Network: Rural Collective

Howell is a town of 10,000 – bordered by farmland on three sides, and the furthest ring of the Detroit suburbs on the fourth side. Our city and church houses a mix of blue collar people, who work in the city but can no longer afford housing there, and younger professionals who have moved here to get more land and a bigger house for their dollar.

Anchor Church

We parachuted into Howell just over four years ago and began simply as a community group meeting in our home. We launched our weekend services just over three years ago at a small movie theater downtown, which has been serving the community since 1928. The majority of people who have joined us are men and women previously disengaged with church and others who have moved into the community more recently. We love our city and we are thankful for the ways that our weekend services and community groups instigate gospel change in the context of relationships.

Pray for us:

  • Myself & family: Planting Anchor Church has been the hardest thing I have pursued and yet there is nothing else I would rather be doing. To this end, please pray for me, my wife and my kids that God would continue to lead us to trust him in every joy and pain we walk through.
  • Money: We are learning first hand that financial viability for church planting in rural contexts often happens at a different pace than other contexts. We are currently internally funded at 70%, but our initial three-year financial partnerships have ended. Therefore, we are praying that God would bring along some more churches to partner with us over the next three years to get us to the finish line of full sustainability.
  • The lost in Howell: Howell has a lot of people who are self sufficient and religious. Pray as we at Anchor invest in our neighbors, co-workers, and family, that God would save these people and they would taste and see the goodness of Jesus!

Watch this video from Anchor church below:

Ben Luethy
Written by: Ben Luethy on January 22, 2020
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