New churches for new challenges

I was 30 years old, Andrea 26 and our first two children were very young when we were encouraged to move to a new city. We left the security of the beautiful church that sheltered us and a stable job to plant a new church. We were driven by a strong missionary call and the enthusiastic encouragement from some brothers and sisters who supported our dream.

There was no predetermined plan, no finances, no teams. We were moved by the conviction of our call and the confidence of God supporting us. We started our first services with some friends at home until we could finally start our first public services. God did the rest.   

Today that small community is a mature, active and relevant congregation with established pastors, different teams and resources. These were fifteen years of much learning, but God had new plans for us, and today we are planting a new church in a different city.

What moves us to start over? A passionate heart for God and for people, and the vision of bringing Heaven to Earth. I am convinced that planting churches is the most effective way to connect people with God. The book of Acts in the New Testament teaches us that planting churches is the most effective way to fulfill the great commission that Jesus gave us.

Based on experience, new churches can bring a new approach, purpose, energy, and enthusiasm to Mother Churches. The growth of the new church is the growth of the Kingdom. New churches can focus on new and creative ways to attract people that couldn’t be reached in any other way.

Young churches focus more on people, and less on buildings, programs or departments. People are the most important aspect of the church and although it is imperative to maintain this approach, as the years pass, the impetus gets lost. Keeping the vision fresh in the new churches is a constant reminder to the Mother Church of the reason why she exists.

It is a reality that new churches can transform themselves to reach specific communities and groups. They can change and adapt quickly if necessary. The challenge of living in a postmodern and anti-Christian culture is that it demands new church methods and approaches. New churches are then needed to do this work.

New churches are the fertile soil to develop new leaders. Also, when the work of planting a church has been done well, it encourages cooperation in the Kingdom, and not competition.

There is nothing that better demonstrates the health of a congregation than the availability and ability to give birth to new churches. But the opposite is also true.

These biblical and practical reasons are more than enough to explain why churches with missionary and apostolic visions are so passionately living this church-planting movement and are firmly willing to cooperate in the extension of the Kingdom here and to the end of the Earth.

The foundation of a church is an adventure. Whether it is founded in the slums of a city, in a flourishing residential neighborhood, or in a rural population, bringing hope and the possibility of transformation to people is one of the most relevant tasks that exists and it is worth dedicating all our efforts and investments in them.