15 years ago, we started with 40 people who were formerly disconnected, and formed into two House Churches. 15 years later, we have thousands of people gathering in many dozens of House Churches across our local community, consistently multiplying.
15 years ago we had not one dollar of outside funding but were committed to simplicity for the sake of generosity. Today, we have directed many millions of dollars beyond our own walls to plant churches, and partner with local and global ministry partners who are doing good and sharing the gospel.
Our size has changed – we have grown. We have learned and matured. But, even now, none of our founding convictions, values, or structures have changed.
From JANUARY 10, 2010, with 40 people, in two House Churches and one simple Sunday Gathering in an obscure, rented warehouse, with no phone number, no foyer receptionist and no traditional marketing methods, we now have:
- Many dozens of multiplying House Churches in The Woodlands, TX
- Thousands of people gathering weekly in two Sunday Gatherings
- Supported 20+ Church Project church plants
- Directed $16.5 million towards local and global ministries and church planting
- Supported, encouraged and resourced many other churches beyond Church Projects
- Many Ministry Partners and others started by people within Church Project
- Three buildings we own and share with ministries in our city, steward to capture resources to offset expenses, and use for Sunday Gatherings, First Wednesdays and other ministry events
Most places operate with a reserve. For 15 years, we have not. But this last year had its challenges for our church leadership and other ministries that rely on our consistent support. And we know it’s wise to build a small reserve. The impact of our giving and the consequences of not giving are too high. By building a small, but sufficient, operating reserve, we will be better equipped to continue good work even in financially difficult circumstances, like economic downturns, unexpected expenses or lower-than-expected giving months. This reserve will ensure continued financial stability and sustainability for all Church Project does for our church, Church Project Network and local and global ministries.
We have built a beautiful urgent care clinic. And when people hear about what it can do, they see the great opportunity before us. We have a capacity to see over 15,000 patient visits a year. And we have the customer base – the thousands of under-resourced families in our community who we already serve through local ministries. And it is open one day a week. The clinic will cost roughly $600,000 a year to operate fully, and it will take more funding to meet needs for the 15,000 and more who will come needing free and charitable urgent care. We would like to move to full operations as soon as possible.
We have to plant churches. One percent of churches plant churches. And we have lost 40,000 churches in the US in the last four years. More churches will be closing soon. We have to plant more churches. We have to plant better and healthier churches. We partner with Acts 29. We partner with HCPN – Houston Church Planting Network. And we plant churches through Church Project Network. We are building our Church Project Network to be even stronger and more effective. It will require finances for this to happen.
