Christ Reformed Church of Northern Kentucky is a church plant overseen by Ascension Reformed Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Launched in 2024, Christ Reformed began her pilgrim journey in Florence, Kentucky, renting space from a Wisconsin Evangelical Synod Lutheran church for Sunday evening worship. For the first year and a half, we lived out of tote bins, transporting our Trinity Psalter Hymnals and Lord’s Supper supplies each week. The only piece of furniture we owned was a large rolling chalkboard.
By July 2025, however, all that changed. A local PCA congregation in Bellevue, Kentucky—about twenty minutes northeast of Florence—had dwindled to fewer than a half dozen members. After many conversations, interviews, and meetings, our congregations voted to merge. The remainder of 2025 became a whirlwind season of growth, organization, and learning the contours of our new community.
By God’s grace, we began 2025 with eighteen members and entered 2026 with fifty-one. This season of church planting has largely been one of laying foundations. Several committees have been formed to help establish the life and work of the congregation. With one elder, two deacons, and several other men in training, we are grateful to see the Lord bringing increasing stability to the church.
Owning our own building has been both a tremendous blessing and a significant responsibility. The congregation has worked diligently to care for the property—painting rooms, cleaning gutters, trimming hedges, and attending to the many tasks involved in faithful stewardship. Our next major project is installing new flooring to cover the asbestos tiling throughout the building. We also hope to construct four additional classrooms in an unfinished section of the property.
Our sanctuary currently seats ninety-nine people, and average attendance over the past month has ranged between seventy-five and eighty. We are mindful that we are only a few families away from reaching capacity. Thankfully, we have been advised that adding another emergency exit would increase our occupancy limit to 146, making that project a current priority.
Over the course of the summer and into the fall, we have many opportunities and initiatives before us. Our outreach committee has identified several strategic ways for us to serve and engage our community. This fall, we also plan to launch a homeschool co-op, Pilgrim Academy, which has already connected us with several new families. In addition, we will be hosting biblical counseling training through the Institute of Reformed Biblical Counseling, equipping both our congregation and others in the area to minister God’s Word more faithfully and effectively.
There is also a growing sense of excitement as three additional families participate in our new members’ class. The Lord has been exceedingly gracious to us. Though we are still a young congregation with much ahead of us, we are confident that he will sustain his work among us, for “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps 127:1).
In July 2026, we will enter our second year of church planting. As a young church, our culture is still taking shape, leaders are still being identified and trained, and the rhythms of congregational life are continuing to develop. One particular encouragement has been the catechetical preaching through the Heidelberg Catechism, as many from non-Reformed backgrounds are being shaped not only in theology but also in distinctly Reformed piety.
How to Pray for Us
- Pray that Christ is exalted by this Reformed mission work.
- Pray that more people would seek to join CRC.
- Pray for our church officers.
- Pray for our children to grow up in Christ and be well-catechized.
- Pray that our outreaches will be successful according to the Lord.
For more information about Christ Reformed Church, please visit our website.
©Brandon Burks. All Rights Reserved.
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Brandon Burks
Brandon Burks was raised a Roman Catholic, but came to saving faith while serving as a Navy Diver in his early twenties. After graduating from Westminster Theological Seminary, he pastored a Baptist church before “swimming Lake Geneva.” In 2021, he became a co-pastor at Ascension Reformed Church (URC) in Cincinnati, OH, and, in January of 2024, was sent out by Ascension Reformed to be the church planter for Christ Reformed Church in Northern Kentucky.
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