Joey and Lauren Furjanic were youth pastors at a multisite church in Illinois before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November 2013 with a plan to plant a nondenominational church.
“We love the fact that there are so many neighborhoods in Philly,” reflects Lauren. “You can walk down the street and encounter all different types of people, colors and economic statuses.”
They named their church The Block Church (TBC) because their mission is to revive every block with an intention to multiply through small multisite churches.
“We feel like your church is your block, your family is your block, your community is your block,” says Lauren.
Despite their big ideas, it was a rough start.
“We essentially parachuted in and started from nothing,” Joey marvels, noting that they didn’t launch with any other planting network. “We really got the church out of the mud on our own, financing it with the money we had saved.”
They initially struggled to find a place to meet until they finally found a small catering hall. The pair sent out mailers and launched The Block Church in September 2014 to impressive numbers. On the first Sunday, 300 people came to the service; 300–400 attended the block party that followed. A second site launched in 2016 and a third in 2018. A fourth was set to start up in 2020, but then COVID-19 happened, which wreaked havoc on all their plans.
“That was a nightmare. We basically lost everything,” Joey recalls.
Their strong evangelism focus, however, enabled them to slowly add back locations while also launching a campaign to secure their future. They locked in three properties over three years. Their largest location is a 56,000-square-foot building in northeast Philly, which they moved into in February 2025. They are now back to having five locations with plans to launch three more over the next year.
| THE BLOCK CHURCH Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pastor: Joey Furjanic Website: TheBlockChurch.org Denomination: Assemblies of God Founded: 2014 Fastest-Growing: 60 |
This is easier said than done in Philadelphia, often called “America’s poorest big city.”
“There are a lot of dynamics at play when you’re dealing with poverty,” Joey underscores. “It’s not only a constant battle to raise money to come up with resources, but you’re trying to care for people when benevolence requests are through the roof.”
In addition, with poverty comes violence. A mile from one of TBC’s locations is the largest open air drug market on the East Coast.
“Dealing with so many dynamics is risky, but since the beginning our mission has been our strategy and willingness to take big risks,” says Joey. “We’ve been generous to other ministries and our city despite having many economic challenges ourselves.”
They started a nonprofit called The Block Cares, which engages young people throughout the city. Through that nonprofit, they have built a couple of playgrounds already.
“We try to move people out of their brokenness, poverty and pain,” says Joey, noting that Philly has a lot of broken families that lack a father figure. So, they focus on raising up and developing men by hosting men’s retreats.
TBC loves evangelism, whether that involves hosting a massive trunk-or-treat or doing events on the weekend.
“Our community really loves people,” Lauren says. “We’re also clear, honest and authentic, which draws people to us.”
In addition to ministering to the lost, they seek to reach the young.
“During COVID-19 we felt that we were losing young people to the crazy insanity of the world, so we went all in on Gen Z,” explains Joey.
That included changing their social media approach by showing more Gen Z teens and young adults online. They also brought in two young executive pastors and started a young adult ministry that has really blown up. At Friday night events, sometimes as many as 320 young adults show up.
“The strategy of our church has pivoted,” observes Joey. “Our members are showing up to serve, to work, to paint things, to be on the kids’ team, to be the owners of the house. We love that.”
Dan McCarty was raised Catholic, but it wasn’t until coming to TBC that he began to understand the true meaning of faith and what it looks like to have a personal relationship with Jesus. That shift changed everything.
“The authentic and transparent leadership at every location showed me that real faith is lived out in community, not just ritual,” says McCarty, who attends TBC’s Port Richmond location with his family. “The multisite model, with the same unified message across the city, creates an environment where connection and growth feel tangible. We found more than a church. We found a family.”
The spiritual dynamic of The Block Church changed dramatically when the leadership made the decision to raise up and develop an intercessors ministry.
“We always had a prayer team, but the intercessors—people praying specifically over our city, our church, our leadership—have been a game changer,” Lauren shares. “It’s taken us to a different level in terms of what God is doing.”
Every Thursday intercessions are taking place at each location where they are praying in the resources, praying for the lost, praying over healings.
“We’re seeing miracles,” Lauren reflects. “We’re seeing holes in hearts close. It’s beautiful.”