TDC Annual Report 2015

The District Church

A C H U R C H F O R T H E C I T Y

ANNUAL REPORT 2015

C E L E B R A T I N G 5 Y E A R S

“ I’ve met friends here who have become my family.”

WWW.DISTRICTCHURCH.ORG 3

DEAR CHURCH,

It is hard to believe what God has done in and through our church since we started in our living room five years ago. What started as a dream is now becoming more and more of a reality.

In the following pages you will read how God has been working in and through our church over this last year to reach more and more people with the love and message of Christ. We will also include a special section highlighting some

numbers from the past five years collectively. Can you believe that since we started we have held 603 services, hosted 1,019 people at 68 newcomers dinners, held over 3,500 small group gatherings, and baptized 54 people? God’s Spirit has shown up in unique ways in each of these gatherings. Every person who has walked through our doors has a unique story and has been ministered to at some level. As we often say, every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God!

We believe that we are just getting started as a church. We are just laying the foundation and praying that what we do now has an impact on the generations to come.

There are five specific projects that we believe the Lord has called us to as a church. We do not yet know the exact timing and we do not yet have the financial or people resources, but we feel led by the Spirit to present these to you in the hopes that you will commit them each to prayer and ask God how you might be a part of seeing these dreams come to fruition. The five God-sized dreams are:

1. Plant a third parish 2. Build affordable housing 3. Expand our leadership pipeline of those called to ministry 4. Start a recovery ministry5. Reverse the foster care and adoption waitlist

In April and May, we did a series called Why Church?, where we talked about the unique role of the local church in advancing the mission of God. While the local church is becoming more and more optional for much of our culture and even some Christians, we are convinced that the local church is God’s plan to bring change to our lives and our communities, so we are not afraid to champion the cause of the local church and to be clear about how your involvement and investment literally makes the difference of life or death for some people in our church and city.

We do not simply want to remember the past, but we want to press on toward the future of what God has called us to. Join me in praying that Christ would continue to be the head of our church and the sole reason we exist. Let’s pray that many more people come and drink from the well of his living water that never runs dry.

Whether you have been part of this mission from the beginning or are just joining us, we believe that you have an important role to play in helping us write this next chapter of our story.

To God be the glory,

Aaron Graham, Lead Pastor

OUR VISION

To be a church that exists for Christ and the renewal of our city.

OUR MISSION

To make disciples of Jesus who are committed to living out their

God-given mission in life.

OUR CORE VALUES

WORSHIP COMMUNITY JUSTICE

4 THE DISTRICT CHURCH | ANNUAL REPORT 2015


Making Disciples

July 2014 - July 2015

677# of first connect Newcomers on Sunday587 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS90 EAST SIDE

18people baptized

43small groups

5 Year Facts SEPT 2010 - JULY 2015

603 Total # of Services (CH and ES)

+3,500small group gatherings

BAPTISMS IN 5 YEARS

54

A L P H A

2010 4 meals

29 people

201113 meals

171 people

201215 meals

187 people

201314 meals

223 people

2014

15 meals265 people

20157 meals

144 people

TOTAL68 meals

1,019 people

Newcomers Dinners

Last year we held two Alpha classes for those that were exploring faith or returning to faith. These classes were designed to provide a space for

20 people

26 sessions

26 dinners

JAN-JUL

spiritual seekers to share a meal and share in the exploration of the core components of the Christian faith. During this time we served:


Every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God.

Average attendance

JULY 2012 –JUNE 2013

JULY 2011 – JUNE 2012

JULY 2013 – JUNE 2014

JULY 2014 – JUNE 2015

271+70

201

420+149

500+80

(ESTIMATE)

+75,000PODCAST LISTENS

SINCE 2012

“THE DAY AFTER I MOVED TO DC, I ATTENDED A SERVICE HERE AND THE COMMUNITY DINNER THAT FOLLOWED. I FELT SO WELCOMED BY THE

STAFF AND CONGREGATION, SO AT EASE IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND SO BLESSED BY THE MESSAGE THAT NIGHT THAT I KNEW I’D BE BACK. WE

WENT TO SMALL GROUP THAT WEEK … AND DECIDED RIGHT AWAY THAT THIS WOULD BE OUR CHURCH HOME.”

Gatherings

OVER

1000PEOPLE GATHERED

ON EASTER WEEKEND AT

BOTH PARISHES.



Small Groups

Our church began as a small group. We have always been a church that

gathers in homes.


ALL NUMBERS ABOVE ARE A COMBINED TOTAL FROM BOTH COLUMBIA HEIGHTS AND EAST SIDE PARISHES.

760ATTENDINGSMALL GROUP

SMALL GROUPLEADERS78

HOST HOMESTHIRTY

“I FELT LIKE A PEER AND NOT

LIKE I WAS BEING PREACHED TO.”

– JENNIFER

43GROUPS

“I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE LOVED BY A GROUP AT TDC THAN I DO

WITH MY SMALL GROUP!” – KATRINA

“OUR LEADERS HAD GOOD MATURITY AND WERE GENUINE.

THEY SHOWED MUCH CARE FOR THE GROUP. THEY WERE A POSITIVE DRIVING FORCE

AND PASSIONATE ABOUT COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT.”

– AZHAR


“ I REALLY ENJOY BEING IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM, SEEING WHAT’S ON STAGE WHILE SEEING THE WHOLE CONGREGATION AND HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WORSHIPING TOGETHER BUT EACH IN THEIR OWN WAY.”

– SHIRI YADLIN, SOUND AND SLIDES VOLUNTEER

Over the last year, we’ve also partnered with:

Service & Outreach

252People serving on

ministry teams

2028 Service hours given

1 ,573 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS455 EAST SIDE

Homeless Playtime Project and Park View Kids Zone;

Columbia Heights Educational Campus, Miner Elementary School, and Next Step Public Charter School;

Various anti-human trafficking and HIV/AIDS organizations.

+

2014-2015


Ours is neither a solitary nor self-serving faith, but one that continues to push us out — out to the world around us, out to the margins and out towards our neighbors. As The District Church lives into our disciple-making mission, we continue to ask, “In what ways are we outward-facing and outward-reaching?”

As we face our city, we continue to provide prayers, support, and leadership to the DC127 initiative that was birthed in our church and in our midst. In our work with DC127, we ask those marked by God’s love to face outward towards children awaiting a foster or adoptive home. As we face our neighborhoods, we look at those who live around us and ask God to show us ways to be helpful,

faithful, and effective neighbors, displaying to those closest to us what it means to be a follower of Jesus. As we face outward towards the schools in which we gather for worship, we display care and solidarity with them by serving the parents during monthly Parent Teacher Organization meetings, by sponsoring Teacher Appreciation Lunches, and by serving alongside neighborhood volunteers during school beautification days. And as we face our world, we commission missionaries, aid workers, and church planters to go out. We pray for and support those serving victims of human trafficking, those who care for people

living in the aftermath of violence and oppression, and those planting churches in the greater DC area and globally in places like Montreal, Canada.

All of this reminds us all that some of our neighbors live just a little farther away, but nevertheless are loved by God and by us. There’s much to celebrate in our efforts at reaching out. It is right that we should celebrate the dozens and dozens of District Church volunteers serving homeless children, tutoring high schoolers, serving elementary school parents, and caring for our city’s streets. And still we continue to be a church that faces outward, asking what else and what’s next, laboring together as those following Jesus and seeking the renewal of our city.


Financial Highlights JULY 1, 2014 – JUNE 30, 2015 (FISCAL YEAR)

Our Executive Board carefully seeks God’s guidance in determining and approving the allocation of each year’s budget. Our staff are challenged and expected to be prudent stewards of the budgets entrusted to them. Every dollar received or spent is accounted for through careful record keeping by our staff and our accounting firm.

Last Year’s Expenses

Personnel $431,782

Leadership Development $47,768

Discipleship $29,079

Ministry Teams $43,850

Communications $38,120

Operations $54,784

Facilities $195,261

Launch Expenses $26,874

Outreach $306,097

TOTAL EXPENSES $1,173,616

TOTAL INCOME $1,209,708

NET INCOME $117,092

Last Year’s Income

General Tithes & Offerings $1,007,977

Total Designated Giving $282,731

Total Giving $1,290,708

** Designated giving includes: DC127, Advent Offering, Pentecost Offering, Leadership Residents & District Renewal Fund

Notes+ All numbers include both Columbia Heights & East Side parishes+ Personnel includes: Lead Pastor, East Side Pastor, Pastor of

Teaching & Formation, Discipleship Pastor, Worship & Arts Director, Operations Manager, Communications Coordinator, Kids’ City Leadership, Residents & Fellows.

+ Ministry teams include: Hospitality, Kids’ City, Worship, Production, Visual Arts, and Prayer.

+ Facility rentals include: CHEC, Miner Elementary, Next Step PCS, and Church Office.

+ Outreach includes: DC127, Advent & Pentecost offerings, local/global projects, mission partnerships, network giving, and benevolence. With your financial support we launched DC127 as a separate legal entity in April.

+ Net Income is set aside for savings and future expansion.

$622,214 TOTAL CHURCH PERSONNEL $243,861 TOTAL FACILITIES $299,908 TOTAL MINISTRY EXPENSES $259,000 TOTAL OUTREACH $230,000 TOTAL SAVINGS & EXPANSION

Average weekly giving needed = $31,827. Average weekly giving needed per person = $64.

Giving

To request a full financial report, email [email protected]

71%of our church’s giving

comes in online. To set up your giving, visit

districtchurch.org/give.

TOTAL 2015-16 BUDGET:

$1,654,9837.1.15 - 6.30.16

THIS YEAR’S BUDGET


Getting Connected

5 Year Numbers

68dinners/lunches

1019people served

2014-2015

14dinners/lunches

277people served

2014-2015

10dinners/lunches

38people served

ONLINE AT DISTRICTCHURCH.ORG

36,265 2,892UNIQUE WEBSITE VIEWS

SOCIAL MEDIA REFERRALS

CH ES

NEW

CO

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S D

INN

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The BeginningPastors Aaron & Amy Graham begin hosting a small group & launch team meetings in their home. What starts with 10 people grows to 35 people by the end of the summer and they outgrow their home.

Public LaunchWe hold our first public worship gathering at Capital City Public Charter School (now Next Step PCS) with 48 adults and 2 kids in attendance.

Ordained to the Gospel MinistryJustin Fung becomes the first person ordained at The District Church into pastoral ministry.

Office SpaceOur staff outgrows the local coffee shops and the Fairmont House and we move into a leased space in the Shaw neighborhood.

DC127 hosts Foster the CityInspired from James 1:27, The District Church launches a new ministry called DC127. Chelsea Geyer serves as the first staff person and convenes 28 churches from across DC for "Foster the City" to begin the work of reversing the foster-care wait list in DC. Today our church gives over $100,000 a year to DC127.

Columbia Heights Parish Moves to CHECAfter praying for many years God opens the door for us to begin worshiping weekly at Columbia Heights Educa-tional Campus next door to where we have been meeting for the last four years. The space is four times the size and allows us to move back to two morning services. This also begins a new partner-ship with a school serving low-income families in DC.

Timeline

APRIL 2010

SEPTEMBER 2013

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

NOVEMBER 2013

NOVEMBER 2011

AUGUST 2014

Just as we celebrate spiritual markers in our own journey of following Christ, we want to celebrate the spiritual markers in the life of our church. There are so many we could include but here are a few highlights:


APRIL 2012

SEPTEMBER 2014

JANUARY 2013

JANUARY 2015

JUNE 2013

JULY 2015

Fairmont House PurchasedWith a vision to train leaders called to ministry in DC the Leadership Residency House is purchased. Justin Fung becomes first staff person to live in the house. It also serves as the church’s first real office for a year.

Leadership RetreatAt our annual Leadership Retreat we prayed and believed God for 1) a 2nd Parish and 2) a Foster Care Ministry. Both of which were prayers that would be answered the following year.

The East Side Parish Launches A group of about 40 TDC'ers that live near the H Street Corridor are convened by Pastor Justin Fung to start a second parish and launch weekly services at Miner Elementary School. Over 100 people attend the first service.

Pastoring the East Side Parish After moving here from Memphis with his wife Lisa and three children and living at the Fairmont House for the first year, Matthew Watson becomes pastor of the East Side Parish and works to intentionally expand the church's presence in the neighborhood, especially through the volunteers serving weekly with Kids' & Teen City.

A Church of Small GroupsWe continue to be a church of small groups. We now have over 40 groups meeting weekly to study God's Word and fellowship in every quadrant of the city and in MD and VA.

Generosity Accumulates In the last five years, we have given away almost $700,000 to care for the poor, plant new churches, and advance God’s justice mission locally in DC. With your continued giving we are on track to give $1 million to missions before the end of next year!


At our two year celebration in June, we set about remembering again why we planted the church on H Street and what our vision was for starting a new community of faith here. We remembered our passion to see the gospel take root in this neighborhood. We remembered the desire to be a community that welcomed new DC residents who arrive full of education, hopes and aspiration and longtime DC residents who share history, wisdom and struggle. We remembered the deep burden to reach children and teenagers with the message of Christ and the message that they are treasures. We remembered the simple beginnings of gathering in homes, praying in living rooms and serving neighbors.

Two years later, this remains our vision: to be a church that reaches across race and class and embodies the beloved community that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of. As we continue to make disciples and set our hearts about participating in God’s renewal of all things, we find ourselves gaining increasing favor with Miner Elementary, with the students, their parents, and the administration of that school. We’re serving the parent teacher organization, we’re teaching students in the school’s community garden, and we’re serving on neighborhood councils. We could speak of our growing passion to engage the arts community on H Street and the ‘deposits of beauty’ many within our parish are making – storytelling events, grassroots music events, songwriting workshops – as well as our efforts at the simple art of neighboring. In all of this – all of our planning and planting, all of our preaching and storytelling, all of our serving and supporting – our goal is to see disciples made, our city renewed, and God’s Kingdom come on H Street as it is in Heaven.

East Side Parish

Matthew Watson East Side Pastor & Outreach Pastor

“ THERE ARE A LOT OF REALLY GOOD CAUSES TO BE INVOLVED WITH IN THE CITY, BUT FOR ME DC127 IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT A PERSON SIGNING UP FOR AN ORGANIZATION AND VOLUNTEERING SOME TIME, BUT IT’S ABOUT MOBILIZING GOD’S PEOPLE TO PURSUE GOD’S HEART IN RADICAL WAYS IN COMMUNITY WITHIN THEIR CHURCHES AND WITH OTHER CHURCHES AROUND THE CITY. WHEN I THINK ABOUT NOT ONLY THE GREAT NEEDS, BUT ALSO THE GLORY THAT GOD GETS WHEN THE CITY SEES THE CHURCH RESPONDING AND TRULY LOVING THEIR NEIGHBORS, IT’S CLEAR TO ME THAT THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO DIG IN AND SPEND MY TIME. ... IT’S BEEN SO ENCOURAGING TO SEE PEOPLE ASKING THEMSELVES “WHAT CAN I DO?, WHETHER THEY ARE SINGLE OR MARRIED, LIVING WITH HER ROOMMATES OR ON THEIR OWN, FEW SEEM TO HAVE EXEMPTED THEMSELVES FROM THIS CALL.”

– WHITNEY KING, CHURCH COORDINATOR, RESTORATION CHURCH

DC127 was launched by The District Church in 2013, and we are a network of churches dedicated to ensuring every child in foster care has a home, and families in crisis get the support they need to stay together.


6foster or adoptive families

15Safe Families Host Homes active or in process

80volunteers in mentoring, coordinating, and support roles

9core church partners, and 20 churches in our network

+20 kids served by the DC127 network

DC127

We are an elder-ruled and staff-led church, meaning that the elders—or what we call our executive board—hold the staff accountable to make sure the mission and vision are achieved in a financially and legally responsible way that upholds biblical standards and fits within our values as a church. Our staff and leadership community of small group leaders and ministry team leaders carry out and lead the bulk of the ministry.

While our church is non-denominational, we are connected with four associations that we learn from and collaborate with for common mission: New Thing Network, Ecclesia Network, BGAV / V3, and the Christian Community Development Association.

As a staff this year we have been focusing on five strategic priorities: Please join us in prayer as we seek to deepen our impact in these five areas as a church.

Staff

1. We care for our souls: We want to maintain our focus more on who we are becoming than what we are accomplishing, knowing that we cannot separate the health of the minister from the health of the ministry.

2. We clarify our discipleship process: We want to make it clear how someone can follow Jesus and help others follow Jesus here in DC through the ministry of TDC.

3. We become more intentionally diverse: We want to build on our growing diversity to even more intentionally become a church that looks like heaven and acts like Jesus.

4. We expand our neighborhood presence: We want to form deeper partnerships and relationships on the neighborhood level through our local parishes and small groups.

5. We deepen our volunteer engagement: We want to improve the ways we recruit, train, and celebrate our volunteers.

We are always focused on advancing our mission of discipleship and reaching our city, but these strategic priorities are crucial for us to focus on to help us more faithfully live out this mission.


Executive BoardMichael Li

Erika Prochaska

Jiyoung Park

Asa Briggs

Adam Nations

Aaron Graham

StaffAaron Graham - Lead Pastor (reports to Executive Board)

Matthew Watson - East Side Pastor & Outreach Pastor

Amy Graham - Discipleship Pastor & Small Groups Coordinator

Justin Fung - Teaching & Formation Pastor

Anna Hurley - Operations Manager & Executive Assistant

Kimberly Williams - Worship & Production Leader

Jordan Wilson - Worship Arts Director

Beverly Lwenya - Communications Coordinator

Andrea Ackermann - Part-Time Worship Leader, East Side Parish

Ministry FellowsJenn Nichols - Discipleship Fellow

Seminary InternsJacqueline Lee - Baxter

Sylveta Brown

Ministry Team LeadersVivi Coria - Kids’ City Columbia Heights Leader

Courtney Albon - Hospitality Team East Side Leader

David Hood - Production Team East Side Leader

BY GIVING TO “THE DISTRICT RENEWAL FUND”, YOU CAN HELP MAKE THESE GOD-SIZED DREAMS BECOME A REALITY!


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What’s Next

God-Sized DreamsHave you ever felt God calling you to do something but lacked the finances or capacity to carry it out? This is what we sense as a church. We believe God has called us to each of these endeavors; however, each will require God-sized resources. Will you join us in praying that these dreams would become a reality?

Plant a third parish: Pray for God to reveal to us the specific neighborhood in DC we are to plant in next. Ask God to raise up our next pastor, as well as a team of small group and ministry team leaders, who will lead us.

Affordable Housing: Pray for the financial resources and for favor to be able to acquire a piece of land or property in order to build affordable housing for the poor in our city. Pray also for the opportunity to solve our office and event space needs through this project.

Leadership Pipeline: Join us in praying for future parish pastors, worship leaders, artists, and ministry leaders to emerge from within our church and that we would have the openness to receive those God sends us from afar.

Recovery Ministry: Pray for our church to be known as a place where the sick can come for healing; for a willingness in our church to admit our powerlessness over addictions and unhealthy relationships and to get help; for lay counselors to be trained; for support groups, partnerships with professional counselors, and a recovery gathering.

Reverse the List: Through birthing DC127, we are focused on the day when there will be no more children waiting for families, but rather families waiting for children. We want churches in DC to rise up to take a lead in opening their homes to adopt, foster, or become host homes to care for children and families in crisis here in our city.

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PARISH 10:00 AM & 11:30 AM Columbia Heights Educational Campus 3101 16th St NW Washington, DC 20010

EAST SIDE PARISH 10:30 AM Miner Elementary School 601 15th St NE Washington, DC 20002

CHURCH OFFICE 1616 7th St NW Washington, DC 20001

facebook.com/districtchurch@districtchurch www.districtchurch.org

TDC Annual Report 2015

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