We reached new people by embracing technology to continue meeting as a church family online through a season of lockdown and physical distancing.
We’re extremely grateful for a $10,000 donation to help us purchase live-streaming equipment, and for our talented creative & production teams for carrying us through 2020.
Due to COVID restrictions and not having a building to meet in, we gathered on Sundays for Church @ Home throughout 2020. It was a rich experience of intimate community, hospitality, prayer and worship.
Our vision for 2020 was to experience More of God. Little did we realise how God would make this a reality by disrupting our rhythms through COVID.
We always believed that COVID was not an interruption to God’s plans but an acceleration of them. We grasped the opportunity to reset our rhythms and seek more of God in prayer.
We ran midday prayer on Instagram Live, incorporating silence, Scripture, reflection, and prayer into the rhythms of our day.
We wrote and released four YouVersion Bible reading plans to help our church family experience more of God through Scripture and prayer. Of anything we’ve done, these plans have had the furthest reach.
In 2020, we read John Mark Comer’s book together to experience More of God. By disrupting our rhythms of busyness, God offered us an invitation through COVID to establish healthier rhythms of life.
Our church family experienced significant transformation as we implemented practices of rest and silence into our lives.
We launched Alpha to provide a safe environment for people to explore the big question of life, faith, and meaning. We’re already seeing the fruit!
2020 was an incredible year for new connections at Anchor. Not only did we see a huge number of people tune in for our online services, we had many people join our church family!
We continued training and coaching our two church planting residents Arnaldo Santiago jr. and James Wong as they considered their future ministry pathway. We also connected with and invested in six other prospective church planters at our annual invite-only Fireside retreat.
After many months of prayer and planning, and significant delays due to COVID, we sent Arnaldo Santiago jr. with his family and a team of 35 people (24 adults + 11 kids) to plant Anchor South West. While most churches were knuckling down to survive, we were stretching to multiply.
Anchor South West officially launched on 31 January 2021.
We developed new partnerships with Wasilla Bible Church (Alaska), The Church of Eleven22 (Florida), and New Life Fellowship (New York City). These churches invested $40,000 in 2020 to partner with us in planting Anchor South West!
Gospel Communities carried our church family through a difficult 2020, creating a safe space for people to share vulnerably and pray for one another.
Our women’s teaching ministry continued online, with women meeting in homes to watch teaching on how the truth about God transforms our lives.
We are committed to raising up and developing world-changing leaders. We have an incredible community of leaders serving across every corner of our church.
Anchor is built on the generosity of our members. Together, we are sowing into a vision that we believe is transforming our city. Thank you for your gifts in 2020!
*Income includes JobKeeper
†Due to COVID, we did not have our normal property expenses for Factory Theatre or office (saving an estimated $81,750).
We were blessed to contribute to the following partners in their important ministries:
Thank you for sowing into God’s kingdom coming in Sydney as it is in heaven. You have made a significant impact in people’s lives. It’s incredible to look back and see what we can do together!
With Love
The Anchor Team