Intro to Church Planting
At one time every church in the Northwest Conference was a church plant. It may have been 10 years ago, or 100 years ago, but every one of our churches was begun by mission-minded Covenanters who understood that people seeking Jesus needed to be able to find a place to worship and grow.

Someone once said, “The Kingdom of God is the rule of Christ in the hearts of people.” If that’s what the Kingdom of God looks like, then the goal of every believer should be to see that God’s Kingdom grows.

We need to stay busy doing whatever it takes to partner with Christ Jesus in starting new communities of faith that will reach every neighborhood, ethnic group and age group in the cities and towns where we live. This is risky work, but the impact on individual lives, the Kingdom of God, and the community we call the Covenant church is worth whatever it costs.

Kevin Mannoia wrote, “The Dead Sea is dead because it’s not flowing into anything. Species die because they don’t reproduce. Seeds rot if they’re not planted. Churches and districts stagnate if there is no new life. Inherent within a district are the seeds of its own reproduction—its churches. Church Planting is to the larger district what new converts are to individual churches. Without them we become self-serving, self-perpetuating, self-centered flat-liners. If there is to be life, there must be reproduction—of disciples and of churches. It keeps us growing, it keeps us effective, it keeps us on mission.”

In the Northwest Conference we understand the vital necessity to be planting new churches, yet the conference doesn’t plant churches … churches plant churches. We want to see our churches make the commitment to work together to plant healthy, reproducing, Kingdom-minded churches. Planting new churches will allow us to reach people groups and individuals we would most likely reach no other way.

The mission of planting new churches involves every individual and every existing church. Through planting we fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as we do what Christ has called us to do.