Our mission is to strengthen and support church leaders at every level with biblical and practical training.
The Foundry team initially connected while working at Kuyper College. Because of our connections to local churches, we began to dream of more Spirit-driven, innovative ways to equip churches and church leaders.
Through a season of fasting and prayer, we heard God clearly calling us to start something new that would make biblical and practical ministry training more accessible to church leaders at every level. We love Jesus and the church, and we seek to gather communities of learning within and among churches so that we can all be forged further into the image of Christ.
Why “the Foundry”? A foundry is a metals workshop. It’s hands-on, dirty, and even a bit dangerous. You don’t passively learn in a foundry—you get into the heat. When naming our ministry, we kept returning to the image of God’s refining fire. When you learn with The Foundry, our hope and prayer is that you experience that fire, and that God uses The Foundry to mold you into the church leader he created you to be.
Core Values & Beliefs
Prayer
Prayer
The Foundry started because we fasted and prayed, seeking God’s will. Prayer is woven throughout everything we do because we believe that God is the one building The Foundry, not us.
Truth
Truth
The Foundry is rooted in Scripture, and we want to serve from a place of honesty and authenticity, being clear about who we are (and who we aren’t), recognizing our strengths and limitations.
Generosity
Generosity
God has shown us that he is a generous God who provides abundantly for his people. We want to be good receivers of his good gifts, and graciously use our gifts to serve the body of Christ.
Healthy Rhythms
Healthy Rhythms
We believe our work and ministry should come from a place of rest in our identity in Christ. We are passionate about cultivating leaders with sustainable rhythms of life, and we want to embody that in our own lives and ministry.
Team
Team
The life of the church is meant to be one of co-laboring for the sake of the gospel. Everything we do internally and externally should be a shared ministry for the sake of equipping the body.
Humility
Humility
We are committed to lifelong learning and constant growth through self-awareness and joyful learning from our mistakes and successes.
Prayer
The Foundry started because we fasted and prayed, seeking God’s will. Prayer is woven throughout everything we do because we believe that God is the one building The Foundry, not us.
Truth
The Foundry is rooted in Scripture, and we want to serve from a place of honesty and authenticity, being clear about who we are (and who we aren’t), recognizing our strengths and limitations.
Generosity
God has shown us that he is a generous God who provides abundantly for his people. We want to be good receivers of his good gifts, and graciously use our gifts to serve the body of Christ.
Healthy Rhythms
We believe our work and ministry should come from a place of rest in our identity in Christ. We are passionate about cultivating leaders with sustainable rhythms of life, and we want to embody that in our own lives and ministry.
Team
The life of the church is meant to be one of co-laboring for the sake of the gospel. Everything we do internally and externally should be a shared ministry for the sake of equipping the body.
Humility
We are committed to lifelong learning and constant growth through self-awareness and joyful learning from our mistakes and successes.
Our Statement of Beliefs
Prayer
We believe God eternally exists as one being in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and invites us to be in relationship with him.1Matt. 28:19-20 While God sovereignly created and sustains all that exists, we believe that he is dynamically involved in all we do and desires to hear from us and for us to hear from him.
From its very beginning, The Foundry remains committed to faithful obedience through listening to the Spirit, fasting, and praying. We center our life, ministry, and time around the good news of Jesus, who modeled for us and taught us how to pray.
Truth
We believe that the Triune God has revealed himself in creation, the Bible, and most fully in Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus is the eternal Son, fully God, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, to take on our full humanity, live a righteous life, and give his life as a substitutionary sacrifice for sinners. He physically rose from the dead and ascended to the Father where he reigns and rules over all things. Jesus is the ultimate example and embodiment of grace and truth.
We believe the Bible is God’s inspired word and therefore trustworthy and authoritative for what we believe and how we live. We believe that the Bible teaches that all people are created in the image of God, and therefore men and women of all races and classes are equal and have essential dignity. We believe that from the beginning, God designed celibate singleness and faithful marriage of a man and a woman as the patterns for humans.
The Foundry seeks to live and serve from these places of truth, rooted in Scripture, authentic in who God has called us to be, honest with others and ourselves in our interactions and limitations. We also find it important to be charitable toward others who disagree with our understandings of these truths.
Generosity
We believe that God is lavishly gracious and generous, and that we are called to reflect his generosity toward others. When our first human parents sinned and brought upon all humanity the consequences of sin, guilt, and death, God in his mercy promised to redeem his people. He carried out his plan to save justly condemned sinners who are unable to save themselves or contribute in any positive way to their salvation. We believe that it is only by grace through faith in Christ Jesus that a person is saved.
We believe that God also demonstrates his generosity by pouring out gifts upon his people to be used for the strengthening of his church. These gifts include financial resources, but also skills and abilities intended to serve others and meet the needs of God’s people. Because God provides abundantly for his people, The Foundry seeks to be grateful receivers of his gifts, and to graciously use our gifts to serve the body of Christ.
Health
We believe that the same Holy Spirit, who makes the hearts of spiritually dead people alive in order to trust in Jesus, also continues that work by transforming us more and more to be like Christ. The Spirit testifies to our own spirits that our identity is in Christ as God’s adopted children. We believe our work and ministry should come from a place of rest in our identity in Christ and not our own efforts or achievements.
Following the patterns established at creation and modeled in Jesus’ life, we desire to have sustainable rhythms that nurture emotional and spiritual health. The Foundry is passionate about cultivating leaders with sustainable rhythms of life, and we want to embody that in our own lives and ministry.
Team
We believe that the church is God’s primary instrument for fulfilling his redemptive purposes, and that he designed the church to work together in all its varied and diverse components. The Holy Spirit graciously equips men and women with spiritual gifts so that the body may be strengthened and built up as we carry out the mission of Jesus to make disciples of all nations. We believe that God uses all the gifts portrayed in Scripture and still works miracles, signs, and wonders to reveal the presence of his kingdom and to empower the church for its mission. We affirm both the priesthood of all believers and God’s design to call specifically designated leaders to be given to the church.
The Foundry functions as a team, internally and externally, with this shared ministry approach that ministers from the gifts we have been given. We desire to collaborate with others for the sake of the gospel and to invest in leaders and learners who bring together their own experiences and the ideas they are engaging. We believe the most effective ways to develop leaders are relational and embodied so that together we can love God and others well.
Humility
We believe that God commands us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This requires that we recognize that he is the source of all knowledge and that we will always be in a posture of learning. We need to know God and know ourselves, recognizing our strengths and limitations, our successes and mistakes. We need to examine and critically reflect on the world around us so that we can engage with its diverse ideas, individuals, groups, and cultures.
We believe that learning requires more than a transfer of knowledge, but thrives where there is love for one another and attitudes of humility and joy. The Foundry is committed to lifelong learning and an openness to constant growth. We recognize the importance of being adaptive and resilient so that we can effectively support and strengthen church leaders.
The Foundry adheres to the central teachings of the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. While we charitably recognize other Christian interpretations on particular topics, we teach from the perspective of the Reformed confessions: the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort.
Our Partners
Institute of Ministry Leadership Participating Churches
The Bridge Church
Portage, MI
Community
Reformed Church
Zeeland, MI
Madison Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Fifth Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Centerpoint Church
Kalamazoo, MI
Converge
Community Church
Kalamazoo, MI
Corinth Reformed Church
Byron Center, MI
Discovering Christ Church
Muskegon, MI
Fourth Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Hope Reformed Church
Kalamazoo, MI
Hopkins Community Church
Hopkins, MI
The Local Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Martin Reformed Church
Martin, MI
Northpoint Church
Plainwell, MI
Ottawa Reformed Church
West Olive, MI
South Blendon Community Church
Hudsonville, MI
Faith Church
Dyer, IN
Ministry Formation Participating Churches
Bella Vista Church
Rockford, MI
Bentheim Reformed Church
Hamilton, MI
Centerpoint Church
Kalamazoo, MI
City Church
Rockford, MI
Corinth Reformed Church
Byron Center, MI
Converge
Community Church
Kalamazoo, MI
Fourth Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Hager Park Church
Georgetown Township, MI
Impact Church
Lowell, MI
River Rock Church
Rockford, MI
Sunrise Ministries
Jenison, MI
Thornapple Community Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Church Leaders Training Workshops
Beckwith Hills Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Bentheim Reformed Church
Hamilton, MI
Coopersville Reformed Church
Coopersville, MI
Duplain Church
of Christ
St Johns, MI
Fifth Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Fourth Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Madison Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Pine Grove Christian Reformed Church
Howard City, MI
River Rock Church
Rockford, MI
Rockford Reformed Church
Rockford, MI
Sunrise Ministries
Jenison, MI
Wellspring Church
Hudsonville, MI
West End Christian Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Peace Christian Reformed Church
Cedar Rapids, IA
Greystones Church of the Nazarene
Wicklow, Ireland
Pastors Learning Communities
Beckwith Hills Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Centerpoint Church
Kalamazoo, MI
Christ’s Community Church
Fort Wayne, IN
Faith Church
Dyer, IN
Fifth Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Fourth
Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Indwelling Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Ivanrest Church
Grandville, MI
Orchard Hill Church
Grand Rapids, MI
Remembrance Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
River Rock Church
Rockford, MI
Rockford
Reformed Church
Rockford, MI
Wellspring Church
Hudsonville, MI
West End Christian Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI