CHURCH PLANT REPORT
2019-2020
OUR VISION
LOVING WELL, ONE PERSON AT A TIME
We believe Jesus is the safe place that we can all run toward. He is someone who loves us and listens to us. So we are endeavoring to find sanctuary in Christ, be sanctuary to each other, and express sanctuary to the city.
FIND
SANCTUARY IN CHRIST
BE
SANCTUARY TO EACH OTHER
EXPRESS
SANCTUARY TO THE CITY
We want to be a people that is unhurried in the presence of the poor and unfazed in the presence of the powerful.
OUR TEAMS
OUR PASTOR
Tom Shaw was born and raised in the UK where he served as lead elder at The City Church in Canterbury, UK and was instrumental in planting many churches worldwide. Eventually Tom, along with his wife (Josie) and their three daughters (Daisy, Lily, and Poppy) moved to California where Tom served on staff at Radiant Church for two years and published his first book, The Comfort Delusion.
In 2019, they were sent to San Francisco by Confluence and Radiant Church to plant Sanctuary. Alongside a deep passion to see churches started and strengthened both locally and globally, Tom has a deep love for curry, coffee, and conversation.
ADVISORY TEAM
We are extremely blessed to have a team of advisors that are full of both wisdom and faith, guiding and coaching us to ensure we establish Sanctuary Church on a firm foundation.
EXTERNAL MEMBERS
Nick Parsons - The Orchard Group / Bay City Church (San Francisco, CA)
Mike Lawson - Confluence Churches
Bo Noonan - New Community Church (Tacoma, WA)
LOCAL MEMBERS
Tom Shaw
Josie Shaw
Tim Harms
Billy Atkins
FINANCE TEAM
Because financial stewardship is so important to our success and witness to the city, we created a team of individuals dedicated to prayerfully allocating the financial gifts and generosity of our community. For detailed financial information, click here to skip to the financial report.
EXTERNAL MEMBERS
Mike Lawson - Confluence Churches
Shon Baldwin - Radiant Church (Visalia, CA)
LOCAL MEMBERS
Tom Shaw
Tim Harms (CPA)
Billy Atkins
Robbie Brisco
“We feel that Sanctuary is a community where everyone is encouraged to genuinely be themselves while purposefully pursuing the Lord. And we love that!”
- Scott and Joni Toombs
YEAR-ONE HIGHLIGHTS
God has done some amazing things during our first year in San Francisco. Here’s just a taste:
ARRIVING IN SF
JUNE 2019
Since our first couple arrived on the ground in January 2019, followed by the Shaw family in June 2019, we’ve welcomed 6 more families and individuals who have moved to San Francisco to help plant Sanctuary Church. Many more have joined who were already established in the city.
“POP-UP” CHURCH
AUGUST 2019
By August 2019, we had our first monthly “Pop Up” church gathering at a local art gallery and coffee shop in the Mission called “The Laundry”. We quickly welcomed in many friends and - to our utter delight - were blessed to have as many kids as adults join us. For a city that has more dogs than children, we were thrilled with God’s kindness in attracting so many young families to us.
"I love how I was welcomed from day one and the tremendous sense of family and belonging. I can see and feel God working through every member I've interacted with."
- Raymond Ronquillo
WEEKEND AWAY
NOVEMBER 2019
Because we want Sanctuary to be a family - a place to be known and to know each other - we set aside time for a beautiful, culture-setting weekend in Fort Bragg, CA to build relationship, eat together, learn each other’s stories, and pray into what God was up to in SF. One of our hopes as a church is for people to be known and empowered to lean into their stories and the things God has placed on their hearts.
CHRISTMAS CAROL EVENT
DECEMBER 2019
We welcomed nearly one hundred people into our regular meeting space - an art gallery and event space in the Mission - for a Christmas celebration. We performed a short reading of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and enjoyed each other’s company over mince pies and mulled wine.
ZOOM CHURCH LAUNCH
MARCH 2020
When SF went into lockdown due to Covid-19, we quickly pivoted to a format that allowed us to keep as much of the warm, family feel as possible. Since gathering online, we’ve also been able to have many friends and those hoping to obtain visas to move to SF from abroad able to join us. We’ve seen weekly live stream views as high as 1.5k and have been fortunate to welcome guest speakers including Terry Virgo, Andrew Wilson, John Ortberg, Rich Villodas, and Bryan Mowrey.
“We’ve absolutely loved finding a place to call home, a true sanctuary, with people who amplify Christ and a place to serve others.”
Leah & Nico Longhin
The Harms
The Livingstons
The Walkers
SANCTUARY GROUPS LAUNCH
MARCH 2020
Despite the hustle of the city, we have quickly found the city to be a place where people are quite lonely - with few friends and no “safe place” to go when the waves of life’s storms come crashing in. Sanctuary Groups are a place for us to be sanctuary to each other and invite others into that sanctuary.
By March 2020, Tom felt it right to hand over mid-week gathering responsibilities to three couples. Only one year in and, by God’s grace, we’ve been able to establish three small groups meeting weekly throughout the city — with aims to launch more in the near future.
(Groups featured top-left to bottom right: the Harms, the Livingstons, and the Walkers)
“One of the things we love about Sanctuary is the culture of vulnerability and transparency, in which people don’t take themselves too seriously but *do* take faith seriously. It’s a high faith, low ego atmosphere. Plus Billy brings us wine.”
- Peter & Laura Humphrey
SERVING IN THE TENDERLOIN
Throughout the year, we have partnered with City Impact to serve homeless people in the Tenderloin, one of the most challenged neighborhoods in San Francisco. One of our members regularly served at their food kitchen. Together with City Impact, we helped serve a Thanksgiving meal to homeless people. Once COVID-19 hit, we were able to donate 250 gloves so they would be able to continue serving food daily to those in need. We look forward to continuing our partnership with City Impact.
Through the generosity of Sanctuary members, we’ve also been able to commit nearly $12K to various organizations serving those in our city most impacted by COVID-19.
BRANDING & WEBSITE ROLLOUT
AUGUST 2020
After nearly a year of meeting together and of learning San Francisco, we wanted to develop a digital and brand presence that helped to communicate our vision while matching the sensibilities of the city. After months of planning and execution, we were thrilled to roll out our new logo, brand, and website to the world.
ALPHA LAUNCH
SEPTEMBER 2020
Alpha is a series of group conversations meant to provide a safe place for those skeptical about the Christian faith to discuss questions of life, spirituality, and faith. We set up an independent Alpha San Francisco website, invited our friends, and launched a social media ad campaign that reached 62K people. We’ve welcomed 10 guests to our first run and the course has been well received.
“You've made a big difference already and are going to make a big difference in the future. The spirit of friendliness, kindness, warmth is exceptional here.”
- Minette
OUR FINANCES
We have been overwhelmed by God’s provision channelled through the incredible generosity of many individuals as well as churches and organizations. These financial resources have allowed us to take great strides in laying a foundation for Sanctuary Church to in turn express sanctuary to San Francisco for years to come.
INCOME & EXPENSES
YEAR 1 AT A GLANCE
(JULY 2019 - JUNE 2020)
Income = $357,281
Expenses = $190,582
QUICK STATS
72% growth in average monthly internal giving since COVID-19
35% of 2020 giving to the general fund came from current Sanctuary membership
7 churches & organizations are current financial partners
$12K+ given for COVID-19 relief (not reflected in the chart above)
11 months of cash reserves on hand
July 2022 = the month the majority of committed external financial support will phase out
FINANCIAL GOALS
We aim to achieve financial sustainability by 2024.
CURRENT GIVING PARTNERS
Experience Church (San Francisco)
Transforming the Bay with Christ
Various individuals and families who wish to remain anonymous
PARTNER WITH US
FULL OF FAITH FOR 2021
When we reflect back on all God has done in such a quick amount of time, we can’t help ourselves but be full of faith for the year ahead.
Knowing that in the past 15 months, we’ve seen our community grow from 11 people (6 adults with 5 kids) to 48 (31 adults with 17 kids), our dream machines are running wild with what might happen as we emerge out of COVID-19 and look to a proper public launch next year.
We’re praying in faith to see a thriving community of 120 people (80 adults and 40 kids) in 2021 who are finding their security in Christ, cultivating deep community with one other, and loving the beautiful city of San Francisco well, one person at a time.
Having laid a solid foundation amongst some challenging times, we’re ready to build in 2021:
1
LEASE A PHYSICAL LOCATION
In the wake of COVID-19, the commercial real estate rental market is at a historic low. We plan to lease a weekly meeting site in anticipation of San Francisco re-opening and to launch our public Sunday gathering.
2
HIRE ADDITIONAL STAFF
As we continue to grow, we feel it’s the right time to add capacity to our current team in order to better serve our city. We are quickly realizing that having staff to invest in our kids’ work, our Sunday worship, and administrative needs would empower us to go much further.
3
EXPAND JUSTICE AND MISSION EFFORTS
We want to expand our reach in the city by partnering with more community organizations, launching season 2 of Alpha with an even larger reach, and coming alongside current Sanctuary members to empower and support them in the dreams that God has given.
4
HELP OTHER CHURCH PLANTS
We want to equip, resource, and encourage other church planters by sharing the insights we’ve learned along the way. Look for our new “In the Trenches” podcast to help others who are not that far behind us.
REAL CHALLENGES AHEAD
EXODUS FROM SAN FRANCISCO
God has been so kind to us, but challenges are real. In the wake of COVID-19, the city is experiencing an exodus of people leaving and an unprecedented deficit in the city budget. Difficult days are ahead, but we believe this is a moment for the church to rise up with a vision for the city and to stand with it to rebuild in the years to come.
REAL ESTATE INVENTORY
RISING COSTS AS OUR REACH EXPANDS
The progress seen this year has been achieved with a relatively low investment (by San Francisco standards) due to our team of incredible volunteers and by reducing facilities costs by largely meeting in homes and over Zoom.
For us to really plant roots in the city and grow, we know that we’ll need to make genuine investments in staffing and leasing costs. While we anticipate our internal giving to grow by 45% in the year to come and have already secured $115K in external giving, we’re praying for an additional $90K to achieve our goals.
PROJECTED 2021 EXPENSES
PROJECTED 2021 INCOME
based on a projected budget of $350,000
$90,000 Additional Needed For Public Launch in 2021
BE PART OF THE STORY
You can be part of the story God is writing for San Francisco. Here are three simple ways you can partner with Sanctuary SF:
PRAY
Join us in praying that we would know the consistent and ever-increasing presence of the Holy Spirit, maintain a culture of vulnerability and authenticity, and continue to love well one person at a time.
GIVE
In order to establish ourselves in the city and develop a self-sustaining church, we depend on generous outside financial investment at this time. We invite you to join our team of supporters for the first time or continue in your ongoing contributions.
JOIN
Is God stirring something in your heart for San Francisco? We would love for you to join us on the ground as we endeavor to love well, one person at a time and serve this diverse city. Will you consider moving here? Do you know others who may be interested?