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In 2003, Pastors Peter and Carolyn Haas were happily senior pastoring a prosperous church in Wisconsin. Moving was the last thing on their minds. Yet God had different plans.
Reaching young people had always come naturally to Peter and Carolyn. Even in small town Central Wisconsin their innovative youth-oriented events annually reached around 14,000 people. As they began praying for the Twin Cities, they felt that God was calling them to resign their senior pastorate and plant a brand new church. But, starting a church from scratch didn't seem very logical considering they were already pastoring a well known regional church. Yet, convinced that God wanted a new church in the heart of the Twin Cities, Pastors Peter and Carolyn said goodbye to their comfort zones and set out to follow God into the unknown.
Over 68% of the Minneapolis / Saint Paul population is under 34 years old – making it one of the youngest metropolitan cities in the U.S. It is also one of the most secular and well educated cities being that there are almost 2 million 20-somethings in the metro area that want nothing to do with Christianity. Even worse, less than 9.1% of the total population attends a charismatic or evangelical church of any kind. And the number is steadily declining. Thus, it was this disturbing idea that ended up becoming the motivation for a new church called Substance.
Without hardly any personal contacts in the Twin Cities, Peter & Carolyn scraped up a launch team of around 40 Twin Cities' residents. On September 18th, 2004, this rag-tag group of young people began holding a Saturday-night church service with dreams of starting a city wide fire. Eight months later, in May of 2005, the community decided to launch their very first
Sunday morning services. And within the following year, the trickle of wild conversions became a flood. And from 2005 to 2008 this small portable church which started on the U of M campus toured through over 11 different facilities on it's way to becoming a multi-site church -- now in three different locations.
In this incredibly short time, Substance has exploded into one of the fastest growing multi-site churches in the United States. Being nearby downtown Minneapolis and surrounded by over 16 colleges and universities, Substance has also become one of the "youngest" mega-churches in the United States with literally thousands of attenders (over 70%) under 29 years old -- most of whom were unchurched before Substance.
From turn-tables at the center of Sunday worship to its progressive cell-methods, the Substance staff have become well sought consultants and
conference speakers on new ways of reaching unchurched people. Also with a strong emphasis on music and film, Substance has quickly amassed a strong following of artists and authors who are passionately determined to reach the nations.
Substance has also locked arms with amazing independent church planting organizations such as the Association of Related Churches. As a result, Substance has had a significant hand in helping to launch over a hundred other churches. Almost every week, pastors from across the United States visit and seek out Substance resources to learn multi-site, progressive church governance, and free-market cells methods. Thus, in a few short years, Substance has surprisingly taken-on a national role in equipping pastors and church leaders with new ways of thinking about church.
So with great anticipation in our hearts, we are convinced that these pages will soon be filled with stories of God's faithfulness. After all, our goal is not to make a name for Substance but a name for God. We want to turn the tide of Christianity in this city. We want to weed out self-centered religion from our hearts. We want to round up a harvest force that God can be proud of. So join us. And let this page be filled with miracles and sacrifices that reveal His-story to every last pocket on earth.
For a video version of Substance's history, check out our short film below called: "A Brief History of Substance"
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