Vineyard Columbus is part of a larger association of churches known as Vineyard: A Community of Churches, which is comprised of approximately 550 churches in the United States. Two years ago, the leaders of the Vineyard movement put forth an audacious goal: to plant 750 new Vineyard churches in the next decade. This goal means that the Vineyard movement is seeking to more than double the number of Vineyard churches in the U.S. by the year 2022.

To accomplish this goal, the movement asked for local church commitments of varying size. So, for example, the movement sought to find 10 churches who would individually commit to planting 10 churches each in the next decade. As Vineyard Columbus' leadership team prayed, we sensed that God was calling our church to a much greater faith commitment regarding church planting. Vineyard Columbus communicated to our movement that we wished to plant at least 20 new Vineyard churches in the next decade. We are now rolling up our sleeves and focusing much of our energy upon this bold church planting goal.

Why Church Planting?

Planting new churches is the single most effective strategy for both the expansion of the Kingdom of God and the renewal of existing churches. No other ministry strategy (e.g. crusades, outreach programs, the development of mega-churches, congregational consulting, church renewal or para-church ministries) will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.

We Want to Be True to the Biblical Mandate

The "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18-20), the biblical mandate for all Christians, is not just a call to make disciples - it is also a call to baptize. This means we do not simply share our faith and call people to follow Jesus, but we also plant churches. Throughout the New Testament but especially in the book of Acts, baptism was seen as the initiation into Christian community with accountability and boundaries (cf Acts 2:41-47). The only way to be sure we are making real disciples is to also plant new churches.

The goal of most traditional evangelism is to simply get a decision for Christ. Yet experience tells us that many of these decisions disappear. They never result in changed lives and real disciples. This is because most decisions for Christ are only the beginning steps of a journey with God. True conversion to Christ results in the total restoration of a human being: restored personhood, restored community and restored cause (Christ's mission to the world). Only a person who is brought to Christ in the context of a church - a worshiping and mentoring community - can be sure of becoming a real disciple.

Well-known author and missiologist Peter Wagner asserts, "Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven."

We Want to be True to the Great Commission

New Churches are best at reaching new generations, new residents and new people groups. It's been proven that certain populations are more effectively reached through newer churches and church plants. For example, young adults have always been drawn in greater numbers to new congregations. Those who are new residents to an area are also more likely to attend a new congregation or church plant. Finally, new socio-cultural groups in a community are more likely to become a part of a new congregation or church plant.

We Want to Continually Renew the Whole Body of Christ

It is a great mistake to think that we have to choose between church planting and church renewal. Strange as it may seem, the planting of new churches in a city is one of the very best ways to revitalize the older congregations in the vicinity and renew the whole Body of Christ. Here are the reasons why.

First, the new churches bring new ideas to the whole Body. There is no better way to teach older congregations about new skills and methods for evangelism and discipleship than by planting new churches. It is the new churches that will have freedom to be innovative and they become the "Research and Development" department for the whole Body in that city.

Second, new churches are one of the best ways to surface creative, strong leaders for the whole Body. New congregations attract a higher percentage of venturesome people who value creative risk, innovation and future orientation. Many of these men and women would never be attracted or compelled into significant ministry apart from the appearance of these new church plants.

Third, the new churches challenge other churches to self-examination. The "success" of new churches often challenges older congregations in general to evaluate themselves in substantial ways. Sometimes it is only in contrast with a new church that older churches can finally define their own vision, specialties and identity.

Fourth, the new churches may be an "evangelistic feeder" for a whole community. The new church often produces many converts who end up in older churches for a variety of reasons. Ordinarily, the new churches of a city produce new people not only for themselves, but for the older bodies as well.

Other Facts About Church Planting

• For every new church that opens, four churches close.
• Church attendance has declined 19.4 percent in the past decade alone.
• Only 28 percent of people ages 23-37 attend church, as opposed to 43 percent to 52 percent of older generations.
• Only one county in the U.S. has a greater church population than it did 10 years ago.
• Every month 15,000 people convert to Islam in the U.S.
• Of the 310 million people who live in the U.S., 65 percent (more than 200 million) have no vital church connection.
• It would take 200,000 new churches of 1,000 people each to win all these people.
• According to Billy Graham, 75 percent of all those who consider themselves Christians and regularly go to church are really not Christians. So we need to win not only all of those "outside" the church but also many of those "inside" the church.
• The U.S. has the fourth largest population of unreached people in the world, after India, China and Indonesia.
• The U.S. is 14th on the list of nations RECEIVING missionaries from other countries.

Join me in praying for the church planting of Vineyard Columbus and the Vineyard movement. If you are interested in finding out more about leading or being a part of a church planting team, contact Stephen Van Dop.

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