Annual Report //2017
CONTENTS WELCOME 3 OUR FAMILY 6 OUR MISSION 14 OUR MINISTRIES 15 FINANCES 40 VISION FOR 2018 42
Greetings, It’s time again, my friends, for our annual report—that yearly opportunity we have to celebrate God’s grace and walk in transparency before this wonderful family of churches. Reflecting on 2017, there is one dominating thought I cannot escape: What an indescribable honor it is to serve with you in this wonderful adventure of “network!” In John 16:33, this adventure is sketched out more when our Lord detailed two inevitable realities that define our experience of life and ministry. “In the world, you will have tribulation,” said Jesus, thus confirming that inhabiting broken spaces delivers terrible trials. But Jesus immediately follows with, “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” A fallen world’s ability to dispense difficulty is not the end of the story. We follow One who has broken the dominion of sin and removed the sting of death. Christ overcame, then took us as his own. We, therefore, as his own, “take heart.”
I’ve been thinking lately about how much the tension of this passage characterizes 2017 for us. For some, 2017 was a tough year and could not end quick enough. But Christ has overcome the world, so we stand ready to move forward and contend for what we cherish. And in light of God’s sustaining grace, we “take heart!” As we stand on the threshold of 2018, I believe our little family of churches is primed and ready to live-into our identity as a soulful, relationally-connected, entrepreneurial, church planting network. We are simple folk with simple goals. Slow growth with quality planters and success defined by leaders that last will be our aim. We want the fruit that abides (John 15:1-5). We also recognize that God has given us a deep bench of resources in gifted pastors & ladies, a talented board that can think outside-the-box, and a godly ambition to innovate. So our continued prayer is that, by God’s grace, we will be able to help pastors and develop leaders as we
produce and export material, content, and models that seek to answer nagging, niche, and gnarly ministry questions. We hope to labor long and faithfully, standing in the gap as a voice of encouragement, advocating patient, qualitative growth. As always, our goal as we seek to serve you—with excellence, integrity, gratitude, and proactivity—is to see church planters and pastors equipped to plant, grow, and multiply healthy churches that last. We hope you soul is stirred to trace God’s goodness and faithfulness as you read this report and "take heart" from how God has multiplied our partnership together. Soli Deo Gloria, Dave Harvey Executive Director
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QUICK LOOK AT 2017 IN 2017, WE... This brings our network family to
helped plant
adopted
new churches
existing churches
10
7
55
total churches
20 states
OUR COMMITMENT TO CHURCH PLANTING RESULTED IN‌
investing over
sending over
in 16 different church planters
to the field
$234,000
13
new church planter assessments
$521,600+
48%
leveraging 48% of our annual budget to directly support network churches for church planting, training, & local mission opportunities
IN 2017, COHORT LEADERS & STRATEGISTS CONTINUED THEIR SERVICE TO THE NETWORK BY‌
starting
9
new cohorts
4
serving over
50
men & women
50
visits to network churches for ministry training & encouragement
S providing over
$12,000 worth of cohort scholarships
TO SHARPEN OUR MISSION FOCUS, OUR EVENTS & CONFERENCES...
2 100 189 450
sponsored 2 regional Micro-Conferences in Baltimore, MD & Everett, WA hosted 2 Pre-Conferences, serving & equipping over 100 guests served 44 potential church planters & wives during our Alignment Weekends, and 145 pastors & wives at our annual Lead Pastors & Wives’ Retreat welcomed over 450 attendees for our annual Leaders’ Summit
WE ALSO LAUNCHED OUR E-BOOK SERIES WITH 4 “HOW-TO” EBOOKS ON ASPECTS OF PASTORAL MINISTRY, WRITTEN BY VARIOUS LEADERS WITHIN SOJOURN NETWORK…
selling over 1,100 copies since October
with 6 more to be released by mid-2018!
recommended by: Tim Chester, David Powlison, David Taylor, Collin Hansen, and more...
AS A RESULT OF THE CARE & SUPPORT OUR PASTORS AND CHURCHES RECEIVED IN 2017...
98%
feel healthier as a result of being a part of our network
98%
feel they were helped & served by being part of our network
OVER THE COURSE OF 2017 OUR NETWORK SAW...
300+ baptisms
S
20,000+
attenders in Sojourn Network churches on any given Sunday
S
$1,025,263+
given to further Sojourn Network’s mission of helping pastors plant, grow, and multiply healthy churches that last 5
OUR FAMILY Sojourn Network is a family of pastors and churches partnering together through a beautiful gospel to see healthy pastors planting, growing, and multiplying healthy churches that last. We love celebrating new partner churches, new church plants, and new staff members who help move our mission to our pastors and churches forward. Our network churches span the width and breadth of the United States — from Hawaii to New York, Washington to Florida, Texas to Michigan. In fact, our network family now includes 55 churches in 20 states, and on any given Sunday, an average of 20,000 people gather in Sojourn Network churches to worship our savior, King Jesus. We are immensely grateful for the churches the Lord has brought into our network over the past six years. 6
55
churches
20
states
OUR NEW FAMILY MEMBERS Helped start
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church plants Trinity Church - Jeremy Linneman Harvest Church of Calhoun - Will Troutman King's Cross Church - Dan Alvers Soma Church Northwest - Bobby Barbour Sojourn Tulsa - Sankie Lynch Connection Point Church - Barry Smith The Mission Church - Charles Shannon GraceLife Church - Josh Matteson Bluegrass Community - Michael Meredith New City Church - Troy McComas
States without a Sojourn Network Church States with a Sojourn Network Church
"Sojourn's financial support helped us pay rent and other overhead during our startup year. I enjoyed the coaching and leadership provided by Sojourn. As an elder board, we feel welcomed and encouraged by Sojourn's leadership." JASON BRADSHAW, GOSPEL COMMUNITY CHURCH | TROY, OHIO
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NEW EXISTING CHURCH PARTNERS While Sojourn Network is committed to planting churches, we recognize that there are times when God sovereignly unites us to churches we did not plant. When an existing church enters our network we call this a church “adoption.� Our heart behind each adoption is to identify and welcome likeminded churches who desire to joyfully partner with SN and its churches to help achieve our mission. The following churches worked through our existing church adoption process and were welcomed into our family of churches in 2017. Each of these churches embody the values, beliefs, and humble eagerness for the kind of partnership that will result in mission, and ultimately pass the test of time.
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adopted churches
Sound City Bible Church - Aaron Gray Sojourn Fairfax - Justin Pearson Redeemer Community Church - Chris Jones One Savior Church - Ben Canfield Prism Church - Chuck Ryor Redeemer Church - Ryan Welsh Birmingham Community Church - Chris Culver
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Over
20,000
gather each Sunday at Sojourn Network churches
"The pastoral encouragement was extremely helpful and edifying. Dave's meeting with me for lunch and the encouragement he provided Steven was so valuable. Thank you guys so much for highlighting pastoral care as an aspect of your partnership with churches."
"Our church as been blessed by the fact that we get to participate and partner with church plants. Our giving enables other plants to go. This has been extremely encouraging for Renaissance to witness and joyfully give towards."
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Total invested in Church Planting $234,000 was invested and given to 16 different churches
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"Brad and Gregg gave us an incredibly helpful conceptual framework through which to think about how our church is currently organized and how we'd like it to be. That conversation helped us make more confident decisions about our church, and has made us even more excited about our vision for ministering in our city!"
OUR NEW STAFF A new year often brings with it new friends in new places. This was certainly true for the network staff team, which underwent significant changes within the past year. It was our great joy to have added four experienced professionals to our network team! From Kansas to Kentucky to Southwest Florida, we believe these new additions will strengthen our ministry capacity
and enhance the strength of our network in a wonderful way. We are pleased to welcome Stephanie Neis, Casey Smith, Mary Hines, and Megan Sandefur, each of whom brings years of expertise and a commitment to serving Christ and his Church. Please join us in welcoming them in 2018!
Casey Smith Casey has been married to his best friend Jess for 10 years. They live in Kansas, have 4 beautiful children (Soren - 8, Solomon - 6, Scarlett - 4, Simone - 2), and a Goldendoodle named Sunny. Growing up he thought he was going to be a career thespian, then his voice cracked during a critical line in his second-grade play; he's pursued vocational ministry ever since. Along the way he has worked in banking, worship and pastoral ministry, and served church planters all over the world on staff with Acts 29. Currently, he joyfully serves as the Communications Director for Sojourn Network.
Stephanie Neis
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Stephanie has been married to Dave for 21 years; they live in Estero, Florida with their three children (Zach – 19, Shayla – 15, and Julia 13). Stephanie grew up in Southern California and moved to Arizona where she met her husband. Dave’s job took their family on a journey to Colorado, Tennessee, and then to Florida in 2007. Stephanie has been very involved in her kid’s activities over the years serving on PTO, school committees and coaching their sports. She has served in various ministries including women’s ministry, children’s ministry, community groups, guest services and a church plant in Colorado. Stephanie served on staff at Summit Church for over four years as a Ministry Coordinator in Family Ministries before joining the Sojourn Network team serving as Dave Harvey’s Executive Assistant.
Mary Hines Mary has been married to Jim Hines for 34 years, has 3 adult children and 4 adorable grandchildren. She has served along her husband for over 25 years in a variety of ministries including FCA, women's ministry, bible study, discipleship and church planting. As an event planner, she specialized in weddings and ran her own company. Jim and Mary spent 5 years in New York City serving at a local church and returned to SWFL 3 years ago where Jim now serves as a directional elder at Summit church, part of the Sojourn family. She now serves part-time as the network's Event Planner.
Megan Sandefur Megan has been attending Sojourn East for 2 ½ years with her husband, Addison and two kids (James - 4, Evelyn 2). Megan and Addison, hit it off 10 years ago at a family reunion (don’t worry, he was there as a guest of Megan’s cousin) and were married 3 years later. Megan was born and raised in Louisville, where she now resides in the Okolona area. She is a graduate of IU Southeast and has worked as an administrative assistant for 10 years, part-time the past 4 years while being home with her children. She now serves as Dave Owens' Administrative Assistant.
For a full list of staff, strategists, and the board of directors, visit www.sojournnetwork.com/leadership.
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OUR MISSION Sojourn Network is a non-profit organization working to help pastors plant, grow, and multiply healthy churches that last. Our annual Lead Pastors and Wives’ Retreat, Leaders’ Summit, Cohorts, Strategist, and Micro Conference ministries ensure pastors have what they need to live fruitful lives and lead themselves, their families, and their congregations in joyful obedience to Jesus Christ. For more about our ministries, visit www.sojournnetwork.com/introduction.
"Partnerships are so important to longevity and faithfulness in ministry. Sojourn Network is doing an excellent job promoting and supporting pastors and partnerships."
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OUR MINISTRIES Perhaps “programs and ministries” is too formal, too “businessy”, too corporate. That’s certainly not our intention. These programs are far more personal for us, for the ministries outlined below took shape after many years of conversations between network leaders and pastors, as a result of the seeds planted by many networks who have gone before us, and as a result of our young network trying out all kinds of different ways to serve our pastors - some of which worked and some of which didn’t! In other words, each section below represents important, specific, and hopefully helpful ways that we (the leaders and staff at Sojourn Network) strive to serve pastors on a daily basis - with excellence, integrity, gratitude, and proactivity so that pastors are equipped to partner together to plant, grow, and multiply healthy, gospel-centered churches that last. Our hope is that through our core ministries, we can play a small role in seeing healthy pastors leading healthy churches that last. In 2017, and by God’s grace, we continued to see fruit from our ministry.
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programs CHURCH PLANTING EVENTS & CONFERENCES COACHING COHORTS DEPLOYING STRATEGISTS CONTENT & COMMUNICATIONS 15
CHURCH
16
PLANTING
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CHURCH PLANTING Our primary ministry is to partner with like-minded churches and pastors to identify and resource qualified planters to start churches that last. We prioritize this ministry as a church planting network because we believe that multiplying God’s mission through the planting of healthy churches is one of the key ways God desires to save the lost and build his new kingdom! To this end, 2017 was our most fruitful year to date in our young network, seeing growth in assessments, approved planters, funding given to planters, and increased interest in church planters exploring our network. We spent nearly 50% of our budget — $521,660 — specifically on 16 church planters through monthly support checks and on ministries that directly support church planters and mission expansion, including church planter identification and equipping, deploying network leaders and pastors to our churches for strategic mission related training and counsel, funding to new local campuses and congregations of multichurch, and more. Additionally, we were able to: • Partner with 10 Sojourn Network churches to plant a new church or congregation this year. • Assess 13 potential church planters and their wives. • Help 39 potential church planters who reached out to us to explore church planting. • Host 44 potential church planters and wives at our first two Alignment Weekends. • Lay the groundwork for a brand new training cohort for new church 18 planters that will launch in the fall of 2018!
~50%
of the budget is dedicated to church planters
CHURCH PL A NT I NG
C H UR C H
"I was helped by both the Lead Pastors & Wives' Retreat & by the Leaders' Summit. My wife & I were also able to receive some very helpful counseling with Robert & Karen Cheong. Our church also received much support & financial relief due to Hurricane Harvey. Overall, we were greatly assisted by the network & we would not be where we are without it." JOSH JEAN SOJOURN BEAUMONT | BEAUMONT, TX
EVENTS &
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CONFERENCES
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EVENTS & CONFERENCES At Sojourn Network, we aim to provide high-quality events and conferences for network pastors and nonnetwork pastors and ministry leaders to learn, celebrate, sing, and pray forward our mission. Conferences are a tremendous way to train and care for pastors and their teams, provide venues for relational connections to start and grow, and to gather together as a network of pastors to be encouraged by what God has done and continues to do to advance his mission. Sojourn Network events in 2017 served over 1,000 people.
Lead Pastors and Wives' Retreat Our annual four-day spring retreat offers lead pastors, board members, strategists, network staff, and their spouses an opportunity for rest, renewal, feasting, ceasing from our work, fellowship, and space to be present with their spouse as well as other network pastors. Morning sessions provide teaching on resting in the midst of ministry, raising children, and marriages. Afternoons provide time
to rest and relax. Evenings are filled with feasting and fellowship. This year we hosted over 145 lead pastors and wives in Naples, Florida and sat under renewing teaching from Zack Eswine and Dave Harvey.
"Zach was one of the most refreshing retreat speakers I've ever heard. My wife and I were deeply refreshed by his care and treatment of the Word. We were really grateful for the time! Thank you."
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Leaders’ Summit Our annual Leaders’ Summit offers pastoral and church staff teams practical training in areas related to church planting, church growth, church multiplication, church leadership, soul care, church health, and more. The emphasis of the fall Leaders' Summit is intensive training built around a certain theme or topic. This year’s theme — Why Partnership: Churches Flourishing Through Collaboration — was aimed at teaching our churches the why behind our value of “partnership” and “collaboration,” as well as the practical howto’s required for churches and pastors to partner locally, nationally, and internationally to see the kingdom of God multiply. At this year’s Leaders' Summit: • We trained 450+ pastors and local church ministry leaders through 5 plenary sessions, 20 breakout trainings, and 8 drop-in panel conversations. • We equipped over 100 people through two pre-conferences: (1) Redemptive Presence: A Pre-Conference on Faith and Culture hosted by Harbor Media; (2) City-Reaching: A How-To for Reaching Your City with Mercy & Justice.
Trained
450+
pastors & local leaders
Equipped
100+
Speakers and trainers included J.D. Greear, Dave Harvey, Joel Brooks, Jamin Stinziano, Mike Cosper, Karen Swallow Prior, David Taylor, and many more.
people
You can listen to all the sessions over on our podcast.
"The Leaders' Summit was really impactful for me, personally. The teaching & connecting with other planters was good, as usual, but the worship totally wrecked me (in a good way). I love being a part of a greater narrative than my story in Miami. Worshipping with a collective of churches striving for the kingdom of God was a profound & humbling & exciting moment." JEREMIAH TAYLOR REDEMPTION CHURCH | MIAMI, FL
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Regional Micro-Conferences The purpose of micro-conferences is to provide a one-day regional training to equip pastors and church leaders in a particular ministry area. These short, highly practical training conferences exist to establish geographic regions as hubs for pastoral training and development; to serve pastors in particular geographic regions by providing training in areas related to church planting, church health, church multiplication, and/or pastoral health; and enhance the public profile of Sojourn Network to the end that we might help more churches plant healthy, gospel-centered churches. We helped sponsor two regional micro conferences in 2017: 1. Ethnos — a micro conference hosted by The Village Church in Baltimore, MD on “Flourishing: the quest for human dignity”. 2. Gospel-Centered Parenting — a micro conference hosted by Foundation Church in Everett, WA to help parents parent their children through the gospel. Together, these two micro-conferences trained over 500 men and women on issues of gospel-centered racial reconciliation and gospelcentered parenting.
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500+
men and women trained on gospel-centered racial reconciliation & gospel-centered parenting
"From the friendly staff to the snacks, food, & coffee, this Leaders' Summit felt like you we're able to rest & be taken care of, all the while, still learn a ton! The way SN runs events really makes it feel like a family, like being a part of a retreat & conference at the same time. I'm thankful for the network & the way they care for the souls of all who are a part."
COACHING
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COHORTS
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"Brad cared for our souls. He sought to pastor us well by reminding us of the gospel & our need for God's grace every day. He provided practical wisdom & insight to help us faithfully pursue 'community' in our particular ministry context. He also helped facilitate relationships among participants, so that we could all encourage, exhort, pray for & help one another as partners in the gospel."
COACHING COHORTS Our suite of coaching cohorts is designed to provide group-based training, coaching and counseling to lead pastors and key ministry leaders in their churches. From executive pastors to new church planters, community group leaders to counseling ministry leaders, young preachers to seasoned church leaders, these cohorts provide a helpful venue for our churches for ongoing learning in ministry-specific and rolespecific formats. • In 2017, 9 cohorts were launched and over 50 pastors and ministry leaders were served. • We also gave away over $12,000 to network lead pastors and other ministry leaders to attend Sojourn Network sponsored coaching cohorts. • Since launching our coaching cohort ministry in January 2016, we have launched 20 cohorts which have trained over 150 pastors and staff in our network churches.
"The cohort provided an opportunity to learn from others who served in the same area and to realize that you're not alone with your struggles or difficulties. To hear that we all had similar frustrations, struggles and problems helped us to pull together and be encouraged to lead the families through God's grace."
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DEPLOYING
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STRATEGISTS
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DEPLOYING STRATEGISTS Sojourn Network provides ministry expertise and guidance to our pastors and their teams through gifted and seasoned ministry experts we call “strategists.” These strategists offer supplemental care, support, counsel, and training in a variety of formats including quick emails, phone calls, resource creation, and even through onsite visits to our churches. In 2017, we deployed and resourced strategists to go on over 50 of these onsite visits to network churches to help churches start new ministries, purchase facilities, plant churches, start new campuses and congregations, work through crisis, and more. Since launching this ministry in January 2016, we have deployed strategists on over 80 visits to network churches. You can read more about this ministry and see a full list of available strategists on our website.
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80+
site visits since 2016
50+
onsite visits to network churches
"Dave & Kimm spent time with our elders & their families. That was an encouragement to us. He talked about the network, heard our stories, & preached for our Sunday gatherings. That was great! Our church at large got to hear Dave & hear about SN. Dave also spent the morning with our staff. SN means a lot to our church, so it meant a lot to have such focused time with them. We also got to share a bit of our story from the past few years — some of the struggles. It was good to have his presence."
CONTENT & COMM
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UNICATIONS
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CONTENT & COMMUNICATIONS The goal of our communications and resourcing is to develop practical, relevant, inspiring, and networkspecific resources that equip network pastors to carry out their mission and encourage them with stories of how God is working through their partnership with the network and one another. Through resources like our white papers, eBooks, Sojourn Network Films, and blogs, delivered through our website, social media, email and more, we want to creatively, consistently, and clearly equip and encourage our pastors, their teams, and the watching world. We’ve seen growth in each of these areas — especially over the past two years.
SojournNetwork.com Views 2016
113,000
2017
170,000
Blog Posts 50
2016
New White Papers
7
36
118
New eBooks
4
2017
eBook Downloads
1100+
eBooks The launch of a brand new line of How-To eBooks highlighted our resource line in 2017. Releasing this year are the following ebooks*: Laying a Foundation: ‘How-To’ Establish a Legal Local Church by Tim Beltz Doing Work: 'How-To' Develop a Biblical Deacon Ministry by Gregg R. Allison Seasons of the Soul: 'How-To' Change with Your Church and Your Self by John Starke Leaders at Every Level: 'How-To' Develop Leaders in the Local Church by Kevin Galloway A big thanks to Dave Harvey (Executive Editor), Justin Karl (Managing Editor) and Casey Smith (Project Manager) for their hours of work in getting this project off the ground and these resources into your hands. * The ebook titles listed above are subject to change prior to publishing.
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Blog In 2017, we added over 118 new blogs to our website, which now is home to over 230 articles on a variety of topics including church health and church growth, church multiplication and church planting, pastoral health, preaching, and a variety of stories from across our network.
White Papers
118+
new blog posts
As we continue to clarify and define who we are as a network and what we believe, we use white papers to help us. These papers, ranging from 2500-3500 words, provide clarity on a number of specific topics related to our beliefs and practices. Current topics include: Why We Plant Churches by Dave Harvey What We Mean by a Church Planting Residency by Brandon Shields What “Network� Means to Us by Dave Harvey Why Retreat? by Mike Cosper
Podcast We made several updates to our podcast in 2017, including 35 new episodes, as well as the addition of transcripts for all breakout training sessions, main sessions, and more from past Sojourn Network events. 38
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new podcasts
"The Lead Pastors' & Wives Retreat was a great time for us & is always very timely. The fact that SN makes a way for my wife & I to intentionally find rest in our family schedule serves us greatly. We always leave feeling our friendships with other couples are growing. We love this! The Leaders' Summit was really good for me as well. God totally blew me away. Jamin's message on John 17 was food for the soul. Ronnie's break out was one of the best & most practical breakouts I've attended. I was finding myself in a bit of a hard season & God provided an opportunity for much honesty with some close SN brothers. I won't soon forget how helpful they were. I'm overly thankful that they took the time to care."
FINANCES When we think about money, people, and other tangible resources required to run our organization, our goal has always been, and continues to be, to wisely and strategically steward the finances, staff, data, systems, tools and technology, and facilities God has given SN.
2017 Financial Overview
0
2017 2018 budget budget
2017 2017 Expenses Revenue
Historical Giving 1,200,000 1,200,000
REVENUE EXPENSES
1,000,000 1,000,000
800,000 800,000
600,000 600,000
400,000 400,000 40
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
$1,108,433
300000
Actual Giving: $1,108,433 Actual Expenses: $1,054,259
$1,054,259
By God’s grace our network has grown steadily over the past seven1200000 years by the generous giving of our network churches. The following900000 charts and graphs represent financials for 2017, as well as some 600000 historical financial information.
$1,100,000 $1,300,000
1500000
2017
Allocation of Expenses
Church Planting/Mission | 28%
Ministries | 31%
Operations | 7%
Staffing | 31%
FOR EVERY $1.00 SPENT:
28¢
goes to church planting & missions
31¢
goes to ministries
7¢
goes to operations
31¢
goes to staffing
Breakout of 2017 Ministries Expenses Events | 66% Care & Hospitality | 13% Strategists | 10% Coaching Cohorts | 10% Church Adoptions | 3%
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VISION FOR 2018 In 2018, we’ll focus on helping pastors plant, grow, and multiply healthy churches that last by... ...launching a new annual training cohort for church planters in year 1 of their plant, ...developing a new initiative to implement the Northstar theological framework in network churches, ...unveiling a new network-wide strategy to help our churches prepare for and respond to disaster relief, ...publishing 6 more “How-To” eBooks, ...and, by God’s grace, so much more! 42
Copyright Š 2018 by Sojourn Network All rights reserved. This report or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher or author. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2018 Sojourn Network 1303 South Shelby Street Louisville, KY 40217 www.sojournnetwork.com
Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May you use us, your servants, to be salt & light and thus show the world who you are. To the praise and glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.
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