If you’ve been around church or have been following Jesus for a while, it’s likely come to your attention that there’s a growing number of people who’ve never been connected to a church before or directly introduced to Jesus. Not only that, but there are a lot of churches that are forever closing their doors because rather than growing and attracting new followers of Jesus, they’re slowly dwindling. And it’s sad. We want to be the answer to something better. Here at FCC, we want to help bring the hope of Jesus to people who need it. One way that we do this is through our outreach partner, Stadia. Read below to hear from Nathan Hawkins, West Regional Director of Stadia, about the importance of church planting.
“If you could do anything to help the church be more fruitful over the next 30 years, what would it be?”
This is the question the Pinetops Foundation started asking before diving into a research project of epic proportions. The data they collected revealed that the United States is on the precipice of the most pivotal age of evangelism in its history. Their findings revealed that:
New churches are the greatest way to reach people with the hope of the Gospel, with 42% of attendees at church plants being people who were previously unchurched
3,700 churches close their doors in the US each year, and the rates will likely grow in the next 10 years based on the average life span of American churches (80-120 years)
In order to keep up with the population growth we see in Gen Z and beyond, we must plant more than 8,000 churches a year in order to maintain status quo – and exceeding status quo would require that we triple current church planting rates in just thirty years
You can find all these stats at: https://www.greatopportunity.org/
We have a chance to reach millions of people – if we act now. The unchurched, the de-churched, and the constantly churched all need what the Church offers – the hope of Jesus, on display. And at Stadia, we believe that church planting is the way to reach all of these people, exactly where they are. First Christian thinks so, too. For years, FCC has partnered with Stadia to help provide resources for church planting in the US and around the globe.
Stadia is a church planting organization whose vision is to see a world where every child has a church. Though our vision is God-sized, our mission is simple – to plant churches that strategically and intentionally care for children. The majority of people who make a lifelong decision for Jesus do so before the age of 18 – so it’s integral we create places of worship that value the spiritual formation of children while also providing a spiritual home for their families. Stadia has spent the last sixteen years honing our world-class portfolio of services to make the church planting journey as smooth as possible for future church planters!
FCC’s faithful and continuous financial partnership with Stadia has already helped plant churches all around the world. In 2018 alone, Stadia helped 158 called and affirmed leaders start churches, and over 1,000 people were baptized at Stadia church plants. In our global partnerships, almost 10,000 children were sponsored by members of Stadia plants and partner churches. Without the consistent generous gifts provided by First Christian Church and other like-minded church partners, Stadia’s work would not be possible.
Being generous at FCC helps First Christian be generous to organizations like Stadia – so thank you! You can join us in taking advantage of this “great opportunity” by signing up to pray for Stadia by visiting us at www.stadiachurchplanting.org/pray – or you can become a recurring investor yourself by going to www.stadiachurchplanting.org/give
The fields are white for harvest – and your commitment to church planting helps the workers reap what’s been sowed. Church planting is the impetus that will help the church become more and more fruitful – Thank you for joining First Christian and Stadia in this important work!
Nathan Hawkins
West Regional Director
Stadia, Church Planting