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Why We Start New Churches

Church planting is a biblical pattern for bringing the hope of Christ to new people in new places. There are five very evident results to church planting done well that compel our commitment to it.

1. People Come to Faith

It is widely acknowledged that the rate of evangelism tends to be higher in new churches than established churches. Author Lyle Schaller, noted observer of church life in America, goes so far as to state, “Starting new churches is the closest thing to a guaranteed method of outreach” (44 Questions for Church Planters).

That is our experience. A study conducted by Interest Ministries and reported in Christianity Today found that the typical evangelical church could expect three conversions per 100 people in attendance per year. In our own repeated comparative studies, we find six conversions per 100 in all Covenant churches, indicating good evangelism vitality across the whole denomination. When looking at just new Covenant churches, the rate jumps to 12 per 100, or four times the typical congregation.

At our second preview service three people committed their lives to Christ for the first time. Also, this past Sunday we had one person commit their life to Christ for the first time and another person renewing their commitment to the Lord. God is at work and using us to make an impact in the New York/New Jersey area.
- Peter Ahn, Metro Community Covenant Church, Fort Lee, New Jersey

Each week people have come to the Lord. The church seems to be entering a fresh move of God! We had five teenagers give their lives to Christ. They had been attending for nearly a year, but have now made a decision to give their lives to Christ!
- Promise Lee, Relevant Word Ministries, Colorado Spring, Colorado

2. Followers Come Alive

New churches create new opportunities for service, meaning more people grow in their use of talents or gifts in service to God. Moreover, church plants by their very nature are ventures requiring greater measures of faith and confidence in God.

At this month’s Bible study, we focused on evangelism, and trained our members in street witnessing. One of our guys had never witnessed someone turning their lives over to Christ, and he prayed that God would use him in this process. God answered his prayer and used this young man to help pray someone into the kingdom of God. His face was lit up with the excitement of seeing the Holy Spirit at work, birthing someone into the kingdom of God.
- Camille Russell-Wooden, Abundant Life Covenant Bible Church, Pasadena, California

3.  People Come Together

Church planting broke down cultural and racial barriers in the first century. It is doing the same now. Nearly 50 percent of our new churches are among populations of color or intentionally multi-ethnic from the start. As a result, over 20 percent of all Covenant congregations today are now ethnic or multiethnic, a significant development for any historically predominantly Caucasian group.

The growth rate for ethnic and multi-ethnic populations within the Covenant is triple the total Covenant’s growth rate. Because of this, the Covenant is better positioned to reach the breadth of our population, and to more accurately reflect the reality of the kingdom of God.

4. Neighborhoods Come Back

The Covenant believes God wants lost people found and hurting people helped. You don’t always find that dual commitment to evangelism and compassion as a stated priority among church planting groups, but it is with the Covenant. We see our new churches quickly become agents of compassion in their communities and catalysts for neighborhood transformation and justice.

5. Benefits Come Back and Forth

Church planting done well benefits both new churches and established churches. Established churches get infused with missional energy generated by helping start a new church. New churches benefit from the stability, wisdom, and assistance of established churches that support them. New churches collectively develop innovations that can have crossover benefits back to many established churches.