Church Plants
OCF has had the incredible opportunity to partner in the planting of two great churches - The Fields in Carlsbad, CA and Harambee in Renton, WA. Read more about these churches below...
The Fields was planted by Dave Fandey, who used to be the Jr. High Director at OCF. This is their story...
Our story begins in the summer of 2003 when a small group of believers started meeting at the beach on Sunday nights in Carlsbad near lifeguard Tower 21. Our first meeting was the result of months of prayer and years of God tugging on the hearts of several individuals to step out in faith and follow His leading.
We met with great expectation, trusting that God was going to do something new and fresh in our lives and the lives we touched as we followed Him in starting this new church. We envisioned a church without walls; a church that would welcome anyone who was seeking to know and experience God. But more than that, we envisioned a group of people who would take the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ beyond the traditional walls of the established church and share this message with our community in a relevant way.
As the summer faded into fall, the weather became cooler and the days grew shorter, we watched as God provided a new location for us to meet. It was an old non-operating greenhouse in Carlsbad where roses were once grown. It was very rustic and needed quite a bit of makeover in order to use, but it was also us: authentic and organic.
In April of 2004, we were given the opportunity to host the Easter Sunrise service at the famous Carlsbad Flower Fields. It was an incredible morning and a great outreach to the community and had a great turnout. At this point we knew we had outgrown The Greenhouse and it was time for us to move again. We started meeting the auditorium of the Aviara Oaks Elementary School in Carlsbad and continue to meet there now.
We have named our new church “The Fields” because Jesus once told his followers, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35) At The Fields our desire is to see people grow into passionate followers of Jesus Christ. We are anticipating that God will help our church continue to grow in two ways. First, we hope to be used by God to bring in a harvest of those who do not yet know Jesus and see them grow to maturity in Christ. Secondly, we have a team approach to ministry. We are praying that God will bring to The Fields workers who have a heart for the harvest and most importantly, a heart for the Lord of the harvest. Jesus told his followers, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
That’s our story. We have seen some amazing answers to our prayers. We have seen our faith in God grow. We believe God is on the move and are excited to be a part of that!
Find out more about The Fields at their website: http://www.thefieldschurch.org/.
Harambee church was started by Mike Gunn, who used to be an Associate Pastor at OCF in the late 80's/early 90's.
Read some of his account of how Harambee began... The Harambee story is a bit wrapped up in my (Mike Gunn’s) story. The vision of Harambee began about 10 years ago as I began to feel the need to plant a church that represented the diversity of God’s creation, as well as a gospel that centered on God’s glory and not our own needs. I was prompted by the Spirit to engage the culture in a more meaningful and direct way, so God decided to send me and my family on an unknown journey to Seattle to begin a campus ministry for athletes at the University of Washington...
At that point, Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland and Mark Driscoll entered our lives. My family began attending Antioch in January of 1994, and we started helping the college group, which was run by Mark Driscoll, a 23-year-old intern recently graduated from Washington State University. It became obvious that we had similar backgrounds and ministry callings, so we began to explore the possibilities of our vision (reaching truly postmodern, post-Christian people for Christ), and it became abundantly clear that we were to begin a new work in the city of Seattle.
With the blessing of Antioch and the exodus of about 30 of the students, Mark, Lief Moi, and I began Mars Hill Church in January of 1996. We watched God work His mosaic miracle as He began to put together the matrix that became Mars Hill Church. The church grew to more than 1,200 people in seven years, and because of facility limitations at the time, we were running seven services at three different locations in the Seattle area. One of these was Mars Hill South, which began as an evening service in October of 2001 with about 40 people. During that time it became evident that God was calling us to a different work, and that we needed to plant as an autonomous church. Subsequently, as of October 6, 2002, we became Harambee Church and began meeting at the Tukwila Community Center.
According to a study published in The Seattle Times (May 2002), the area we are trying to reach has the most diverse demographic of any other region in Washington state. Because of the gentrification of the Central District in Central Seattle, it is predicted that this area will become increasingly an area of color and low-income families. I believe that God has called us to this work; the Bible confirms the need to work amongst the poor and disenfranchised in the world.
Harambee is a Swahili term which means, “Together pushing forward.” It uniquely presents our vision of real Christian community... My prayer is that we become a diverse community of people who truly love one another and are bold enough to take the gospel across racial, social, and economic barriers, while extending our arms wide open to the greater community, looking for opportunities to live the gospel out in service and love to those in need. I envision a community of people that have a common cause: the Glory of God, and the living, embodied proclamation of His Son through His Spirit living within the community.
Find out more about Harambee at their website: http://www.harambeechurch.org/.
The Fields
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The Fields was planted by Dave Fandey, who used to be the Jr. High Director at OCF. This is their story...
Our story begins in the summer of 2003 when a small group of believers started meeting at the beach on Sunday nights in Carlsbad near lifeguard Tower 21. Our first meeting was the result of months of prayer and years of God tugging on the hearts of several individuals to step out in faith and follow His leading.
We met with great expectation, trusting that God was going to do something new and fresh in our lives and the lives we touched as we followed Him in starting this new church. We envisioned a church without walls; a church that would welcome anyone who was seeking to know and experience God. But more than that, we envisioned a group of people who would take the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ beyond the traditional walls of the established church and share this message with our community in a relevant way.
As the summer faded into fall, the weather became cooler and the days grew shorter, we watched as God provided a new location for us to meet. It was an old non-operating greenhouse in Carlsbad where roses were once grown. It was very rustic and needed quite a bit of makeover in order to use, but it was also us: authentic and organic.
In April of 2004, we were given the opportunity to host the Easter Sunrise service at the famous Carlsbad Flower Fields. It was an incredible morning and a great outreach to the community and had a great turnout. At this point we knew we had outgrown The Greenhouse and it was time for us to move again. We started meeting the auditorium of the Aviara Oaks Elementary School in Carlsbad and continue to meet there now.
We have named our new church “The Fields” because Jesus once told his followers, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35) At The Fields our desire is to see people grow into passionate followers of Jesus Christ. We are anticipating that God will help our church continue to grow in two ways. First, we hope to be used by God to bring in a harvest of those who do not yet know Jesus and see them grow to maturity in Christ. Secondly, we have a team approach to ministry. We are praying that God will bring to The Fields workers who have a heart for the harvest and most importantly, a heart for the Lord of the harvest. Jesus told his followers, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
That’s our story. We have seen some amazing answers to our prayers. We have seen our faith in God grow. We believe God is on the move and are excited to be a part of that!
Find out more about The Fields at their website: http://www.thefieldschurch.org/.
Harambee
 |
Read some of his account of how Harambee began... The Harambee story is a bit wrapped up in my (Mike Gunn’s) story. The vision of Harambee began about 10 years ago as I began to feel the need to plant a church that represented the diversity of God’s creation, as well as a gospel that centered on God’s glory and not our own needs. I was prompted by the Spirit to engage the culture in a more meaningful and direct way, so God decided to send me and my family on an unknown journey to Seattle to begin a campus ministry for athletes at the University of Washington...
At that point, Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland and Mark Driscoll entered our lives. My family began attending Antioch in January of 1994, and we started helping the college group, which was run by Mark Driscoll, a 23-year-old intern recently graduated from Washington State University. It became obvious that we had similar backgrounds and ministry callings, so we began to explore the possibilities of our vision (reaching truly postmodern, post-Christian people for Christ), and it became abundantly clear that we were to begin a new work in the city of Seattle.
With the blessing of Antioch and the exodus of about 30 of the students, Mark, Lief Moi, and I began Mars Hill Church in January of 1996. We watched God work His mosaic miracle as He began to put together the matrix that became Mars Hill Church. The church grew to more than 1,200 people in seven years, and because of facility limitations at the time, we were running seven services at three different locations in the Seattle area. One of these was Mars Hill South, which began as an evening service in October of 2001 with about 40 people. During that time it became evident that God was calling us to a different work, and that we needed to plant as an autonomous church. Subsequently, as of October 6, 2002, we became Harambee Church and began meeting at the Tukwila Community Center.
According to a study published in The Seattle Times (May 2002), the area we are trying to reach has the most diverse demographic of any other region in Washington state. Because of the gentrification of the Central District in Central Seattle, it is predicted that this area will become increasingly an area of color and low-income families. I believe that God has called us to this work; the Bible confirms the need to work amongst the poor and disenfranchised in the world.
Harambee is a Swahili term which means, “Together pushing forward.” It uniquely presents our vision of real Christian community... My prayer is that we become a diverse community of people who truly love one another and are bold enough to take the gospel across racial, social, and economic barriers, while extending our arms wide open to the greater community, looking for opportunities to live the gospel out in service and love to those in need. I envision a community of people that have a common cause: the Glory of God, and the living, embodied proclamation of His Son through His Spirit living within the community.
Find out more about Harambee at their website: http://www.harambeechurch.org/.
