Church Planting
We are persuaded that…
- Jesus Christ is Lord of the harvest. He invites us to join Him in gathering His lost sheep from all people groups across America. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 9:10).
- Church planting is an obedient response to follow Jesus’ ministry priorities as described in Luke 4:43, “He said, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’.”
- “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them, ’It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’.” (Matthew 9:12-13) Winning of lost people, not the attracting of sheep from other folds must be the focus of every church plant.
- “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (I Corinthians 9:22) To win the lost, we must employ the same barrier crossing missiological principles in America that we do overseas. Our post-Christian culture must be understood as the Gospel is presented simply, clearly and relevantly.
- New church plants must be encoded with a multiplication mentality that sees the multiplying of disciples, small groups, leaders and congregations as the objective, not merely the survival of a single plant.
- Effective evangelism through church planting among under-evangelized people groups has been the historical focus of the C&MA.
…we are committed to Acts 1:8,
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” and
…looking forward to Matthew 24:14,
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”