equipping one generation to equip the next...

A Brief History of Household of Faith Community Church (HOFCC)

HOFCC was founded in mid-August, 1998, in Gresham, OR, in the home of Gregg and Sono Harris. From the beginning, the church had three significant areas of emphasis in view:

1. > Restoring a more biblical relationship between church and home
2. > Raising up fathers as the shepherds and disciplers of their own families
3. > Planting new family-integrated churches.

Over the next few years this message resonated with many like-minded believers as the elders of HOFCC found a growing number of families eager to join their grand “experiment.”

Within four years, HOFCC had grown from a home, to a school, to a large church building in Gresham where they were running over 350 in attendance. With this success, it became obvious that it was time to plant another congregation. And soon the second Household of Faith was a faithful and growing congregation, walking in the same convictions and values as the original Gresham congregation.

Intentional about age-integration at every level, HOFCC – with their unique expression of church and family – continued yielding fruit in both parents and children. Children were experiencing genuine spiritual growth as fathers were more effectively shepherding them at home. Before our eyes, God was turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers (Mal 4:6).

“The church runs on regular” arose as both a motto and a reality as mature men demonstrated fruitfulness in their callings: first as fathers, then as deacons and elders, loving and leading their local congregations. Qualified according to 1 Tim 3:1-13, church planters emerged. Between 2002 and 2007 three more thriving Household of Faith congregations were planted in the Portland metro area.

Observing what was being accomplished in Portland, other churches across the country began to pattern themselves after HOFCC. Many were asking: “May we use your materials?” “May we call our church Household of Faith?” “How can we associate with you on a regular basis?”

So, in an effort to allow others to share in the joy which we were experiencing, in 2008-09 HOFCC developed a ministry arm of the church and named it Household of Faith Fellowship of Churches (HOFFC), which has since “adopted” other congregations into the Fellowship of Churches.

The three-fold mission of the Fellowship, a family of autonomous, family-integrated churches, is to:

1. > Strengthen HOFFC congregations and their elders
2. > Plant like-minded congregations
3. > Promote the Gospel and the family-integrated church message around the world

HOFCC is almost two decades old; though there have been bumps along the way, we continue to rejoice in what God began here in 1998. We see what God has wrought in our own lives and in local families. We celebrate as we see our youth standing against the culture and growing into faithful men and women ready to lead their own families as productive members of the Body of Christ.

If you would be interested in knowing more about HOFFC, or the Gospel Legacy Movement of age-integrated churches, or if your congregation would be interested in joining hands with us in this Great Commission endeavor, please see our contact information below.

Thank you,

The Fellowship Board