In this 2018 Year in Review, we share highlights of how Jesus built and guided our church.

This year, our church cultivated deeper intimacy with God. With the aid of new prayer cards featuring practices such as Lectio Divina and Prayer of Examen, we began working toward 30 minutes a day in meditative prayer. The year culminated in a series on the Holy Spirit, when we shifted our second set of worship to be a more intentional ministry time, and many in our community experienced the presence and power of God like never before. Here were our six sermon series:

SUNDAYs at a glance

Avg. Weekly Attendance: 1,597
(Up 0.01% from 2017)

Easter Attendance: 3,818

6th year at Everett Middle School

3rd year at Dolores Park Church

6th consecutive year to celebrate Easter at the SF Opera House — where we’ll be returning in 2019.

Across 40 neighborhoods in the Bay Area, our Community Groups sought to know God and one another while practicing the way of Jesus together. As a church that values hospitality, we joyfully welcomed 552 new people into CGs. We also launched the Newcomer Community Group, which is a space for new people to experience Christ-centered community until they can be placed permanently into a CG near home or work. Additionally, our CG team had the privilege of training and equipping 85 people to help facilitate and care for people in community!

Jesus said, “The greatest among you will be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11). And that’s why our nine Sunday volunteer teams are continually cultivating a culture of servanthood by creating an experience and preparing a space for others to feel, see, and meet Jesus. If you’d like to join a team, learn more here.

250 ACTIVE VOLUNTEERS

184 sunday volunteers

66 kids ministry volunteers

across 9 volunteer teams

In 2018, our Marriage & Family Ministry continued its mission of serving and equipping families all the way from wedding engagement to raising passionate followers of Jesus. By God's grace, we have continued to see major growth in our Premarital Class, Sunday nursery, Pre-K, and Elementary classrooms. And with the hire of a full-time Youth Minister this year, we’re excited to continue building and establishing our Youth Ministry! Other highlights included launching our monthly Marriage & Family Newsletter (subscribe here) and watching our Children’s Choir lead the church in worship in the summer and at Christmas time.

42 Couples in premarital class

3 Parenting Workshops

50 babies dedicated

118 KIDS ON AVG PER SUNDAY

18 students ACTIVE IN YOUTH MINISTRY

In 2018, we re-established personal connections and shared goals with our partner organizations, as well as local and global missionaries. Additionally, several new people joined our Mission Board, offering their time and wisdom in how our church can best steward resources for missions. In 2019, we desire to offer our missionaries better relational and communal support in their work. And for our partner organizations, we hope to empower more church members to offer their time and resources as committed volunteers. To learn more about how you can become involved in Local & Global Ministry, click here.

11 LOCAL PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

28 LOCAL MISSIONARIES

3 GLOBAL PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

2 GLOBAL MISSIONARIES

It was an exciting year for our Music Ministry! While maintaining a healthy roster of talented volunteers, we saw several folks grow in leading our community in worship. We also expanded our musical territory by forming a chamber music ensemble, who made their debut during Advent (and will return on Good Friday). Beyond the walls of our church, Reality SF Music released “Spirit Breathe,” its first studio single in 6 years. Looking ahead, our Music Ministry hopes to continue to grow in creativity and diversity of expression — and to feature the Children’s Choir at least three times this year!

33 MUSIC VOLUNTEERS

60K STREAMS OF “SPIRIT BREATHE”

We trust that the needs of our church will be met through the generosity of its members. And again, church, we’re so honored and blessed by your sacrificial giving! Thank you. We believe that as our generosity grows, our capacity to pour out into our city and community will also grow.

What we provided: $658k

$4.55M - 2018 total giving

$4.01M - Total Expenses

$545K - Net income

Our current net income provides us with opportunities to prayerfully consider initiatives which God may call us to pursue in the years to come.

ministry expenses

* Initiatives: We invested an additional $15K into the funds that were donated toward our 2016-17 Ministry Center Campaign — which were utilized for a revised, much smaller scope of work at the Reality SF Headquarters.

Fund Balances:

Mission: $395K

Benevolence: $65K

Church Planting: $466K

Savings: $1.016M

2019 Board-approved giving goal:

$4.6M

At Annual Vision & Prayer, Dave Lomas shared important insights from 2018 and also laid out our church's vision for 2019.

Watch:

Listen:

PHONE WALLPAPERS:

We've created some phone wallpapers from some of AVP’s artwork and vision! We hope these serve as a helpful reminder of who we are and what we're pursuing as a community.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done, in San Francisco as it is in heaven. May you use us, your church, to be salt and light in this community and thus show what you are like to the world. To the praise and glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen. 
— Based on Matthew 5:13, 6:10

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
— The Prayer of St. Francis