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Then Jesus came to them and said, "Some authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. You could go and make disciples of anyone who comes to church on Sunday morning, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey some of the stuff I have suggested to you."
We all know that's not what Jesus said to his disciples before He ascended into heaven. His message was clear, "I'm the boss. Go to everyone and teach them everything I have taught you, including this command."
Starting (a.k.a. "planting") new churches may seem like a redundant strategy for following Christ's Great Commission in this "Christian" nation, but the following research from the Barna Group may surprise you:
• Between 50 and 75 U.S. churches close their doors every week.
• More than 80% of the churches in the U.S. have plateaued or are declining.
• Over 180 million people are unchurched, making the U.S. the third largest mission field in the world.
• Since 1991, the number of adults in the U.S. who do not attend church has nearly doubled.
• Eight million twenty-somethings alive today will no longer attend church by the time they turn 30.
That's a national picture, but think about your community. If you add up the gospel-teaching churches in your community, their seating capacity and number of worship services, then add those numbers together. Take that number and subtract it from the total population of your community. You will find that existing churches are reaching between 5-20% of your community. In the best case, 4/5ths of your community is un-churched. Your community is a mission field!
So what can you do about it?
Here are some practical things you can do . . .
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Ask God to give you His heart attitude about reaching lost people as Jesus describes in Luke 15. |
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Based on Luke 10:2, set your watch alarm for 10:02am or 10:02pm, and stop for a few minutes to pray for the harvest field in your community, asking the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to reach your community. |
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Daily start your day asking God for divine appointments with un-churched people throughout your day. Begin praying for un-churched people with whom you rub shoulders. |
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Encourage your church to adopt a church-planting project to pray for and support. |
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Talk to your pastor about your church being a part of a LEAD team or parenting a church or other ways your church can be involved in church planting. |
Our fellowship of NCBC churches has made planting new churches a high priority. My role as church planting director is to bring us together to plant healthy, reproductive churches. We are positioned financially to seize opportunities to plant new churches, but are looking for partners in this commission.
I would be happy to come to your church on a Sunday, or talk with a group of leaders about how they could be involved in working together to start new churches in Northern California.
Paul Root
Associate Minister, Church Planting
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