“Why Plant New Churches?”
Introduction: Why should we plant new churches, both in East Tennessee and all over the world?
4 Reasons
(I) The Biblical Mandate
A. The Multiplication Principle (1 Timothy 2:2) Something that they teach us when they train us to be church planters that I believe with all my heart is true according to the Word of God is that God has created us to multiply. He has designed us to reproduce. Anything that is healthy grows and reproduces. And I believe Biblically that every church should reproduce or should multiply in, at least, four areas. You should be multiplying disciples, meaning growing Christians; multiplying leaders; you should be multiplying small groups in whatever facet or way that you do them; and then ultimately I believe that the Bible does teach that every church should multiply itself in the sense of planting other churches out of that congregation. I Timothy 2:2 says this, Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, “The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”. In a sense, you see depending on how you look at it either three or four generations of disciples. It started with Paul, Paul ministered to Timothy but he told Timothy to minister to others to teach others who would then teach others also. In other words, Paul was developing Timothy as a disciple and he told Timothy to develop other disciples who were then to develop other disciples. So, here is a way that you can apply that principle. How do you know when you are being effective as a Christian? Well, in part, it well you can look at it like this, if you are making disciples who are making other disciples, you are being an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. How do you know when a small group is being effective, well there are several criteria but one is this: if your small group has birthed another small group that has birthed another small group according to the multiplication principle in I Timothy 2:2 you are being effective.
Actually and then you could also apply it to churches. How do you know when you are being effective as a church? Well, there are several criteria. You can look at people being saved, people growing, people being raised up to leadership, people being raised up to service. How many people are you helping with practical needs? What is the level of your worship? Are you united, are you loving one another. What is your stewardship like? You know, there is a lot of different criteria, Biblically, that go into that but one of them if you are an effective healthy church the criteria would be that you have planted a church that has planted another church. Do you know who many churches do that? You know, I can’t answer that question fully but I can say this in the Southern Baptist Convention 4% of churches plant another church, 4%. One out of 25, how many of those go onto plant another church, I don’t know. So, what I am saying is that in my mind and they way I understand the scripture and the way I understand God’s will is part of the way that we will know that we are an effective church is when this church, New Heights, gets established and they actually turn around and either by themselves or us together and they plant another church. It is the multiplication principle. It is part of the Biblical mandate.
The Acts Pattern (9:31 ff.) [Malphurs quote]Let me show you another part of the Biblical mandate though to plant churches and that is the pattern that the Bible gives us in the Book of Acts. Now, we talk a lot about being Biblical right? You know, Southern Baptists are known as a people of the Book. But one thing that you have to remember is that it is easy to talk about it but it is a different thing to actually do it. And Rick Warren says, “We only believe as much of the Bible as we do.” Not what we say, but what we actually do. And I believe in the Book of Acts that you will find the pattern for what a Biblical New Testament Church is supposed to look like. Now there are certainly commands and certainly direct statements of scripture that tell us how to do things but then there is also the picture of how they actually did things. Of course, there are some cultural differences and things like that but to a great degree what we are called to do is to emulate them and to seek to function in a way that God has pictured the church to function.
Now, look with me in Acts 9:31. It is a very important verse. And what you will find as you read through the Book of Acts, which is something I strongly encourage you to do if you have not done that recently. You will find that in several places throughout the course of the Book that Luke places kind of summary statements that describe the condition of the church and what is going on at the church at various points. He does that several times through the course of the Book and this is one of those statements. And so in Chapter 9:31 he says this, he says, “then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria have peace and were edified”. And the word edified means to be built up. It is talking about their internal growth, their spiritual growth; they were being strengthened, “built up” in the Lord. And that is, when you talk about Biblical balanced church growth that is one side of it. That is half of the equation. That is crucial. That is Biblical that we be growing as disciples and that we love one another and that we minister to one another. That we are united and that we are functioning in a healthy way in that God wants us to. That is half of it. Then the other half, the other side of the equation is the outward side of it. Notice when he says “walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they were multiplied”. In other words, they increased in number is, basically, how the NIV translates it.
Now, the way that I had always read this for a long time up until a few months ago was just talking about the churches growing numerically, people were getting saved. But then I started doing some research on it because I started thinking, is that what it means or is that all that it means? And it is certainly part of what it means but I would submit to you that if you read the rest of the Book of Acts that, yes, certainly the existing churches were growing larger because they were reaching people; but at the same time the church was being multiplied because they were planting, they were starting new churches wherever they went and were also reaching people and they were also growing and that Biblical church growth comes in both of these ways.
What is Biblical church growth? How does God grow his church? How does God grow his church? It is a simple question and the answer is really simple but you may miss it because I missed it for most of my life, at least, in the way that I think about it now. How does God grow his church? You know that there is that promise in Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says that “I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it”. So Jesus is building His church but how does Jesus build His church? Let me ask you another question to help you answer this question. Don’t everybody talk at once. What is the church? US, people. What people? People who are, generally, born again Christians, that is the church. The church is people, it is not a building, not a denomination, not that kind, it is people, the church is made up of all true Christians. If you agree with that statement say “Amen”. Okay let me ask the first question again. How does God build His church then? Okay. He works through people to build it, but when is the church growing, when is the church actually being built? With new Christians. You see that. If, if God builds His church and if the church is saved people, the way church is built is by people being saved. So, I mean, you could have 200 people come through the door next Sunday but if they are already saved, really the church is not being built because the church is the community of the redeemed. Now, once again, there is the element of spiritual growth in it because you have to be edified and probably without the right kind if edification there is not going to be multiplication but if there is not multiplication, if there is not growth going on the church is not really being built so we really shouldn’t, we are being edified, we are not functioning in the right way because Jesus plan is to build His church. So, I think that is an important concept for us to grasp. But that is how God builds His church. That is what true church growth is.
So, if that is the case, what do churches need to do then? Well, according to the Book of Acts, according to what we are going to look at in just a minute, we need to reach people for Christ, build them up in their faith, and then send them out and as they go they will plant new churches that will reach more people and God’s church is built, His kingdom is built, people’s lives are impacted, it is the New Testament pattern. Look over in Acts 11 for a minute. You know, in the first several chapters of the Book of Acts the focus is on the church of Jerusalem. But in the middle part of the Book of Acts the church, the focus begins to be on the church at Antioch. It is a great model for any church. Look here in verse 19 of Acts 11 it says, “now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen and traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Helenests preaching the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. The news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch and when he had seen the grace of God he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many people were added to the Lord. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him he brought him to Antioch so that it was for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch”. What happened there? Tell me. I mean, what happened there? They had been in Jerusalem, the church was growing things were going great but what did God let happen? Persecution. And what was God’s ultimate purpose in that persecution? To send them out, to get the Great Commission fulfilled. What’s Acts 1:8 say, it says, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power and you shall be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. They were doing well in Jerusalem, Judea, they were starting, they had just gotten into Samaria but he wanted to propel them out to the ends of the earth. So what did they do as they went? They proclaimed the Gospel. What happened when they proclaimed the Gospel? People got saved, what always happens when you preach the Gospel, somebody is going to get saved. Some people do, some people won’t, but some people will. What happened, what did they do after that? Did they just leave those converts out on their own? What did they do? They discipled them, they taught them. The apostles sent Barnabas down from Jerusalem to Antioch and it says “they taught them for a year”. What were they doing in that year? They were creating a church. See that. They planted a church at Antioch is essentially what they did. By preaching the Gospel, seeing people come to Christ, teaching them and then organizing and developing them. Well, it doesn’t say anything about them being organized and developed, how do you know that is what happened? Well, look over in Chapter 13. Well, actually look at the last verse, verse 25 of Chapter 12. It says, “and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark. Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger” and who was almost certainly a black man along with many other verses shows how ludicrous it is when people over the years have tried to base their prejudice and segregation and that kind of thing on the Bible. Here you have a man, a church that has existed for year and this man is already in church leadership. “Barnabas, Simeon, Lucias of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.” How do I know that they organized into a church? Because they had an established leadership.
Now notice something else here and this is interesting, you know, we have talked about elders that is our form of church government. We never talked about this scripture when we talked about elders but isn’t that what is pictures right there. Is a plurality of leadership leading the church? Notice what it is, it says, “as they” the leaders “ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them they sent them away”. And what you have recorded here following that is what is known as the first missionary journey. But you see what you, you have them being sent out by a local church as they are led, as they leaders are led by God and with prayer and fasting and sensing the leading of the Holy Spirit they send these men out to be missionaries.
Now what do they do as missionaries? Well, I don’t have the time to really go through this in a lot of detail but what I would encourage you to do is to read through the next several chapters of the Book of Acts some time today, but you will find and if we could just kind of look at a few things it says in verse 4, “so being sent out by the Holy Spirit they went down to Seleucia from there they sailed to Cyprus and when they arrived in Salamis they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews”. And then if you look if verse 13, “they went to a town called Antioch and Pisidian” and they preached the Gospel there. They did the same thing. If you look in Chapter 14 they went to “Iconium and they preached” the Gospel. You come to Chapter 14:21 and it says “when they preached the Gospel to that city and made many disciples they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch strengthening to the souls of the disciples so that each didn’t do evangelism they did discipleship along with it strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying we must through many tribulation enter the kingdom of God”. Now notice this, this is what tells me that they planted churches and that they organized the churches and this shows the Biblical pattern of how churches are to be structured it says, “when they appointed elders” plural, “in every church” singular, and “prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed”.
If you look over in Chapter 15 they had to go back to Jerusalem to deal with a matter. If you come to Chapter 16, starting in verse 6 it says “now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia”. Notice how much they were led by God. “And after they had come to Mysia they tried to go into the Bithynia but the Spirit did not permit them so passing by Mysia they came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him come over the Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision immediately he sought to go to Macedonia concluding the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them”. Then in verses 11-15 they went out to where some people were praying and they baptized a lady named Lydia and they ended up they started a church there. If you will look in Chapter 17 it talks about how they went to Berea and how they went to Thessalonica. We know that they planted a church in Thessalonica because Paul wrote two letters to them and they are recorded in the New Testament. If you look in Chapter 18 in the first part of that, Paul went and he preached the Gospel at Corinth and we know, once again, that he planted a church there because there is two letters recorded in the New Testament to the church at Corinth. If you go over to Chapter 19 you will find Paul going and preaching the Gospel at Ephesus and, once again, we know that he planted a church there because one of the greatest letters that was ever written is in the Book of Ephesians and is recorded in the New Testament and church history tells us that John the Apostle was one of the pastors who followed after Paul in pastoring and leading that church. You see what they did, they went out, they preached the Gospel, they discipled people, the organized churches, it is the Biblical pattern. It is the Biblical mandate for us to start churches wherever we go.
In Planting Growing Churches For The 21st Century, Aubrey Malphurs has written, “Once the church is started, the process doesn’t end there. We must not sit back and be satisfied with maintaining what God has done! Christ’s Great Commission is to disciple the world for Him, not simply to maintain new churches! Consequently, every planted church must not ‘forget its roots.’ Each church owes its existence to some person or church of vision. Each church has an obligation, in turn, to articulate the vision and start other churches. This is the final stage of the entire birth process of reproduction. It provides churches with the potential to evangelize unchurched communities all across America and throughout the world. The idea is that planted churches reproduce themselves and make disciples by planting other churches. This is a process that will continue until the Savior returns. In fact, this is the true meaning of the Great Commission. If we desire to know how the early church understood Christ’s commission, we can find the answer in the Book of Acts. Acts is a church-planting book because much of what takes place does so in the context of starting new churches. Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us when someone such as Peter Wagner says, ‘The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches’.”
The Great Commission [Quote Fred Davis, John Bisagno, and Bob Roberts]
Fred Davis
The Great commission in Matthew 28 tells us there are several activities related to what a church is to do – baptizing, teaching, and discipling. This command, calls on us to evangelize, congregationalize, and reproduce. In many situations we relate the actions of the Commission to gathering people into existing churches and we never consider giving birth by planting new churches. The early hearers of the Great Commission assumed that it meant to multiply disciples and that multiplication resulted in new congregations. They heard the commission, left their homes, and went out and planted new churches. We need to hear the Great commission with new ears and understand that to obey the command the natural response and result is to plant new congregations.
The early Christians believed in and practiced church planting as a natural part of their lives. Church planting was the ultimate expression of New Testament missiology just as it should be for us today. Why? There are more lost and unchurched people groups today than at any other time in human history. Intentional church planting was the method of the early churches that resulted in an explosion across the Roman Empire during the time following the resurrection of Jesus.
The activity of the early churches reveals to us that church planting was a primary activity. Any church desiring to live in the dynamic nature of the early church will always include planting new churches as part of their overall mission plan to touch local communities and the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Lost Sheep Principle (Luke 15:1-7) [Spurgeon Quote] Let me give you one other reason as far as the Biblical mandate and this is what I call the “lost sheep” principle. The “lost sheep” principle, if you are writing stuff down, the scripture reference is Luke 15:1-7. I am not going to ask you to turn there and read it for time sake and I think most of you know the story. Jesus told a parable and there was a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. Ninety-nine of them were in the fold but one went astray. What did that shepherd do? Did he stay there and take care of the 99? He went and found that one lost sheep. Here is the principle for us as Christians, as individual Christians in the churches. As long as there is one lost sheep, we have a responsibility, a mandate from Almighty God to go find it. That is the “lost sheep” principle. You know what my answer is when people say why do you plant churches where there are already churches? When people ask, you know, what size should a church be, when is a church big enough? This is how I answer the question based on this principle. Here is how you know that there are enough churches in Hamblen and Jefferson County. Here is how you know when Biblically, when the churches are big enough. Is that when every lost sheep has been found? Meaning when everybody is saved. Everybody is growing, becoming a disciple, everybody is plugged into a church then the existing churches we have are big enough and we don’t need to plant any more churches. That is the “lost sheep” principle. It is what Jesus said. If people have a problem with it they need to take it up with Him because it is what He said. You know the reality of the matter. If everybody in Jefferson County decided to go to church next Sunday. There is no way our church is going to come close to accommodating them. That is reality. It is the “lost sheep” principle. It is our Biblical mandate. It is what God has called us to do.
Charles Spurgeon
“We must build this Tabernacle strongly, I am sure, for our friends are always with us….But our desire is, after we have fitted up our vestry, schools and other rooms, that we shall be able to build other chapels…I will not rest until the dark county of Surrey is covered with places of worship. I look on this Tabernacle as only the beginning; within the last six months, we have started two churches,-one in Wandsworth and the other in Greenwich, and the Lord has prospered them, the pool of baptism has often been stirred with converts. And what we have done in two places, I am about to do in a third, and we will do it, not for the third or the fourth, but for the hundredth time, God being our Helper. I am sure I may make my strongest appeal to my brethren, because we do not mean to build this Tabernacle as our nest, and then to be idle. We must go from strength to strength, and be a missionary church, and never rest until, not only this neighborhood, but our country, of which it is said that some parts are as dark as India, shall have been enlightened with the gospel.”
This quote is found on page 98 of Larry Michael’s book, Spurgeon on Leadership. He is quoting from C.H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography.
(II) The Practical Necessity
Statistics Regarding The Harvest
-According to the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the population of the world is over 6 billion and over 3 billion of those people have never had an adequate opportunity to hear the gospel.
-If we shrunk the world population to a village of 100 people and based it on current statistical realities, only 11 would be Christians.
-America has an estimated unchurched population of between 100 and 200 million. At least a third of the population is totally unchurched at this point.
-America is the 3rd largest unchurched nation in the world. Only China and India have higher numbers of unchurched people. In fact, the unchurched population of America by itself would be the 11th largest nation in the world.
-In 1900, there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans. Today, there are only 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
-According to the North American Mission Board of the SBC, America gains 24 churches a week but loses 72.
-According to Edward Drayton, churches in America are losing 2,765,000 members a year.
-America leads the world in every category of violent and domestic crime and social decay.
-In some states, the ratio is as high as one SBC church for every 150,000 people. Canada
has one SBC church for every 227,000 people.
-In 2001, about 7,500 SBC churches (about 20% of our churches) reported 0 baptisms. Another 3,000 only reported 1 baptism.
-Rick Warren says, “In the next 365 days, 2.3 million Americans will die. 54 million will
die worldwide. Will they head into a Christ-less eternity?”
-On average in the SBC, we baptize one person for every 44 church members.
-There is not one county in the U.S. that has a higher church attendance than it did 10 years ago.
-From 1985 to 1995, the population growth in the United States was 11.4% (24,153,000). However, Protestant denominations combined declined by 9.5% (4, 498, 242) in the same time frame.
-85% of U.S. churches are plateaued or declining. 75% of TBC churches are plateaued.
-According to Tom Rainer, only about 2% of graduating high school seniors now claim to be born again Christians.
-North America is the only continent where Christianity is not growing (Gallup).
-Only 4% of SBC churches will start churches.
-Tennessee has an estimated 2.7 million people who are not Christians. 3 out of 5 are basically unchurched.
-Between the 1990 and 2000 censuses, Tennessee had a population growth of 16.7%. However, the Tennessee Baptist Convention only grew by 0.88% during the same time frame.
-On an average Sunday in Jefferson County, 18% of the population is in church somewhere. 48% of the population has no church affiliation at all.
(III) The Spiritual Impact
So why plant new churches? We plant new churches because of the Biblical mandate, because of the practical necessity, but we also plant new churches because of the kingdom impact or because of the spiritual impact. You say what do you mean by that? Well, I look around this room; I look at Bethany over here who we just baptized, and she has gotten saved at True Life, look at Joe, and look at Dillon. Think about John and how I watched him lead someone to Christ while we were in Honduras. Someone who is committed enough, him and Lindsey, somebody to this vision to drive from Knoxville to be a part of what we are doing. Look at Shane, out of church for about 15 years and watch him up here leading worship today. I think about watching him preach for the first time while we were down in Honduras. I think about Elaine and remember when she got saved. I look at Nathan and think about what God is doing in his life and how he is transforming him. I look back here at Tim and Lisa and Tianna in Children’s Church and think about their family and how they got saved at True Life and now they are going to be part of a core group in starting another church. I look at William and Dianna that God sent here, to you know get educated in America and now as part of this church plant they are being equipped to lead a small group of international students to reach out and make an impact at Carson Newman. I think about the fact that I baptized my Dad. I look at Christie over here that has gotten saved at True Life. I think about Mark and Becky over here who have gotten saved and baptized here. Carlin back here in the back who has gotten saved and baptized recently. Cory that just got saved and baptized. Why start new churches? That is exactly why. There are a lot of other people that I could name. There are kids out in Children’s Church. I think about Charlie that usually sits up here. I think about people maybe who have been Christians, solid committed Christians for a long time but how God raised them up in leadership and how God is using them in great ways here. And I look back there at George and George did something that he had never done, he led a praise team for a while and he talked about we had a meeting with the kind of the original True Life core group and the New Heights core group last night to kind of talk with them and let them kind of pick our core groups brains and George shared last night how it had been the greatest spiritual adventure of his life the last two or three years of staring this church. That is why you plant new churches. It is the spiritual impact. And you know, whatever anybody says about it, whatever the critics may say, who can argue with that. And even if they want to, God is who did that. And so you know that it is from Him cause He is the only one that can save somebody. You say well, I really ought to have done this, people get saved by accident and, you know, so be it that is good too. Take it however you can get it. But Brad told me recently, uh, about a church up at the ballpark kind of started doing what we are doing and passing out, uh, the connection cards and giving out water, doing servant evangelism. You know the irony of that, there is only one pastor who has ever harshly attacked me to my face since we started this and the guy used to be the pastor of that church, he is in another state now and now they are imitating some of what we are doing. Critics come and go but as long as we do God’s will that is what will last forever. It is the spiritual impact.
(IV) The Kingdom Reality
It is about God’s Kingdom-not our little empires.
We are in danger of losing anything we hang on to, but anything we give to God is something that He will take and multiply and use (John 12:24-25) [the boy and the fish and loaves]
God will empower His Kingdom work. The last thing I want you to think about as we think about why start new churches is just simply the kingdom reality. And what do you mean by that Jimmy? Well this is what I mean and this is important. And I am not going to spend long on this but it is important that we get this. It is important for New Heights and I think it is especially important for True Life. What this is all about is, it is about God’s kingdom. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And when we come into his family through faith in Jesus Christ, we become a part of his kingdom and it is our job to build his kingdom, it is not about building our little empire. It is not about how many buildings True Life has it is not about how much money that we have. It is not about how many people come and occupy a chair for a worship service. It is about what we are doing to make an impact in this world. What is God doing through us to build His kingdom and to make disciples of Jesus Christ? You know, today really is a kind of bittersweet day. You know, it is wonderful and it is exciting because we are fulfilling the vision that God has given us and there is nothing about True Life that I am more excited about now but at the same time it is kind of sad because, you know, our friends are going to be, you know, going somewhere else. We will still be friends but, you know, we won’t be worshiping together, we won’t be meeting together. All kidding aside, I hate to lose Joseph. You know, there is a part of me that would rather give you my left arm than to give him up. I mean he has done just a wonderful job a pastor couldn’t ask for anything more in a staff person to work with. But, you know what, it is not about us. It is about Him. It is about His kingdom. It is about what he is calling us to do. It is about the fact that there is a need in Dandridge one of the fastest growing communities in the State of Tennessee. Maybe one church, at most, making any kind of impact out there and God has called us to start this church and make that impact. To be used by Him out there. It is about His kingdom. It is not about us. Sometimes we have got to sacrifice. You know what, let me give you a Biblical principle. Jesus talked about how, uh, you know, a grain, a seed, you know if you hold on to it, it will die but if you plant it, it is going to spring up and it is going bring life. This is the principle. Anything we hang on to for ourselves, we are in danger of losing it. Anything we hold on to and we won’t give to God, God may very well just take it away from us. But anything that we turn over to the Lord He will take it and multiply it and He will bless it. Think about the little boy who had the five loaves and two fish. Isn’t that just really small from what we know of the history of the time. If he had held onto that do you know what it would have done? It would have fed him. But you know what when he gave it to Jesus it not only did he get fed but that whole crowd got fed and there were 12 baskets of leftovers. That is what is going to happen as we give up and as we send these people out to be a core group there. That is what God is going to do. Anything you put into God’s hands, He will multiply, He will use, and He will bless. That is the kingdom principle. It is a paradox to the way that we think but it is the way that God does things. And when we are functioning in God’s will and we are working to build God’s kingdom, God is going to work through us and He is going to be glorified and He is going to do great things.
Bigger is better. Mike MacIntosh thought so — at least at first — when his congregation grew from 2,000 to 3,000 after the 1976 Billy Graham Crusade in San Diego.
“My pride loved It,” said MacIntosh, pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego. “I was getting media attention and I thought, “This is kinda cool.” But as he sought counsel from members of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to form a school of evangelism based on BGEA’s method of training, his perceptions began to change. MacIntosh said that he saw how the mission of BGEA is to enhance others’ ministries — namely those of the local church — and he wanted to take a similar approach.
MacIntosh began to identify leaders in his congregation and to train them to plant their own churches. “I’d say ‘Take 10 of our home fellowships and start a church,'” MacIntosh recalls.
Today, Horizon has birthed 28 churches in San Diego County and more than 100 churches and para-church organizations across the United States and around the world.
Although the idea of pastoring a congregation of 40,000 (roughly the combined size of the San Diego church plants) has appeal, MacIntosh is content to hold multiple services in the 1,650 seat gymnasium that his church has been in since 1985. He would prefer to grow by empowering others to serve.
One of MacIntosh’s former ministry assistants moved to Indianapolis and started a church. Now, he has an 88 acre facility and has started nine church plants in Indiana as well as a fruitful ministry in Ukraine.
