2021 Year in Review
Celebrating another year of launching, leading, and multiplying thriving churches together.
Strengthening the Harbor.
Launching, leading, and multiplying thriving churches built to weather the storms and carry the gospel forward has rarely felt more challenging than today. As the pandemic lingered, its impact on our churches did as well. Many just tried to hang on, survive, endure. Most churches experienced decreases in attendance ranging from 10-50% from pre-pandemic averages and many saw giving decrease along with attendance.
Yet, Jesus is still on his throne, leading, renewing, and providing for his church! Many of our churches experienced the unexpected fruit of deeper unity, more baptisms, needed facilities, and new leaders, families, and believers. Some churches grew substantially in 2021 and many experienced an abundance of financial provision in the final week of the year, filling months-long budget gaps. Even in the midst of suffering and trials of various kinds, God was faithful.
In the middle of all this, God continues to call men and women to shoulder the responsibility of launching, leading, and multiplying strong, thriving churches for all seasons. It’s those bold men and women Harbor Network exists to serve.
The successes and stories outlined in this Annual Report highlight just some of the many ways in which Harbor served a growing number of pastors, church leaders, and church planters last year through our programs, services, financial support, and the dynamic network of generous churches serving one another. We added new staff and more capacity to serve and support the growth God is bringing.
After a decade of gospel work, we have seen over and over again that churches and their leaders desperately need a harbor—a safe place to rest and renew, to find their bearings and be restored for more ministry and mission. Now, more churches and more leaders are coming to us and counting on us. We are excited about the opportunities to expand our Harbor and bring renewal to more church planters, leadership teams, and churches. As we expand our Harbor, we will also be better equipped to advance the next phase of our vision: launching 125 new churches by the end of 2025 so that more people in more places can experience renewal through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Enjoy reading all that God did in and through this network in 2021. As always, we’re grateful for every member of the Harbor Network family and the role you play in the continued work of this network as we seek to launch, lead, and multiply thriving churches everywhere for everyone.
Dave Owens
Executive Director
A year of impact…
By God’s grace, we are seeing the impact of our work on pastors, their families, church planters, ministry leaders, church members, neighborhoods and communities.
“The support of the network has been immensely helpful for our marriage. The Harbor network pastors and staff have been nothing but supportive, prayerful and intentional with helping Christen and I thrive holistically. Through the training, retreats and friendships we have built in the network, we feel like we are on a trajectory of a long-lasting fruitful marriage!”
— Brandon Woodard, lead church planter of Reconcile Community Church in Lincoln Heights, OH
“Your love and care for pastors and leaders were on full display at the annual Leaders’ Summit. It was such a peaceful place to be. I felt like I was just sitting with Jesus for a day with a bunch of other like-minded and weary brothers and sisters who also needed to just sit with Jesus and learn from others who do what they do in other Harbor Network churches. Thank you!”
— Ashley Stevenson, Director of Connections at Sojourn Church Jtown in Louisville, KY
“Harbor Network came into my life at a time when I was unknowingly overworking and overextended. Instead of ignoring or privately judging my struggles, the Network leadership spoke to these blind spots with truth and grace. They provided some resources to help me grow and never gave up on me. The Network’s willingness to engage those deficiencies has had an incredible impact on my marriage, my four daughters, and the church I pastor, setting us up to be ready to send and support more church planters.”
— Matt Herron, lead pastor of Sojourn Church in Traverse City, MI
Your generous support helped cultivate a network of like-minded and like-hearted churches working in partnership together to advance the kingdom of Jesus through thriving churches for the renewal of people and places.
% OF NETWORK CHURCHES
have started a new church
% OF OUR ANNUAL BUDGET invested directly on church planter support
# OF EXISTING CHURCHES adopted into our network in 2021
Financial Overview
When we think about what is required for Harbor to thrive, our goal has always been to wisely and strategically steward the resources God has given us.
The mission of the church flows from the renewal of the church.
Establishing the harbor.
We are praying for God to bring a movement of strong, thriving churches saturating this country so more people in more places can experience rest and renewal in Jesus Christ. To do this, we provide a safe place for pastors and church leaders to rest and renew, to find their bearings before returning to the open waters of ministry and mission.
• We help church planters launch new churches.
• We help renew church leaders to lead healthy, thriving churches.
• We help leaders of healthy churches multiply by sending leaders to start more churches that start more churches.
Just as ships aren’t built for the harbor, churches aren’t either. They do their work out on the open waters. The safety, support, and partnerships provided by Harbor Network help church leaders launch back out to the open waters of ministry and mission advancement.
