Ministry Incubators provides clients with a robust assortment of resources, processes, and expertise.

But sometimes, we find what our clients need most is just someone to believe in them. 

Monique Harrington was a young woman in Philadelphia who had dreamed of opening a “club” for young people since she was a teenager watching the tv show “Moesha.” Moesha and her friends hung out at a place called The Den after school every day – it was cool, it was safe, it was a place where teenagers could be themselves. 

Monique wondered, “What if I could build The Den? And what if it could point people towards Jesus?” 

When Monique and her fledgling idea became a client of Ministry Incubators, one of her biggest struggles was funding it. She just couldn’t believe that anyone would give money to an idea like that. Her coach, our Vice President of Coaching, Aqueelah Ligonde, helped her articulate her vision, mission, and story, and pointed her to the resources she had at her disposal, the people who wanted to help her… if she could work up the nerve to ask. 

Aqueelah encouraged her that bringing on early-stage investors for this kind of project wasn’t about selling a product but inviting people into a story. Her “Den” (called The Way Club) could be the center of transformation, belonging, and God’s work being done in the city, and she could help other people be a part of that story. It isn’t selfish to ask people to give their resources to help build a story like that; it’s selfish to keep the opportunity of creating a story like that all to yourself! 

Over six months, Monique raised more than $10,000. She started her first summer program, hired a staff member, launched a website and a newsletter. Her “Den” (called “The Way Club”) now fully exists, and part of the reason why is because Monique allowed someone to believe in her and invited other people to be part of the story.

The idea of the lone founder is a myth. Nothing we create we create on our own. It can be easy to love our dreams and ideas so deeply, and to be so afraid of their rejection, that we cling them too tightly to our chests to let anyone else in. But for those ideas, those dreams, to grow from hopes into programs and places and people transformed, we have to be willing to invite other people into the story. 

God placed a call on Monique’s heart to open “The Way Club,” but that dream was never meant to be hers alone. Ministry Incubators helped her see how God was placing other people in her path to be invited into the story of God’s transformation. That collaboration turned Monique’s God-given dream into the story it was meant to be. 

• Where can you invite others into your dreams of innovation? 
• Where might you be holding your hopes a bit too tightly? 
• What might it look like for you to support other people in their dreams?