“How did Unify Dayton Start?”

When Jesus walked the earth 2,000 years ago, He declared that His Church was one body and prayed that we would function in unity and collective service. Many years of seeking God’s heart and responding to this call have led us down this journey of Unify Dayton.

For decades, different leaders have built bridges and friendships and partnered together. Several pastoral networks (West Dayton Caravan, Miami Valley City Gates) have met to pray and seek the blessing of the city for over 20 years!

Around 2014, two nonprofits launched (Miami Valley Leadership Foundation & Declare) that have each grown to have a vision of seeing churches and organizations collaborate to bless lives and communities. Many other organizations and networks (Global Leadership Summit, Women in Christian Leadership, Live2Lead:Dayton, StoryConnect, to name a few) are also intentionally seeking collective impact through networks.

Around 2020, several of us began to consider the following question: how can we work better together to serve our city? On Nov 9th & 10th of 2021, a group of about 50 servant leaders gathered to pursue a collaborative vision of city transformation. The gathering was called Unify Dayton. We didn't meet to start a new organization, but rather, in humility, to simply pursue partnerships for the greater good of every person and community.

The Unify Dayton name stuck and over the next several years a smaller core team committed to meet each month and seek greater clarity of vision and mission. We continue to press in to reveal and steward God’s heart for Dayton together. Unify Dayton is not another 501c3 (either figuratively or literally), but rather a collaborative network of individuals and organizations that are committed to the thriving of every person and neighborhood of our city and region—together.

Over the last few years we have been blessed to hold annual Unify Dayton Leaders’ Summits, identify, support or launch 70 geographic, causal or workplace networks, and provide training and resources for these network leaders.

There are so many incredible ministries and efforts that have preceded this Unify Dayton collaborative. We don’t desire to replace anything that’s already happening, but rather to come alongside and support for even greater Kingdom and community impact. It is truly our honor to serve alongside these efforts and organizations!