Church Planting

In his Christianity Today article, “3 Ways Some Churches Grow Without Getting Bigger,” Karl Vaters, described three ways churches grow. 

First, some churches “grow by multiplication.” In many creative contexts, instead of getting bigger, church growth means planting new churches in other villages or other part of cities.

In fact, according to Karl, it is far more likely to be happening by the multiplication of smaller congregations than by the building of larger ones. Growth by multiplication is the way it’s done for many within the house church movement, too. If the gathering gets large, they split off to new houses. This type of growth is not limited to developing nations and house churches. 

Then, there are churches that “grow by sending.” While some churches have been able to increase both their seating and sending capacities, other churches find themselves in the position of having to choose one or the other. And some of them choose sending over seating.

Many small churches regularly see people come in, get discipled, then leave for other ministries to disciple others. If your call is to be a sending church, do it with all your heart. Your work may not result in the numerical growth of your church, but it will bless the church according to the essay. 

Thirdly, some churches grow in influence. This is from a global, missional mindset. Increasing the number of people sitting in buildings for weekend services is too small a vision. The Church wants to impact the entire world for the Lord. The internet has given even the smallest church an opportunity for global impact that could not have been dreamed of, even a decade ago. Most churches have barely begun what they can do on social media. But there are some great innovators in this arena.

[These points are by pastor Karl Vaters with some edition]

How do we plant churches?

Despite decline in protestant churches in “churched nations,” Today, there are more ways for churches to grow than ever before. SRCI is not a church-planting mission; however, we do involve in planting churches and serve alongside the local churches. SRCI has also three ways to help plant churches. First, we disciple local pastoral leadership and plant churches with the local leaders. Secondly, we plant churches in mind to intentionally nurture local pastoral leaders. Finally, we serve and partner with local churches for them to become missional and growing churches. 

Contact us for more information.