a distaste for religion visited CityView last Sunday; he frequently reflected that CityView “is what a church should be.” We don’t have a lot of amenities, but it’s real. As a worship leader in the church, we want to be excellent and culturally-competent, but above all, authentically God-oriented.

Please pray for our new downtown location, continued church health, and further gospel impact in our high-rise ministries and outreaches.  

Personal Life (W. 85^th)

God blessed us (wowed us) with a home, and though the location might have been a deterrent to others, it has become a hub for building relationships and repping Jesus. Our basketball hoop is the local hangout, and more than twenty of our neighbors have attended church with us.

We are both still working part-time and studying. Julia will be completing her master’s degree this spring; Caleb is studying a class at a time as a doctoral student (usually between the hours of midnight and 5am haha). We have a lot to learn but are finding these studies to have an equipping effect as worshippers and leaders.

The greater portion of our ministry is servant leading, impossible in our own strength. We need prayer. Our mission is to see God worshipped in hearts and lives this year, starting with our own hearts and lives. We are thankful for God’s church rallying behind His mission in inner-city Cleveland. We are grateful for you all.

Soli Deo gloria!

Julia & Caleb Kudlo