Tribes Church has a vision to be community of God-dreamers from every nation, tribe, tongue, and station. We are artists, creatives, entrepreneurs, stay home moms, factory workers, city employees, students, business people, teachers, pastors, community leaders, missionaries. In a phrase–We are World Changers.

We strive to be a church that embodies the dream of God; A people of miracles, transformation, imagination, creativity, and love. We long to bear the name of Jesus, never to be ashamed. This requires risk, danger, and faith.

It won’t be easy. But it will be worth it.

“The church was never supposed to be known by its grip on tradition but the church is supposed be known by its love for humanity.” – Erwin McManus

Our Story

Three dreams intersect and Tribes Church is born!

Tribes Church’s first worship service was Oct. 12, 2014 with 253 adults and children in attendance.

“This is the fruition of a dream,” says Pastor Dawn Scott Damon, co-founder and co-pastor of Tribes Church.

A dream that started 16 years ago with Lead Pastor, Julian Newman and in another time and place a dream in the heart of Co-Pastor, Dawn Damon. Together through unlikely paths and unforeseen circumstances, their God-Dreams intersected and culminated into what you see here today.

In 2001-2007 God was working in his divine Way in the hearts and lives of his people.

Pastor Julian Newman and his wife Tiffany and Pastor Dawn Scott Damon were serving together on a ministry team at a large local church. Pastor Dawn immediately became a close friend and Grandma to their 3 daughters who were far from the native home of Sacramento CA.

“We began to sense that the three of us would be in ministry together but we could never have imagined the adventure God would have us on.”

Throughout the next few years, their lives took separate paths but the seed to minister together had been planted by the Holy Spirit.

In God’s perfect time, he watered the seed and soon a harvest would follow.

The Dreams

Julian:

On a hot California night in 1998, Julian had a vivid dream about an unknown church.

He saw a beautiful mosaic made of artwork honoring Jesus in every language on earth and heaven. It was a church that would include every social sector, leveraging unique talents and abilities of the attenders, breaking racial, generational, and gender barriers.

This church would be a catalytic fusion of humanity deeply in love with Jesus and his mission to redeem cities. At close of this vision-like dream, he was invited by Jesus to pass through what looked like a door of great magnitude.

8 years passed until the dreamed returned and Julian was given the rest of the vision of a ministry named Tribes Church.

This ministry embodied the essence of the dream he had 8 years before.

Tribes Church was to be part of a world changing movement based in Grand Rapids; where people from every social sector would leverage their unique talents and abilities.

Dawn:

Meanwhile, thousands of miles across the country, Pastor Dawn met Paul Damon and the two of them married in the winter of 2011. Together they sought God for his calling on their life. God was stirring in them a desire to continue in full-time ministry and use the gifts and callings he placed in them long before. Dawn and Paul sensed God calling them to plant a church.

A third dream of another kind was happening in the hearts of a small church congregation. Rockpointe Lutheran Church, Formerly St. Stephen Lutheran Church was praying about the future of their ministry. The congregation and church council decided why not give a legacy gift? Since churches are seeing vitality in life by passing their church on rather than being one of another of the 3,000 churches a year, closing down, a dream to give the 13,627-square foot to Tribes Church became a reality. Tribes was birthed out of a legacy gift repurposed as a Wesleyan affiliated church.

We desire to establish a Jesus community, the love of God, to remove the blocks of men. We want to release the Kingdom of God in sacred places and in the market place.

The Vision of Tribes is not just for people to simply go to church, but to be the church, transforming lives of those living in Grand Rapids into passionately engaged followers of Jesus.

God has placed within every person: gifts, passions, and abilities to build the church and advance the mission of Jesus.