In 2004 we also helped Mark Van Steenwyk and his wife Amy start Misseo Dei, a church in the Cedar-Riverside area that is using the house church/large group meeting format to reach people in that area of our city.
In our first 10 years of being a church, we helped start 2 new churches. In this regard, our elders have decided that Hope can plant multiple churches in the next ten years. Could we seek God to plant at least 10 new churches in the next ten years? That is our prayer goal. Not only that, but would these churches, partnered with others, release a force of church planting that would plant churches all around our city, state and nation? We need help from God in all kinds of ways as we seek to do that. What would that look like? How can we accomplish this? What is God asking us to dream about for His glory and our joy in this area?
As a result, from 2006 to 2016 we are hoping to average one church per year. On September 7th, 2006 Hiawatha Church was born, led by new pastors Chris Wachter and Michael Devereaux, along with their wives, Aletha and Nicole respectively. We are doing a new form of church planting that allows a slower ‘birth’ process than traditional models. With this in mind, we look forward to a bit of a longer “break out” time than our other plants. The Overseer and Leadership Teams of Hope continue to govern both sites as we, over a period of years, encourage Hiawatha Church to become its own church family while still retaining a partnership in ministry. We are excited to report that as of January 1st, 2009, Hiawatha will become it’s own church, both legally and corporately! This is a year ahead of schedule!!
In 2007, Hope had an amazing Opportunity to launch Providence Church in Crosslake, Minnesota! What a blessing to have this church in the heart of “vacationland” be a place for the gospel to run! Pastor Ken Carlton is doing a bang up job with this new plant. We encourage you to visit them when you are in the Brainerd Lakes area!
Fall 2008, we started our 5th daughter church – Antioch Community Church. It is led by Pastors Andy O’Rourke and Jaimie Buchanan in the North East Minneapolis, focusing on the urban college students and young families in the area. Andy has a vision to see Antioch be a sending church to start many, many churches in the Minneapolis area, just like the church at Antioch in Acts 13.
Trinity City Church launced on October 10, 2010. If you want to learn more about church planting at Hope check out Mission:sixteen/18, a church planting network started by Hope where we are partnering with other churches from various denominations to do together what we cannot do alone. Our goal is to trash the kingdom of darkness one new church at a time. Visit our website for information on how you can get your church involved.
