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Fairfax Community Church

IDENTITY A community following Jesus.

MISSION To love people and see them raised to life in Christ.

Numbers matter. They matter because each number tells a story. On the following pages you will see some of the numbers and read some of the stories from this past year. They will give you a glimpse of the amazing things God has been doing in and through Fairfax Community Church. In 2015, we launched A Better Story. It is the largest generosity initiative in the history of our church, and God is using it to write a better story in our church, our community and the world. This report is organized around our five core values - invite, give, serve, mentor and pray. Each value is deeply embedded in our culture and guides all that we do. I hope, as you read this report, you will celebrate what God has done and look forward to what He will do in the future. This better story is far from over, and we anticipate the next exciting chapter!

rod stafford

senior pastor

a message:

INVITE

We are surrounded by people who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ. God calls us to invite them into our lives and our church community, so they might see and hear the good news of the Kingdom.

Averageweekly attendance

2,223

Total number of people who went to Next Steps

805

Total number offirst-time visitors

866

Total number offirst-time visitors (kids)

713Number of homes thatreceived an invitation in the mail

10,000

Fairfax County Population Estimate in 2014

1,137,538Washington Metropolitan Area

Population Estimate in 2014

6,033,737Percentage of adults in the

Washington Metropolitan Area who do not attend religious services weekly

68%

CHRISTMAS 3,785 Attended

CHRISTMAS 3,785 Attended

Website traffic

98,938sessions

Facebook fans

2,300+

Fairfax Videos traffic

27,887sessions

Vimeo plays

4,130+

God brought us to Fairfax five years ago. We instantly knew we had found our church home. Shortly after, I became involved with Fairfax Kids. In those five years, we went through some really hard times. Fairfax Kids has been a powerful constant for us. I discovered that I loved serving in Fairfax Kids and learned a lot from the kids. I discovered what it meant to pursue a rad-ically renewed relationship with Christ - one with a more open and willing heart like I see in so many of the kids. As a single mother, I also discovered that God had a plan all along. He delivered me through extreme adversity.

And in encouraging my daughter Tzipora to grow in her relationship with Christ, I discovered something for myself that she had already known for years - that she already had the pe rfect father in Christ. To my daughter Tzipora, Fairfax Kids is what she refers to as her second home. She gets up so early on Sundays, excited to come to church. In her own words: “When I go to children’s ministry, I can feel my heart opening wider, and I am ready to learn more about Jesus. I feel safe. I feel at home. And I can feel Jesus’ love. I feel loved by other people in the church. I can forget about everything that’s going on in school and at home and just focus on worshipping. I want to share Jesus’ love with others now. I love Fairfax Kids and am thankful that God brought me and my mom such an awesome home."

- Melanie and Tzipora Kahrs

EASTER3,861 Attended

Clarksburg Church

Average weekly attendance (adults and kids)

89Number of volunteers

44Number of newcomers

155

Before our first visit to the Clarksburg campus, I was questioning my faith and the significance it played in my life, which at that point was very little. I could write a long list of what I like about the Clarksburg campus, but I really like the accountability people have for one another. Becoming connected to a small group played a significant role in restoring my faith. Being so far away from home (New Zealand), I was feeling lonely and empty and didn’t feel like I had a huge direction in my life. I now see that the Lord has a purpose and a plan for my life, and I have found comfort in that. My small group and church gathered around me in love, grace and prayer, showing me once again that the Lord will provide and that I just needed to take that step of faith.

- Rebecca Spijkerman

I am originally from South Africa but moved to the U.S. 10 months ago to be an au pair for a family with 4 kids. Although I was excited about my journey here, I knew that I would be tested in many ways. Little did I know that God was at work. He brought an incredible lady from New Zealand into my life, Rebecca, now my most cherished and best friend. The congregation at Clarksburg welcomed us in with such love and acceptance. After a few months of being there, we had the opportunity to join a small group, and there we met the most incredible people who helped restore and strengthen my faith again and who inspire me to never stop working on myrelationship with God.

- Melissa Tifflin

GIVE

God calls us to steward the financial resources He has entrusted to our care. When we are generous with those resources, it removes obstacles for accom-plishing the mission to which we have been called.

1,609individuals gave to the

church this year

$672,527 Support given to local and global

outreach partners this year

$5,882,700Total amount given in 2015

I grew up in a Christian household and went to church on Sundays. Yet I didn’t realize what it meant to be a child of God. I made mistakes early on and struggled to understand what God’s purpose was for me. Attending church was just a routine. Through attending The Hangar, God began to slowly change my heart and life. Last year, I felt God’s presence in my life begin to grow. I felt called to share my story with my small group. As I began to share my past, I could feel a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. This is when I knew I wanted to be more engaged at Fairfax. This past summer, I went on my first mission trip to Chicago with The Hangar. In a word, it was phenomenal! My team went out to a food bank and horse farm to serve the local community. Serving with other students from The Hangar furthered my spiritual journey with God. Since then, I have focused more of my life on Jesus. I’m not sure where my life would be without The Hangar, but I sure can see how it has been changed so far.

- Noah Woodward

Turkey Drive

3,500pounds of food collected

Christmas Shoe Drive

719pairs of shoes collected

Summer School Supplies

61 backpacks full of supplies and over 100 other school supplies collected

SERVE

SERVE God calls us to serve. Our service has the greatest impact when our combined strengths and passions are strategically utilized to accomplish God’s mission in the world.

257people served on a local impact team

1,113people served on a ministry team

752attendees at three global cities church plants

19local and global ministry partners

Heart for Lebanon

6,085refugee children living in tent communities ministered to during the second half of 2015

175adults per month (average) attended Bible study programs learning about Jesus

29,422food and hygeine packets distributed to:

2,850Syrian and Iraqi refugee families

260children receiving an education in Beirut, Bekaa Valley, and in the South of Lebanon

Teach Haiti

375students enrolled

3locations throughout Haiti

7th & 8thgrades planned for School of Hope in Port-au-Prince

40volunteers worked with the children this year

1,000+pieces of jewlery made to supportthe school

The Lamb Center

1,676individuals served

103guests (on average) per day

44,567meals served

10,000+group and individual counseling sessions

20,000+hours of volunteer support

When I lived in Texas, I was constantly busy with both work and church. God showed me that I needed to slow life down, so I could invest more time with my three kids. Ironically, three years ago, He led us to the fast-paced world of Northern Virginia to do that. FCC has given my wife, Autumn, and I opportuni-ties to serve without compromising time with our family. Autumn is a foodie at heart, so she enjoys serving at the coffee shop. I’ve moved around all my life since my dad and I were both in the Army. As a result, I’ve experienced the "walking into a new church” feeling many times and can deeply appreciate friendly people who make me feel welcome. Since I like being welcomed, I try to welcome others, and I do that by serving at Next Steps. I’m grateful that God doesn’t tally up our service hours as a measuring stick for our faithfulness. He just wants us to be faithful to our calling, and sometimes that simply means being a Dad who’s there for his kids.

- Edward Lui

MENTOR

In order for our mission to be sustainable and reproducible, we must pass along to others the knowledge, skills and values that will enable them to serve.

899people gathered in small groups

103small groups

360people attended BLUE

248people volunteered in leadership positions

126 people baptized

997 since this buildingopened in 2005

Opening our home to friends has been a key part of our lives starting when we got married. As we talked about life together, it became clear that we had a common desire to share our new life with those around us. We started with a commitment to have a different friend over for dinner almost every week. The meals were nothing fancy; all we wanted was to create a laid-back, warm and welcoming environment. The conversation was simple and always centered around what was going on in our everyday lives. We eventually were invited to a Table Group at FCC, and for two years we met every Friday night and took a break during the summer, give or take a few barbecues. It sounds crazy in retrospect, but it always felt so grounding to meet with the same friends every week. A lot of new relationships formed, we helped each other move houses, two of us had babies, we transitioned jobs and everything in between. Our most recent Table Group started in January, when we decided to be a host and invite people at FCC to join us for a weekly meal. We are a mixed group that is being molded together over meals. That's what serving means to us - being willing to be vulnerable because the benefits outweigh the risk.

- Chen Family Table Group

PRAY

Prayer acknowledges our total and complete dependency upon God. It empowers us to live the transformed, gospel-centered life that God has called us to live.

11lay couselors

76prayer volunteers

3,163prayer requests on the weekend

36small groups prayed for thesticky note prayer requests

14support groups and care classes

Volunteering has always been a part of my adult life. While I serve in several places, I think the most fulfilling serving opportunities are the ones I’ve had alongside folks at FCC. It’s such a great way to get connected. The entire time we’re working together at the Stop Hunger Now warehouse, we’re laughing and talking and getting to know one another. When I serve at the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter, there’s a whole other set of FCC folks that I serve alongside. It warms my heart to see so many caring folks in our church. There’s no one there just to check a box—they truly care and are invested in the lives of these dear, hurting people.

Each and every person I’ve encountered while volunteering has added to my own life. Serving others helps me put myself into other people's shoes. It’s good for us to walk alongside people in their struggles because it helps put our own struggles into perspective. Everyone out there has a story, and people who have been forgotten or tossed aside need to share their stories, too, be-cause every life matters. The greatest commandment is to love God and love people. Opening our hearts to help hurting people sums up this great com-mandment because whatever we do for one is as if doing it for Christ Himself.

- Susan Foose