Church Planting is in our DNA

The surge of Baptist church planting in the 1990s made a significant impact on the Union but since the millennium it has fallen away again. But we can say that we have learnt from the mistakes and glories of that decade and have gained greater understanding about the diversity of what a church plant may look as we have reflected on our changing society and multiple local mission challenges. All new church planting must reflect its cultural context and incarnate the gospel, rather than just seeking to replicate what has been before.

New Testament church planting provides a good model for us today, in that as it moved around the Mediterranean, from its Jewish roots and into the Greek and Roman cultures, it adapted to the new settings. Those small minority groupings made an impact with the gospel that changed the world. So we may say that church planting has always been in our DNA.

We hope that that this Mission File will give you food for thought, inspire you with some stories and give you some guidelines, so that you will respond when the Holy Spirit puts church planting on your agenda.