Of the 75,000 people between the ages of 18 and 35 residing in the immediate Kalamazoo area, only about 5% are churched… only several local churches in Kalamazoo county appear to have an intentional, aggressive, outreach or ministry to this unreached group of people… how will these people connect with God and His church?

Seeing this incredible disparity, Lee Rabe directed the efforts of completing his Master’s thesis toward this group of people.  Ironically, he completed the project with only a passing interest, especially when it came to launching new churches.  Even after the research was completed Lee and his wife, Kristi, were praying for God to raise up someone to connect these next generations with Jesus.

That prayer was life changing.  The more Lee learned, the more he was not able to escape the incredible spiritual needs on our doorstep.  As he learned more of the postmodern generations that we are a part of, he was broken with the incredible opportunities for connecting these people with God in a personal relationship.

For months after completing his thesis, Lee spent many nights with fitful sleep, often going to another part of the house to pray.  He found himself seeking God and asking, “What is it that you are doing?”  What are you asking us to do?

It was during a few brief days in Florida that much of the vision for Threads began to crystallize.  During another fitful night in prayer, Lee began to see many of the pieces of the past 1-2 years fitting together.  It was the following morning that he shared with Kristi the idea of launching a church to reach the next generations in Kalamazoo.  Her response was immediately one of eagerness and affirmation…and the rest is history.  We started missional communities in 1999 and held our first Worship Gathering that June.

Over the years, God has lead us to gather in a high school, hotel, and now two more traditional church buildings.  However, the buildings haven’t really mattered because we know that God created the church as a movement of people…not facilities.  Here’s what these people have been up to.

During our brief history, God has allowed Threads to partner in launching:

• Freshwater Community Church in Paw Paw, MI
• Genesis Church in Boyne City, MI

We have sent teams to build housing in Tijuana, Mexico, and help in the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.  We continue to work with our partners, Active Water, and Seeds of Hope, to tackle AIDS and provide clean drinking water in Ndola, Zambia.  So far, we have been blessed to provide clean drinking water to more than 2,000 residents for 15-20 years.

In our own backyard, we are tackling another great issue of our day…poverty.  We have been investing in at-risk kids and their families in the Milwood neighborhood.  We are working to develop youth through mentoring, and to create community through block parties, where hundreds have spent time building relationships with their neighbors.

And during all this time, we have seen story after story of personal redemption as well. Families have been put back together…God has brought people into sobriety…people who used to be consumed with gaining more things have become generous towards their neighbor…

We have many more opportunities in the coming days to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  We can’t wait to see the many new chapters yet to be written here at Threads.  Threads is a metaphor for God weaving together authentic, biblical community.  When a master artist weaves together threads of diverse colors and textures, they are transformed into something beautiful.  We hope our journey together will let you catch a glimpse of the vision for a faith community where that beautiful transformation is something we value and have come to expect.