From the beginning, Doxa was planted with the vision of becoming not a mega church, but a mother church. Instead of building a larger and more comfortable community of believers here in this city, we have always had a vision to send some of our best pastors, leaders, and community members out from here to other University cities with the hopes of more churches being planted.
Over the past two and a half years, we have seen lives changed and many people choose to follow Jesus. We have seen God’s faithfulness to answer bold prayers and provide for us at every step of our journey. All of this has happened because of the grace of God, and the willingness of people to say yes to God’s invitation to go. Now, we are asking that God would do it again.
In the fall of 2022, Doxa sent out its first church plant to Ann Arbor, Michigan.
We are praising God for answered prayers that He would raise up a team of laborers who were willing to sell their houses, leave their communities, and move their lives to this new in city in hopes that God would build a Church focused on reaching the next generation— a church that, by his grace, would become a beacon of the gospel for that community and its universities.
Why Ann Arbor?
A University focused city.
Similar to Madison, Ann Arbor is one of the top academic centers of the country. The community of Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. Between those two large state schools and the large community college that sits between them, Ann Arbor is home to over 80,000 college students.
As a University town, it is a natural funnel for the next generation. The University of Michigan is one of the top 10 schools in the country with over 50% of the students from out of state. This means that reaching Ann Arbor will have ripple effects into many of the coastal communities that are harder to reach from the Midwest.
A spiritually lost city.
Ann Arbor is consistently rated as one of the best cities to raise a family, is only 20 minutes from an international airport, and is only 40 minutes from downtown Detroit. It’s one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the country, and with its close proximity to Detroit, it houses a remarkable number of startups and job opportunities.
For all its offers, though, Ann Arbor is spiritually lost and in need of the gospel. With only 33% of people in Ann Arbor identifying as Religious, and less than 10% considering themselves evangelical Christian, Ann Arbor is the least reached city in the Big 10.
The Timeline
