ABOUT US

The second largest living organism in the world is an Aspen Grove in Colorado and Utah. 

Each Aspen tree is distinct but also interconnected with the rest of the organism in its root system.

Aspen Grove Church Network is one interconnected church with distinct locations

committed to multiplying through leadership development and church planting all over the world. 


We believe that what keeps us together and keeps us moving forward is love. 

First, God's love that brings us together and binds us together. 

And then, as an echo of that first love, our love for each other and for people who don't know Jesus.

We are SENT TO LOVE. 

Interconnected

We are interconnected because we are one organization with one board, one mission, and shared national and international partners. We team together, we serve each other, we sacrifice for each other, and we celebrate each other.

Distinct

Each of our locations is distinct in its name and specific vision for living out our shared mission. 

Each location has its own leadership, areas of focus, passions, and uniquenesses.

multiplying

Our locations are vibrant and life giving places because of Jesus so we are growing as individuals and our impact is multiplying. 

We focus on multiplying through leadership development and church planting within our network, regionally, nationally, and around the world.  

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • In 1990 Woodale Church in Eden Prairie, MN launched an incredible movement of local church planting in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. One person they hired was Paul Johnson. He started Woodridge Church in Medina, MN. In 2001 a young adult ministry that had been renting space on Sunday nights formally joined Woodridge. In 2008 a group from that young adult community and others from Woodridge led by Michael Binder started Mill City Church in Northeast Minneapolis. Rather than start as a church plant they started as a site that was still connected to and in other ways distinct from Woodridge. The next year a couple hundred people from Woodridge who lived near Delano, MN started a similarly connected and distinct site that is now called The Highlands Church. In 2011 another group of people and young leaders started a site called Mercy Hill Church first in Hopkins and now in Minnetonka, MN. Our connection to each other is voluntary and in 2014 Mill City decided to leave our network. Over the years we have adopted an existing church and done some other church planting experiments that aren't around anymore. The last few years have been marked by significant financial investments in permanent facilities for Mercy Hill and The Highlands and significant expansion and remodel for Woodridge. As a network we are looking forward to what is next for our communities and for the growth of the whole.

  • In the early years of our network experiment we went to a leadership conference and one of the facilitators said that God gave him a picture of individual trees with interconnected roots. We messaged an arborist at the University of Minnesota and they said that sort of thing was called an aspen grove.

  • We love it too and it feels like a miracle. Not so much something we've done, but something that we get to be a part of. 

    And, we think it's sweet that other people are into our approach or can imagine their own version of it. 

    If you are church leader we think you should start your own interconnected, distinct, and multiplying network. 

    Send us a message and we'll help however we can. 

    We went from an individual church to a network when we were sort of intentional about how we added a second location and then another one and another one. When it all got started our first location averaged about 1,000 people each week and an annual budget was about $1.5 million. We think our approach can probably work with a goal of going from one location to at least three in under five years regardless of the size of the congregation or the budget. 

  • No, we only know the Aspen Grove Church Planting Network through google because of our approximately same name and commitment to church planting.