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Guide · About the lab
What Is a Faith-Based Innovation Lab?
A plain definition, how the model works, how it differs from a consultant or a foundation, and what it looks like in practice at Brilliance Labs in Portland, Oregon.
The short answer
A faith-based innovation lab is a Christian organization that finds a hard, often neglected problem facing churches or missions, builds a first answer, tests it with the people who have the problem, and keeps what works.
It puts research, funding, and hands-on building under one roof, and faith is the reason the work exists. Brilliance Labs, a Portland, Oregon 501(c)(3) founded in 2021, is one example.
What Does a Faith-Based Innovation Lab Do?
It runs the same loop over and over:
- Find a real problem. Start with people who are stuck. A missions agency that can't get money to a worker. A small church that can't find grant money. A ministry office where one staff member is quietly using AI and nobody has a policy.
- Research it. Talk to the people who carry it. Survey them. Read what has already been tried.
- Build a first answer. A grant round, a pilot, a training, a small tool, a written framework. Something people can use right away.
- Test it in the field. Put it in front of practitioners and watch what happens.
- Keep it, change it, or stop. If it works, keep going. If it half works, fix it. If it doesn't, stop and say so.
We care most about upstream work, which we define as the thing that keeps a problem from happening over the thing that manages it afterward. A lab is a good place for upstream work because it can afford to try things a busy church or agency can't.
How Is an Innovation Lab Different From a Consultant, Foundation, or Think Tank?
Each of those does one part of the loop. A lab tries to do the whole thing, or to hand off cleanly to someone who will.
| Question | Innovation lab | Consulting firm | Foundation | Think tank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Build and test answers | Advise | Fund others | Research and publish |
| What you get | Pilots, tools, programs | Recommendations | Grants | Papers and reports |
| Attitude to failure | Expects some experiments to fail | Tries to avoid it | Evaluates grantees | Careful, slow method |
| Where faith sits | The reason for the work | Often absent | Varies | Varies |
Brilliance Labs does all four jobs inside one nonprofit. We consult through Frontier Finance Consulting and Ignite AI Consulting, we fund through Portland Grants & Community, and we research through the Bright Ideas Think Tank. The lab is what ties them together, so that what we learn in one place shapes the next thing we build.
How Did Brilliance Labs Start?
In early 2020, Central Bible Church in Portland decided to close after 90 years. A congregation that once filled a 1,200-seat auditorium had become a church of about 100. The remaining members chose to plant their resources in new ground instead of holding on.
The sale of the church property funded an endowment. That endowment became the seed capital for Brilliance Labs, which Ahshuwah Hawthorne founded in 2021. Our first Portland micro-grant round followed in 2022. The endowment still funds grants to local ministries today.
Today the lab is funded by that endowment, gifts from individual donors, consulting revenue, and Bitcoin reserves and cryptocurrency gifts. A four-person team runs it: Ahshuwah Hawthorne (Founder and Director), Andrey Gorban (Director of Pacific Northwest Initiatives), Jordan Bush (Director of TGFB Initiatives), and Jacob Evans (Research Intern). Meet them on our About page.
What Has the Lab Built So Far?
Each of our initiatives started from a specific problem. Here is what each one does, with the numbers we can stand behind.
Portland Grants & Community
The problem: many small churches and grassroots ministries in Portland need a modest grant to take a first step. Our answer is micro-grants of $1,000 to $7,000. Since 2022 we've given $263,710 through 53 grants to 42 organizations over nine rounds. Round ten is open now and closes Friday, October 23, 2026. Led by Andrey Gorban. See the Fall 2026 round.
Bitcoin for Missions
The problem: money doesn't reach missionaries in hard places, or it arrives late and shrunk by fees. In 2023 Missio Nexus gave us a $50,000 innovation grant to ask how Bitcoin might serve the Great Commission. We ran design labs in El Salvador (November 2023, 24 participants), Kenya (March 2024, 21 participants), and India (fall 2025, 25 leaders), and published a white paper. Nate Scholz, who wrote that white paper and built much of the design-lab work, retired this summer. Read about Bitcoin for Missions.
Frontier Finance Consulting
The same problem, from the agency's side. Before we built anything, we surveyed missions finance leaders in early 2026 with the Think Tank. Of 25 respondents, 20 directly oversee cross-border payments, at organizations that together move an estimated $60 million or more a year, and 81% said they were very or moderately interested in a Bitcoin pilot. That shaped a $2,000 pilot that starts with a free 30-minute call. See how the pilot works.
Ignite AI Consulting
The problem: churches are adopting AI with no shared way to decide where it belongs. We adopted AI across our own team first, then wrote a Christ-Centered Framework for Using AI and now help churches and ministries apply it. Led by Ahshuwah Hawthorne. Read our AI strategy guide for churches.
Bright Ideas Think Tank
The research arm. It studies the questions our field work keeps raising, such as the theology of money and the ethics of AI. Research is led by Jacob Evans, who is reading for a DPhil in Anthropology at the University of Oxford. Visit the Think Tank.
Thank God for Bitcoin
Books, a podcast, and an annual conference that help Christians understand Bitcoin. It now operates under the Brilliance Labs umbrella, led by Jordan Bush, co-author of the book Thank God for Bitcoin. Visit tgfb.com (opens in a new tab).
Along the way, we've trained more than 250 leaders.
What Happens When an Experiment Doesn't Work?
We stop. A lab that never ends anything isn't testing. Some of our work is mature, like the grant rounds. Some is still an early experiment, and we say so. Time-limited programs end on schedule. When something doesn't serve the people it was built for, the money and time go to the next problem instead.
This is also why we write down what we learn. Survey reports, trip reports, and grant-round announcements go on From the Lab, so other ministries can learn from our results without repeating our mistakes.
Can a Church or Ministry Start Its Own Innovation Lab?
Yes, and you don't need a building or a big budget. You need four things:
- One problem you can name in a sentence. Pick the one your people complain about most.
- Access to the people who have it. A lab without practitioners is a think tank.
- Permission to fail small. Your board or elders need to agree ahead of time that some experiments won't work, and that this is fine.
- A way to decide. Before you start, write down what "it worked" will look like, so you can keep it or stop with a clear conscience.
Start with a pilot that lasts weeks, not years. If it helps, bring more people in. If you'd like a thinking partner, we're glad to talk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a faith-based innovation lab?
A Christian organization that finds hard, often neglected problems facing churches or missions, builds a first answer, tests it with the people who have the problem, and keeps what works. It combines research, funding, and building, and treats faith as the reason for the work.
How is an innovation lab different from a consulting firm?
A consulting firm gives advice and leaves the building to you. An innovation lab builds the first version itself, tests it in the field, and hands over what works. Brilliance Labs also consults, but our consulting grows out of things we built and tested first.
When was Brilliance Labs founded, and by whom?
Ahshuwah Hawthorne founded Brilliance Labs in Portland, Oregon, in 2021. Its seed capital came from an endowment created when Central Bible Church closed and sold its property.
How is Brilliance Labs funded?
Brilliance Labs is funded by an endowment created from the sale of the Central Bible Church property, gifts from individual donors, consulting revenue, and Bitcoin reserves and cryptocurrency gifts. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 87-1494224.
Where does Brilliance Labs work?
We're based in Portland, Oregon. Our grants serve the Portland metro area, and our missions work has taken us to El Salvador, Kenya, and India.
How can my organization work with Brilliance Labs?
Portland churches and nonprofits can apply for a micro-grant. Missions agencies can book a free 30-minute Frontier Finance call. Churches and ministries working through AI can start with Ignite AI Consulting. For anything else, email hello@brilliancelabs.org.
Have a Problem Worth Solving?
Tell us what your church, ministry, or agency keeps running into. If it's something we work on, we'll say so. If it isn't, we'll try to point you to someone who does.