Transcript Intro to Church Planting 1

Introduction to Church Planting:
Fall 2004
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Rodney Harrison
The World Realities
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The estimated unchurched population of America is 219
million (Jan. ’01 North American Mission Board) This is
supported also by the Gallup Princeton Religion Report.
Only three nations have a larger number of lost people within
their borders (NAMB) – China, India, Indonesia.
North America is the only continent where Christianity did not
grow in the past decade (NAMB)
One of every five Californian would respond positively and
accept a gospel invitation if simply asked (Research by Randy
McCorter, Mar. ’01 California Southern Baptist Convention,
Evangelism Department) Could the numbers here be much
different?
The World Realities
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Evangelical churches have failed to gain an
additional two percent of the American population
in the past 50 years, in other words, we are not
even reaching our children. (George Barna,
American Profile, 1997)
No county in America has a greater percentage of
churched persons today than a decade ago.
(ASCG)
380 counties in the USA have no SBC church.
(NAMB)
63,000 communities have been identified with no
evangelical church (NAMB)
Over 50% of all churches did not add a new
member through conversion (ASCG)
The World Realities
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The church to population ratio is on the decline. (Thomas
Clegg, The Need for Church Planting in America)
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1900 there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans
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1950 there were 17 churches for every 10,000 Americans
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2000 there are less than 11 churches for every 10,000
Americans
Southern Baptists have reached less than 1% of the ethnic
population of America (NAMB)
25,000 US citizens convert to Islam each year. (Zwimmer
Institute)
Between 3000 and 4000 American churches close their doors
permanently each year. (ASCG) During the same time, only
2400-3200 are started. (NAMB)
The World Realities
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The United States is the largest post-Christian nation on
earth. America leads the world in every category of violent
and domestic crime. (Thomas T. Clegg, December 1997)
America was once the number one mission-sending nation.
Although we continue to give, today we are the 13th largest
recipient of missionaries. (Clegg)
The largest church is the world (Yoido Full Gospel, 700,000
members) is in Buddhist Seoul, South Korea. The largest
Buddhist Temple in the world is in Boulder, Co. The second
largest church in the world (385,000 members) is in Muslim
Nigeria, while the largest Muslim training center is in
Brooklyn, NY. (Clegg)
The World Realities
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In China, 42,600 people came to Christ today. In Indian, 27,
700. In Sub-Saharan Africa, over 17,000. In the United States,
under 6000. (US center for World Missions)
In China and India, a new church is being planting every 72
seconds. In the United States, a new church is started only
every 4 hours. (US center for World Missions and NAMB)
A Missional Response:
C. Peter Wagner, Former professor of Church Growth at
Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission
and currently director of Global Harvest Ministries is
Colorado, wrote in his classic book Church Planting for
a Greater Harvest that, “the single most effective
evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new
churches.”
A Missional Response:
The statistics seems to bear this out. (Interest Magazine).
•Churches under three years of age win an average of
ten people to Christ per year for every one hundred
church members
•Churches three to fifteen years of age win an average of
five people per year for every one hundred church
members
•Churches over fifteen years of age win an average of
three people per year for every one hundred church
members
Assignment
 Determine the “Members per Baptism” and
the “$ per Baptism” ratio of your “home
church.”
 Turn in at the beginning of class on Thursday.
Include your name on the paper!