Why plant new churches?

Most Christians and many church leaders are not aware of the dire spiritual need in America or how we can best meet that need. The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; John 17:18; 20:21; Acts 1:8) and passages like Rom. 10:1-15, Col. 4:2-6, 1 Thess. 1:4-10, 1 Pet. 2:9-10, and Rev. 5:9-10 make it clear that the Church is to reach out to all people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Let us not forget "our own people" here in America (cf. Rom. 9:3; 10:1-4; 11:13-14).

The need for new churches in America

*Brian McNichol: (It is an established FACT that new churches reach the unchurched more effectively than established churches; for example . . .)

0-3 Years – average ten people won to Christ per 100 members
3-15 years – average five people won to Christ per 100 members

15+ years - average three people won to Christ per 100 members

(Brian McNichol, quoted in “Churches Die With Dignity,” Christianity Today, 14 January 1991, 69.)

*America is becoming increasingly unchurched:

1900 – 28 churches per 10,000 Americans

1950 – 17 churches per 10,000 Americans

2000 – 12 churches per 10,000 Americans

(Tom Clegg and Tim Bird, Lost in America (Loveland CA: Group Publishing, 2001), 30.)

*There are now nearly 60 percent fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920 – (Bill Easum, “The Easum Report,” March 2003; available from http://www.easum.com/church.htm; Internet.)

*According to Hugh Halter:

1910 – 25% people in America unchurched

1990 – 65% people in America unchurched

2000 – 75% people in America unchurched

2025 – 90-95% of people in America are unchurched (projected)

Tom Nebel:

1) 4,000 churches a year close doors annually US -2002; now 4,000 new churches planted

2) Lose 2.7 million from church each year

3) US 3rd largest mission field today

4) Only continent except for Europe in which Christianity is not growing

5) No county in US grow even 1 % attend in last 10 years – 2002; 2008 one county in HI grew!

(Tom Nebel, Big dreams in small places, pp. 97-98)

VO Brochure:

1) 93% of people in Ohio are not in a church that is preaching the gospel;

2) 63% of Ohioians with whom there is no church affiliation;

3) 600 is the number of new churches needed since 1990 to keep up with population.

*Question: What is 50,000 miles long, reaches around the world two times, and grows longer by more than a mile each day? Answer: The line of people in the United States currently untouched by your church and mine.

(Clegg and Bird, Missing in America, p. 138.)