Local Church began in 2019 with 30 adults and 19 kids meeting in living rooms seeking God for what His plans might be. Matt and Devon Guertin began sensing that the Lord may be calling them to plant a church. So they connected with some trusted friends who were part of a group of churches called the Sojourn Network (now renamed as the “Harbor Network”). The Guertins went through Sojourn’s church planting assessment process for several months and in August 2019 were wholeheartedly approved. This provided vital relational and theological support and accountability that was so important and continues to be today.
Our STORY
In order to prepare to welcome others into our new church community, we moved our gatherings from living rooms into a local middle school. After a couple of months of working out the kinks, we were ready to open the doors. Our first public worship service was Sunday, March 8th, 2020. Little did we know that COVID-19 would shut down the State of Ohio just 5 days later.
Gathering in the middle school was no longer an option, so we pivoted like everyone else and went online for the next few months. The Lord continued to build this little church during that difficult season through weekly Sunday morning Zoom calls together, pre-recording our worship and message each week, and a team of heroes delivering donuts to every household week after week. Many of the people who joined us that first Sunday are still with us today - the Lord was kind to us in so many ways through that challenging beginning.
In June of 2020, a church in our area welcomed us to start meeting again in person in a tent that they had set up in their parking lot. That was a tremendous blessing! And when the weather began to turn that fall, they invited us to meet in their building on Sunday evenings…which we did for the next 5 years.
The Lord continued His work in our church community over these years, and in the Spring of 2025 He had another surprise for us. Through the generous giving and labors of our church family and many other people in the larger body of Christ, the Lord provided a more permanent space for us in the former Lake Shore United Methodist church building in Avon Lake, OH. We spent that summer renovating the building, the majority of the work being done by our church family, and we celebrated our first worship gathering in the new space on September 14, 2025.