A Church Plant on E. Huron Street
Harvest Mission Community Church began in 1996 with eight people meeting near the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. They had a single dream: to be a 1st-century church in the 21st century, modeling the community described in Acts 2. Three decades later, HMCC has grown into a multi-generational congregation that still treats the campus as its front porch.
The church's motto, "Transform lives, transform the world," captures both its inward and outward focus. Inside the Transformation Center at 1001 E. Huron St., students, young professionals, married couples, families, and international students gather each week. Outside its walls, the church plants other churches and sends workers to unreached people groups from Southeast Asia to the Middle East.
HMCC Ann Arbor is one congregation of a wider movement called Acts Ministries International (AMI). The Ann Arbor location describes itself as non-denominational and evangelical in conviction, led by a team of elders and deacons rather than a single senior pastor model.
Sundays at the Transformation Center
The week's main gathering is the Sunday Celebration, held every Sunday at 10:00 AM at the Transformation Center (the T-Center). Services open and close with musical worship in a contemporary vein, and preaching is Bible-based, often working through books of the Bible passage by passage. There is built-in time for prayer and personal reflection.
Visitors on E. Huron St. can spot the church by its blue signs. Walk to the left of the building and follow the pathway to enter through the large blue door on the right. The hospitality team meets guests at the door and helps them find a seat. There is no formal dress code; come in whatever feels comfortable.
Children from six months old through fifth grade are welcomed downstairs at Building Blocks, where trained and background-checked volunteers lead age-appropriate Bible lessons and creative worship. The service is also livestreamed on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person. A full archive of past sermons, searchable by speaker, series, Bible book, and topic, sits on the church's media page.
A Family Built Around Six Life Stages
The most distinctive feature of HMCC Ann Arbor is how it organizes its congregation. Rather than dividing people by neighborhood or program, the church arranges its ministry around the chapters of adult life, what it calls "Life Stages." Each one has a name, a leader, and its own fellowship rhythm.
- Covenant serves married couples, whether newly married or decades in. The ministry focuses on building strong, Christ-centered marriages through Life groups, encouragement, and teaching.
- Focus is for single adults, generally those out of school and not yet married. It is described as a vibrant, Christ-centered community where people share stories, serve together, and have fun.
- Impact gathers graduate students at the University of Michigan and across Ann Arbor. The aim is to grow as people who will use their education and gifts to shape their fields.
- Access is the undergraduate ministry, and the ministry that started the whole church in 1996. Access, an MSA-registered student organization, runs Life groups where students grow in faith during what HMCC calls one of life's most pivotal chapters.
- Global Access reaches the international student community, especially at U of M. Members come from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, and many other places. The ministry positions itself as a "home away from home" for students far from their own countries.
- Latitude (high school) and Velocity (middle school) make up the youth ministry. Latitude began in 2002 with a handful of high schoolers and has grown to draw students from Ypsilanti, Saline, Northville, and Novi.
- Building Blocks is the children's ministry for ages six months through fifth grade. Its mission is to lay a biblical foundation for kids to know Christ, partnering with parents as the spiritual leaders of the home.
Life Groups: The Heartbeat of Biblical Community
If the Sunday Celebration is the front door, Life Groups are the living room. HMCC organizes its small groups around the same Life Stage categories, so members connect with others in similar seasons of life.
The church anchors its Life Group philosophy in Acts 2:42-47, breaking the early church's life into five "E's": Evangelism, Exaltation, Edification, Education, and Extension. Each Life Group is meant to be an avenue for Christ-centered, genuine relationships and a place to live out the Gospel in everyday ways.
Meeting times vary. Student and young adult Life groups typically meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Married couples' groups usually meet on Wednesdays, Fridays, or Sundays, though times change frequently. Newcomers can sign up online to learn more about which group fits their life stage.
What HMCC Believes
HMCC's doctrinal statement follows an evangelical, non-denominational path with clear Trinitarian convictions.
- About God. One God eternally existing in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who created all things, is perfect in love and holiness, and sovereignly rules over all things for his redemptive purposes.
- About Salvation. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice, rose again in victory over death, ascended to the Father, and will return to make all things new. Through faith in Christ alone, believers are restored to relationship with God and given the gift of eternal life.
- About the Holy Spirit. The Spirit inspired Scripture, convicts the world of sin, indwells and regenerates believers, grants spiritual gifts, and sanctifies, instructs, guides, and empowers the church.
- About Revelation. God has revealed himself through the Bible, the only written word of God, which is divinely inspired, authoritative, and without error in all that it affirms. God also reveals himself through creation and the Holy Spirit, in alignment with Scripture.
- About Humanity. God created human beings, male and female, in his image, to multiply, steward creation, and live in loving fellowship with him.
- About the Fall. Adam and Eve's disobedience separated humanity from God and rendered all people spiritually dead, in need of salvation only available through Jesus Christ.
- About the Church. The Church is the bride of Christ, made up of all who through saving faith have been regenerated and united as his body. The universal Church is manifested in local churches, with Jesus as its head.
- About the New Creation. Jesus Christ will return visibly and personally, raise the dead, judge the just and the unjust, and bring in his Kingdom in the new heavens and new earth.
The church has also compiled a list of "HMCC Distinctives," secondary doctrinal convictions the elders hold firmly but do not require members to agree with on every point.
Harvest Mission International: Going to the Nations
Missions is not an arm of HMCC; it is one of the church's central callings. Harvest Mission International (HMI) is the outreach arm of the church, focused on planting churches, sending short-term teams, and partnering with missionaries.
The strategy targets cities with viable college campuses, on the conviction that reaching students shapes the leaders of tomorrow. Short-term teams have gone to Peru (1999-2005, 2016-2024), Chicago (2014, 2022), Jordan (2018-2020), Indonesia (2012), Ann Arbor and Detroit (2009), India (2006-2008), Kenya (2002), and Mexico (1998). Beyond short-term trips, HMCC supports a network of long-term workers in places like Detroit, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Among the supported workers: Sam and Sunghyun Beck, doing a pastoral residency in Detroit; Alex and Noel in Southeast Asia among unreached people groups; Timothy and Miriam Harris, who build bridges between Muslims and Christians; "Brother R," who has spent fifteen years serving Syrian refugee, Sabian, and Muslim populations in the Middle East; David Yang, who after forty years of pastoring in the US has moved to Asia to train house church leaders; and Sam and Marina Kim, who are preparing to be sent to Japan as long-term missionaries and church planters. Short-term missions typically run from February through August.
Leadership: Elders and Deacons
HMCC follows the New Testament pattern of plural elder leadership with deacons serving alongside. The current elders are Rev. Pete Dahlem (Lead Pastor), Joshua Yang (Associate Pastor), Dave Yon (Elder overseeing Worship), and Seong Park (Elder overseeing Facilities). Lead Pastor Dahlem oversees the Impact and Latitude & Velocity ministries; Associate Pastor Yang oversees Access.
The deacon board carries much of the ministry's day-to-day leadership across the Life Stages. Members and visitors can submit questions, concerns, or suggestions to the pastors and elders through a feedback form on the church's pages.
Prayer, Classes, and the Calendar
A monthly Prayer Gathering brings the whole church together on a Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the Transformation Center, anchored in Jesus' words that "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." For those wanting to deepen their roots, the church runs Experiencing Ministry, Experiencing Membership, and Baptism classes around February and October each year. Baptism itself is taught as an outward expression of inward faith and union with Christ, not a means of salvation.
Friday Night Encounter events gather the undergraduate ministry for an evening of worship, prayer, and teaching. An annual Undergrad Retreat takes place over U of M's Fall Break at Michindoh Conference Center. Other events vary by season.
Serving and Using Your Gifts
For those ready to give back, the church organizes a robust Ministry Team structure with seven teams: Arts & Design Servants (ADS), Building Blocks (kids), Documentations (photo/video), Hospitality, Servants United (facilities), Video Ministry, and the Worship Team (AV/band). Teams operate under values called GIFTS, Gift discovery and development, Intercession, Faithfulness, Teamwork, and Servanthood. Active membership is required to serve on a team.
Ways to Connect and Give
Giving is handled online through Church Center, with a small processing fee, or by mail to Harvest Mission Community Church, 928 E Ann St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. HMCC is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit; year-end giving statements are issued every January. Members also have free access to RightNow Media's library of Bible study videos through an HMCC referral link.
The church keeps an active social presence on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and shares a podcast on Spotify. A general inbox, annarbor@hmcc.net, is the easiest entry point for newcomers with questions.
From eight people in 1996 to a multi-generational family still anchored to the University of Michigan, Harvest Mission Community Church continues to put the same vision into practice. The dream of a 1st-century church in the 21st century is weekly and lived out in Life groups, Sunday worship, prayer gatherings, retreats, and short-term trips to the ends of the earth.