See a new church's launch in Cleveland

CLEVELAND (BP) -- North American Mission Board missionary Zach Weihrauch and his family came to metro Cleveland with no money or people for a church plant.

For Weihrauch, he had all he really needed -- God's call to the Cleveland Heights community.

Weihrauch hopes the Gateway Church Heights will become a tipping point for a church planting movement in a city that desperately needs one. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, only 5.5 percent of Cuyahoga County residents, where Cleveland is located, belong to an evangelical church.

After moving from Illinois in January 2011, Weihrauch and his family spent the next 10 months preparing to launch the church plant. They built relationships with non-Christians and gathered a group of local believers as the core of the new church. And they looked for churches to become partners with them.

Along the way, Weihrauch shared his dream to "see people in Cleveland Heights come to faith in Jesus Christ, to make Jesus famous in Cleveland Heights."

Then came the big day -- the new church's launch on Oct. 23 of last year. These four short videos provide a behind-the-scenes look at the new outreach.

See a new church's launch in Cleveland

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