2025 Annual report

Annual Report

2024 was a great first year as an official network!  Yes, it sure does not seem like it but we are only, officially, a little over a year old.  With the help of our friends from the Midwest Network, we really hit the ground running.  Here are a few notable items from 2024:

  • Established a thriving Ordination Team (OT) led by Pastor Thomas Cellilli.  By 2025, we had taken strides as an OT beyond any other network in our denomination.

  • Established a concrete and professional Covenant Keepers Team (CKT) that quickly created a CKT handbook and again, another team in our network that has, by 2025 ahead of other networks and is already looking to test the 5 year assessment requirement for our UMV churches.

  • Creation of Sabbatical Grants (up to $5K each) for churches that need assistance in caring for their pastors and offering a sabbatical when the time comes.

  • Offering a Leadership Development Cohort with Corum Deo with 7 participants from throughout the network, paying for the registration costs for the participants.

  • Our first ever Annual Meeting in June 2024 at Cedar Hills Community Church in Cedar Rapids, IA with 82 participants!

  • Hosting a Communications webinar with Josh Wierenga and offering a free Communications assessment for any church that wants one!

  • Establishing Church Creativity Grants (up to $5K each) for 2025 to help churches in developing leaders and focusing on community outreach and spreading the gospel.

Financially, we had a very solid year, here is an overview:

  • Income: $115K (including $20K from MW Network seed fund and $2.5K global Alliance support)

  • Expenses: $43K

    • Communities (Evangelism Training): $350

    • Leaders (CKT and OT): $3K

    • Disciples (Cluster meetings and Continuing Ed): $1.2K

    • Ministries (Annual Meeting, travel and supplies): $6.4K

    • Operations (staff, contingency, legal and professional fees): $32K

The board is committed to infusing funds to churches where they need support. We believe in the principle of "pooling" funds to support churches who find themselves in difficult situations today to make them strong again in the future so that together, we will be able to support churches who may not find themselves as strong as they are today.

As you can see, we had a very good year that is propelling us into an even better 2025.