April/May Update

Hello my friends and coworkers in the gospel!

Throughout our journey in church planting, I believe that I am continually in the process of learning to trust in the Lord for his direction and his timing. The last two months have revealed this to our team and me further. Stepping into unchartered territory, like planting a collegiate church at Oakland University, often comes with its fair share of unexpected hiccups. From delays in paperwork to doors being opened and others closed we’ve experienced what it means to expect the unexcepted and rely on the Lord for provision. In the last two months, our team has focused on three areas that we believe are essential to the development and health of our church launch: fundraising, establishing core members, and partnership  with other ministries.

• Fundraising: In my opinion, fundraising is one of the most surefire ways to grow in your faith and dependence on the Lord. In fundraising, you are challenged to trust the Lord with your livelihood and the funds to do what you believe God has called you to. Prior to fundraising for FCC, I had reservations about it. It felt scary and uncomfortable. Since March of 2024, that band-aid has been ripped off as I’ve devoted more time to being intentional with fundraising. In the last three months, I have reached out to over 125 individuals in efforts of scheduling a meeting with them to discuss the church and invite them to support us. We’ve made significant progress but still have a way to go. Currently, we are close to 35% funded for our launch. What I’ve come to learn about this process is that I am not in control of other’s decisions to give or not. Individuals that I was certain would support weren’t able to and to those who I felt like I was throwing out a Hail Mary for choose to support us. I’ve learned so much of what it means to trust that God will provide on his accord, not mine.                                                                                                                                                               
• Core members: one of the blessings of how our church came to be is that it is the byproduct of over a decade of ministry at Oakland! As a result, God has brought up an army of leaders who are passionate about Him and others. These members are at the core of our model as we strive to have everyone use their gifts for God’s glory. What has been exciting for us in the last two months is that God is drawing new people to our mission. More than 15 new individuals have come out to launch team meetings in May and more than 30 new people have attended an outreach event. Something that brings me so much joy at our core meetings is the community that is forming. Friendships are forming between unlikely people and God is unifying us as a family. Currently, our launch team has between 30-35 members. Our dream is to have at least 50 core members by the start of August. In addition, we are excited that multiple of our core members are planning on starting small groups in the next month! We are aiming to establish a minimum of five small groups by the beginning of August.                                                    
• Partnership: We believe that it’s important to be in community and learn from others! As a result, we have been faithfully considering different church planting organizations to partner with. After great consideration, we are pursuing a partnership with the Collegiate Church Network. A church planting organization with the mission of planting churches on college campuses. We are excited to pursue this partnership and see how God leads us.

As we continue to work to make Christ known at Oakland we would be honored to partner with you in prayer. We believe in the power of prayer and are asking for a team of prayer warriors to join us in our mission.