Thank you Harbor West
Dear Harbor Church West Oahu Leadership,
Aloha guys! Thank you for your invitation for me to come out and preach on October 1st. Jessica and I were so encouraged and blessed by seeing the health and growth of Harbor West, seeing old and new faces, and spending quality time with the Whites after the service. We are so grateful for our time spent at Harbor West in the early years – God used you in our life to ignite a passion for the spread of the Gospel through church planting. That is now carrying us to another island and the fertile ground of Puna.
We are so excited to hear that you are considering partnering with us financially in the Big Island Anglican Mission. Below you will find a short description of our mission in the Puna district of the Big Island as well as a timeline of our plan. In the next section, a short description of our financial need and an invitation to pray about how God might use Harbor West to meet a portion of that need. Mahalo for your consideration and please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Peace of Christ, Jonathan Fant
Lead Planter Big Island Anglican Mission fr.jonathanfant@gmail.com 808-284-4154
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Vision
We seek to plant a church and a school in the Puna district, pursuing the mission of evangelizing generations through proclaiming the gospel in Word and Table and discipling families in their walk with Jesus Christ. Our prayer is that Puna becomes a land more and more marked by the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
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Values
We want to be a people who follow the movements of the Holy Spirit, worship God passionately, preach the Bible faithfully, and evangelize and disciple families and generations. This is all shaped by the Gospel grounded rhythms of our Anglican practice and liturgy, and enriched by our local culture on the Big Island.
We are passionate about equipping men, women, and children to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ, allowing the gospel to permeate their land, homes, and workplaces.
We believe that the traditional values of Hawaiian culture are God given and find their truest expression within the grand story of the God’s redemption of the whole world.
Our Story
In 2020, a year of shaking and change for everyone, I (Jonathan) was called into ordained ministry. Jessica and I were then asked by our pastor to pray for where God might have us plant a church. We prayed and immediately were impressed with a call to go to the Hilo side of the Big Island. Both of us love that side of the island and had always imagined ending up there with our family. But we had never considered a ministry context until this call came.
3 years later, after visiting more than a dozen times we have begun many friendships, cultivated strategic partnerships, and began casting vision for a church and school community in the Puna district. God has given us a heart for the broken places of Puna; for the lonely, oppressed, unchurched, and forgotten families in our state’s poorest area. We are confident that God will provide our needs in going and will continue to equip us for the gospel work we are called to.
Timeline and Goals
2024
Move to Puna
Move to Puna. We are planning and committed to moving mid February 2024. To this end we have both ceased our employment at Saint Benedict Hall and are full-time fundraising this fall.
Gathering our team
We are praying for two specific families from Oahu and a few folks from the Big Island to join us. We have two individuals who are committed to joining our gatherings as soon as we move.
Partner with Ohana
We are partnering with the awesome people at Ohana Church in Hilo. Jonathan will serve in some capacity there until the launch team grows to where we can begin regular Sunday gatherings. Meanwhile, at Ohana Church, we can learn from those already doing effective gospel ministry among local families and where we can learn more about the family networks that run the island.
Midweek Evening Prayer
We will begin a midweek evening prayer service at our home as soon as we land. We will spend a season doing Sunday mornings at Ohana Church, while also actively gathering a group around a vision for liturgy and family worship in our home. We aim for this gathering to grow enough in the first 12 months to begin Sunday morning services by Christ the King Sunday, 2024 (November 24th).
Seeds for a School
Gather a group of like-minded families to lay the groundwork for an Anglican collaborative homeschool program. We aim to gather together starting in the school year 24-25 for weekly meetings for classes and prayer, developing into a full-fledged collaborative Christian school program for grades K-8 by the Fall of 2025.
Needs
As you well know, church planting is a resource intensive work in the context of Hawaii. We are seeking to be as well equipped and resourced for the mission that God has placed in our hands. While many see bi-vocational ministry as a viable alternative to being fully funded, we see work outside of the church as an exciting missional opportunity (subbing at area highschools or afterschool tutoring for community keiki) rather than a sustainable financial strategy for ministry in a such a high need area. To that end we are thinking like missionaries and raising monthly support to cover the cost of living and ministry.
Our diocese (group of like minded churches, similar to your EFCA district) is giving a significant grant, but we need to make up a gap of around $60K-80K per year. This is being raised primarily through small individual pledges of $50 per month and we have raised about 36% percent of our funding goal in this manner.
We are asking Harbor West to consider two actions:
1.) Please send out the link to our website and giving page to your people to encourage them in a.) signing up our prayer team and b.) to consider financially partnering with us.
2.) Please pray amongst your leadership team as to what God may lead Harbor West to give out of your missions or church planting budget. If anyone on your team wants to dive deeper into our financials (projected budget, previous budgets, controls, etc…) please let me know and we would be happy to supply any information we can give.
For whatever God leads you to do, we are deeply thankful. Thankful to have brothers and sisters in Christ who share a vision for the spread of the gospel in Hawaii and the flourishing of the people of Puna.
Helpful Links
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Giving Page
https://www.bigislandanglican.com/give
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Diocese of the Rocky Mountain Church Planting Page
https://rockymountainanglican.org/church-planting/
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What We Believe
https://www.bigislandanglican.com/what-we-believe
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Big Island Anglican Mission QR Code
