Not 40, but 57 new churches in 4 years?
God never ceases to amaze us!
Four years ago, we launched our strategic focus for 2015-2018: “40 in 4.” Our hope and prayer was to see 40 new church planting projects and partnerships launched in four years.
God surprised us immensely. With the prayers, encouragement, and financial partnership of our ministry partners, not 40 but 57 new projects were launched!
Before we launched “40 in 4,” it seemed like such an oversized vision that we were hesitant to roll it out at all. At that point, Communitas had 68 churches in our movement; adding 40 would propel us past 100 churches—an increase of almost 60%.
But in the rearview mirror, we see now that God had greater things in mind. Communitas now counts 125 churches and planting projects in our movement. Many of these new projects are infant churches. Church planting is a difficult task even in highly receptive contexts, let alone in the midst of a post-Christendom culture, where God has called us to engage. These are places that had the Gospel at one point, but where now very few people have ever properly heard the claims of Christ.
But God is moving! For example, one of our churches is reaching young urban families in downtown Warsaw, Poland… people who are mostly “not interested” in church as they have seen it in the past. Starting a new church in this region is slow work . . . but the work is bearing fruit as over 100 people are regularly attending! We are not called to where the harvest is easy. In fact, remaining faithful when fruit is hard to find can be a struggle. But our Communitas teams are persevering and seeing green shoots of growth everywhere.
Communitas has always been in the forefront in experimenting when planting churches. We want our teams on the front lines to develop approaches that fit their unique situations. In today’s globally connected world, it’s essential as we grow that we remain nimble and responsive.
As we look ahead, we’re so excited. With our prayer and financial partners, Communitas will continue to start churches that follow Jesus in transforming their neighborhoods . . . and entire nations. Our vision continues to be starting and nurturing sustainable faith communities that multiply—churches that start churches. And today, we see glimpses of that greater vision as we continue to launch church plants . . . and see some of our churches reproduce.
Thank you for your part in seeing Great Commission churches launched in the most secular cities in the world. If you are considering how you can get involved or join us in partnership, we’d love to hear your thoughts, your questions, and your vision for how we can continue our momentum. Would you pray with us–right now–for even greater Kingdom impact in years to come?
God is on the move, saving the lives of women, men, and kids, one by one, for eternity. As we cling to “the Word made flesh” who “made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14), we could not be more humbled and grateful in serving Christ, with you, where He is leading us.