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Waiting in Hope
A Letter From Pastor Adam
Downtown Cornerstone,
The Lord has us in a season of waiting.
Waiting for our new building to be complete. Waiting for contractors. Waiting for inspectors. Waiting for issues to be resolved. Waiting for our giving to mature. Waiting to move. Waiting for downtown Seattle to recover. Waiting to make staffing updates. Waiting to finalize plans.
Waiting is hard. It’s like spiritual sand paper to our hearts.
But, the Lord has built waiting into our experience of Him to smooth our rough edges and grow our dependence on Him as our greatest good (Ps. 27:14; Lam. 3:25). He has his ways, which are often contrary to our own, but we can trust they are what’s best for us (Dt. 29:29; Isa. 55:8-9). So, we wait in hope that our all-wise, all-powerful, all-faithful God is going before us.
Yet, it’s important to remember that He continues to work in the waiting. While we wait, let’s not miss what the Lord is doing right now. So, to help with that, we thought it’d be fitting to create this digital annual report to recount a bit of what the Lord is doing among us (Dt. 7:18; Ps. 77:11; Ps. 105:5).
Of course, as I often point out, the final fruit of our prayers and labors is not entirely quantifiable. The most important fruit of God’s work is often unmeasurable.
After all, who can measure increased joy in the Lord, or how many persevered through trials, or how many said “no” to a multitude of destructive temptations, or how many hearts were re-captured by the love of God, or how many re-structured their calendar and budgets to put God first, or how many saw obedience turn from duty to delight, or how many seeds of the gospel were sown that will bear fruit in our city for generations to come in ways we’d never imagine.
God is at work among us in ways seen and, more often, unseen (Ps. 77:19)
Yet, other fruit is more easily seen and measured. Fruit that is seen is no less spiritual nor miraculous, so it’s fitting to give glory to God for it (1 Cor. 10:31). Some of this fruit-that-can-be-seen is recounted here for our encouragement and God’s praise:
Evidences of Grace
Preaching
Making Disciples
Being a Faithful Presence
Readying Our Future Gospel Outpost
Taking the Gospel to the Nations
2025: Looking Forward
Evidences of Changed Lives
Partner with Us
So, at the start of this new year let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). He is an inexhaustible fountain of life (Ps. 36:9). He is a God of glory, grace, and truth (Jn. 1:14). In him, and in him alone, do our hearts find the rest (Jn. 10:10; Ps. 16:11). May he keep us on fire for his supremacy in all things in the year to come (Col. 1:16-17). Let’s lean on who he is and all that he is for us (1 Cor. 3:21-22). God’s promises are true and they cannot fail (Titus 1:2). He is worthy of our days and dollars (Rev. 5:12).
What a privilege we have in being part of the greatest cause on earth, together, in our beloved city. His story is still unfolding and we’re a part of it. Together, let’s ask Him to do what only He can in 2025 (Eph. 3:20-21).
“Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Psalm. 27:14
Christ is all,
Pastor Adam
“We exist to know Jesus, and to make Him known, for the glory of God and the joy of all people.”
EvidencEs of GraCe
MILESTONES
We celebrated our fourteenth birthday as a church!
Salvation
We witnessed many friends put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We also rejoiced in 8 stories of God’s grace through baptism!
PREACHING
We began the year with our annual New Year Essentials series. We continued our verse by verse series in Luke and began a new series in Hebrews 11. We studied Revelation during our Easter Sunday Service and 2 Timothy on Reformation Sunday. We concluded the year in Philippians for our Christmas Eve Service.
Leadership
We had our yearly Leadership Lab for ministry leads in our body. We voted in our newest elder Ruban Monu, and installed two new deacons, Darcie Baltzer and Conrad Etzel, with many more in development.
Membership
We welcomed 45 new members! We (sadly) said goodbye to 35 members, the majority of whom moved.
Discipleship
Nearly 300 people attended one of our classes, including 180 attending our Foundations Class in 2024.
Over 110 folks attended our Midweek Bible Study, which worked through 1 Timothy, Philippians, and 1 Peter.
Communities
Over 325 people participated in one of our 15 Cornerstone Communities to eat together, pray together, study the Bible together, and share life together.
Families & Biblical Care
We clarified our scriptural teaching on children, baptism, communion, and membership, leading to specific shepherding for parents and kids as they assess living faith.
The Care Ministry successfully piloted a Biblical Counseling training cohort in the spring that equipped 8 members with scriptural vision and practices for change. This fall, we began a new cohort with over 25 members.
Mercy
We continued to strive to be a salty, bright, faithful presence in Seattle. Over 250 people participated in one of 12 mercy service events this year - ranging from 1:1 mentoring to neighborhood clean-ups.
MISSIONS & Church Planting
We continued to support church-planting efforts around the globe, including two DCC members serving in SE Asia, one training for global mission work at Radius International, and church planting efforts in Alaska, Japan, and Turkey.
FINANCES
By God’s grace, we met and exceeded our $2.65M budgeted goal for our DCC Giving Fund in our 2023-2024 fiscal year. This allowed us to meet all of our obligations and start our 2024-2025 fiscal year on a solid foundation. Additionally, because of strong end-of-year giving, we were able to set aside another $300,000 dollars towards our new building!
* These numbers don’t include the countless coffees shared, counseling times, and discipleship moments had over the past year.
“[My word] shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Preaching
GOD IS GLORIFIED WHEN THE DEPTH OF HIS RICHES, WISDOM, AND KNOWLEDGE, IN JESUS, IS Heralded FROM HIS WORD—LEADING TO NEW HEARTS, RENEWED MINDS, AND FAITH-FILLED LIVES.
New Year Essentials
As part of our annual New Year Essentials series, we considered important themes that we must repeatedly return to for the glory of God and the transformation of our lives.
Luke
We continued our now multi-year study of Luke, being reminded weekly of His life, death, and resurrection to rescue a people of his own from among the nations.
Hebrews 11
We began a new series in Hebrews 11 titled Living Forward to a Better Country, studying the faithful endurance of ancient believers, stories which call us to hear and respond in faith ourselves to the Lord.
Christmas Eve
We concluded the year with our Christmas Eve service, as we studied Jesus’ innumerable acts of humility that are in full display in the book of Philippians.
Easter Sunday
On Good Friday, we remembered Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross. On Easter Sunday, we celebrated Jesus’ climactic victory over the grave through his resurrection. In our passage in Revelation 1, we saw a glimpse into real reality, with the incomparable glory of the risen Jesus at the center, reminding us that no matter what we face, or how bad things may look, the risen Jesus is at work in unimaginable ways.
Reformation Sunday
On Reformation Sunday, we took time to consider whether the Protestant Reformation is over. Sadly, the answer is “no.” The Reformation continues. The concerns raised with Catholicism remain largely unchanged, as it continues to spread a false gospel. So, how can we help? By standing firm on scripture alone (sola scriptura) as our God-breathed standard.
We also hosted our annual workshops on biblical exposition in partnership with Charles Simeon Trust to train and grow faithful biblical preachers and expositors across churches in our region.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me”
Making Disciples
The Lord has been faithful in the life of our church family, amidst the waiting, as we focused on discipleship, worship, and service:
Sunday serving teams worked to tangibly love another, and to welcome and support those new with us.
Cornerstone Kids & Youth partnered with parents to joyfully teach, show, and model who Jesus is to the children.
Newcomers’ Coffee and Foundations classes have been a relational on-ramp for those new with us, and our Pre-Marital and Exploring Christianity classes have helped disciple both those new and mature in the Faith.
Our Midweek Bible Study continued in the fall, led by DCC pastor-elders, studying 1 Timothy, Philippians, and 1 Peter.
Training through our Mercy Ministries helped equip our body to serve God’s vulnerable image-bearers around us.
We continued to care well for those hurting through growing our peer-to-peer counseling capacity.
We hosted three Men’s and three Women’s Discipleship Events over the year, as intentional times for training and spiritual growth.
Sunday Gatherings: 2024 Top 5 Songs
These are the songs, in order, we sang the most number of Sundays in 2024.
Behold Him
His Mercy Is More
My Worth Is Not In What I Own
Steadfast
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us
The heart of Jesus’ commission to his church is to make disciples. The term disciple refers to being a student, a follower, or a learner. Being a disciple of Jesus is the lifelong process of learning to trust and become more like Him in every sphere of life—and help others do the same.
2024 Elder Memos
Children, The Ordinances, And Membership
This memo describes our convictions about baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and church membership as they relate to children and adolescents. Read more here.
THE IMPORTANCE OF REGULARLY GATHERING FOR WORSHIP
This memo emphasizes the biblical importance for every follower of Jesus to regularly gather with their church for worship on the Lord’s Day. Read more here.
APPLYING COMPLEMENTARIANISM WITHIN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH
This memo outlines how we live out our convictions about gender complementarity between men and women (a.k.a. complementarianism). Read more here.
Bookstore: 2024 Top 5 Books Sold
ESV Study Bible
The Rhyme Bible Storybook, L. J. Sattgast
Why Trust the Bible?, Greg Gilbert
Dark Clouds Deep Mercy, Mark Vroegop
God’s Big Picture, Vaughan Roberts
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Being A Faithful presence
Declaring the good news of Jesus and being a display of that good news to our city.
Serving our City
We as a church body organized and participated in a number of events to serve our city, as part of our witness to Christ in Seattle.
Over the course of the year, over 100 DCC'ers participated in one of three clean-up events around Belltown, including participation in the 3rd Annual Mayor's Day of Service in May.
Our partnership with UGM saw members serving in many capacities - leading devotions, serving meals, teaching classes, and being mentors. Additionally, over 50 folks attended a Homelessness 101 training.
Our church body cared for foster youth through multiple events, and had a wrap-around team care for a young family in need. Over 25 folks attended a World Relief info session, learning how to serve our refugee neighbors.
In December, we hosted our 4th blood drive in partnership with BloodWorks NW as a simple, tangible, and life-saving way to bless our neighbors.
Mercy Focus areas
Our mercy focus areas are specific ways in which we strive to care for the most vulnerable image-bearers in our city. Our 2024 (and to continue into 2025) focus areas were:
Homelessness: We worked with Union Gospel Mission to reach the men, women, and children experiencing homelessness in our city.
Refugees: We served alongside World Relief to welcome refugees and asylees arriving in King County.
Family Advocacy Ministries: In 2024, we combined our Pro-Life efforts and our Foster Care and Adoption efforts, while keeping our partnerships with CareNet and Olivecrest's Foster Support Faith Alliance.
Mercy Partners
ONWARD
READYING OUR FUTURE GOSPEL OUTPOST
A permanent home in the heart of our city is another step towards fulfilling our vision of becoming a faithful gospel presence for, Lord willing, generations to come.
Since our earliest days as a church, we prayed for an opportunity to purchase a permanent home, in the heart of our city. A place in which we could worship God, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, train leaders, build meaningful relationships, plant churches, and love our city to life.
By God’s grace, in December 2020, the Lord made that a reality and opened up the door for us to purchase a new home on the corner of 1st Ave and Broad St, in the heart of Belltown! Over the course of the last 4 years, we have been able to raise over $5M towards the renovation, and by God’s grace, we’re now only weeks away from occupying it!
Despite the immense challenges and delays we have faced in getting into our new home this past year, the Lord continues to be so kind and faithful to us. He graciously allowed our current Landlord to be amicable with our delays, and provided a way for us to remain in our current space with a month-to-month lease arrangement. Additionally, we ended our last fiscal year exceeding our budgeted need, enabling to purchase additional equipment and furnishings for the new space, and, Lord-willing, further reduce the amount we need to borrow. What a tremendous display of God’s grace!
Take a minute to praise and thank the Lord for his ongoing faithfulness to us, and the provision of a permanent home, in the heart of our city.
Like all of you, we can’t wait to celebrate our first Sunday together in our new home!
Taking the Gospel To the Nations
God has given his people, the church, the mission of making and maturing disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20). Disciples are made through the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:14-15) and are brought to maturity by engaging in the life of the church (Eph. 4:11-16).
DCC Global Partners
We equip and support our own members as our global partners in their efforts to reach the nations.
J&H, our partners in SE Asia, are continuing to make progress on language and culture learning as they seek to help plant a healthy, indigenous church in an unreached people group.
Kelby is currently training for global missions at Radius International and is actively seeking the Lord’s counsel in where to pursue long-term mission work.
Acts 29 Partners
Acts 29 is a diverse, global family of church-planting churches. We supported and helped over 50 church plants via Acts 29 US West—as well as other churches near and far, including Alaska, Japan, and Turkey. Click here to learn more about each of them.
ACME Fellowship
ACME is a fellowship of like-minded churches that pools finances and provides grants to plant and revitalize churches, support international missionaries, and carry out other gospel ministry. Click here to learn more.
SupportED Organizations and Church Plants
“O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.”
2025: Looking Forward
As we kick off the new year, our mission and focus remain the same. We want to see as many people as possible meet Jesus and experience life as it was intended to be, in Him.
By God’s grace, these are a handful of God-fueled goals we are praying for this next year:
Complete our new building as our future home base for gospel ministry, maturation, and multiplication.
Prayerfully plan excellent, edifying, theologically-rich, worship-filled, and missional Sunday gatherings.
Nurture our relational unity in Jesus, amidst a highly divisive day and age.
Continue to nurture a culture of discipleship, where every member is equipped and growing.
Grow as relational evangelists while developing our missions pipeline to reach the unreached.
Love our city to life through tangible, sacrificial, and mercy-filled service.
Continue to develop leaders (service leads, community leads, staff, deacons, elders, etc.)
DCC, let’s continue to pray, that in 2025, our lives would be marked by a sincere and pure devotion to Jesus and that more people would get to taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).
“I have experienced excellent teaching in DCC, and the closest-knit community I’ve ever known, which has really helped me to grow.”
“DCC is where I met the Lord, was baptized, and had the opportunity and the joy to serve my family in the Lord.”
“I’m ever thankful to God for DCC’s sound biblical training, Christian fellowship, and support during hard times.”
“Christ has grown me sharing so much life with DCC - through doubt, love, encouragement, loneliness, friendships and more. This family loves and cares deeply, displays Christ’s character, and encourages one another to love Him more daily.”
“DCC has been family during our formative years as young adults, providing years of faithful biblical teaching, encouragement, discipleship, and wise counsel, continually pointing us toward truth, and doing all of it with the utmost love!”
“DCC is a unique place that truly strives to live from a theologically sound perspective, led with fear and trembling. It is an honor and privilege to call DCC home over the years.”
Partner
With Us
to see the gospel go forth from the avenues to the alleyways
Connect
It is our prayer that all who consider DCC their home church would be relationally connected, intentionally growing, meaningfully serving, faithfully giving, missionally engaged, willingly accountable, and known by a pastor.
Finances
Our fiscal year runs from July through June. Click the link below to view our 2023-24 fiscal year recap. To learn more about ways you can give towards the forward progress of the gospel in Seattle, visit our Giving page.
“For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’”