Church Planting
Why plant a new church? After all, doesn't America have plenty of churches already?
If you’ve ever asked these questions, the truth
might surprise you. In the United States
alone, more than 3,000 churches close their
doors every single year. But it’s not because
America is oversaturated with available church
congregations. The country’s fastest-growing religious affiliation
is “none.” In a world that’s obsessed with individualism and self-reliance,
many people don’t see the need for God or for gathering
together in a community of believers. So, in some areas, that
community has altogether vanished—the Body of Christ has
grown quietly absent.
You’ve heard it before: Connecting people to Jesus and one
another is what Southeast is all about. We believe that there’s no
greater news than the Gospel, the life-changing truth that we’ve
been reunited with God and adopted as His children. There’s
nothing better in the world than to have God as our Father and
to walk in His love. And in the family of God, we now have new
brothers and sisters.
Following Jesus can only fully happen in the context of
community, in the reality of relationships. The Church is a people,
not just a building or a set of beliefs. And as a redeemed people,
we’re being sent into the world to find even more sisters and
brothers, bringing them into the adopted family of the blood-bought
people of God. In this family, everyone’s welcome,
nobody’s perfect, and anything is possible.
So, why do we plant new churches? Because the world is
filled with spiritual orphans, and many of them can’t even begin
to imagine the joy of being welcomed home, invited into their
Father’s loving arms. But this invitation is one that goes out
to everybody.
Jesus loves His family, His Church. He promised He would
build it (Matthew 16:18), but not without our cooperation.
So together we’re stepping up, committed to planting new
churches in the least-reached areas of the country and the world.
Throughout America’s West Coast and Northeast, in the villages
of South Africa and Kenya,
we’re building new places of
hope and worship where the
orphans of this world can
receive the Good News of
Jesus for the very first time,
finding a family that will walk
with them as they can grow
together in faith.
We’re raising up disciples
who can go on to disciple
others. We’re planting
churches that have a passion
to launch new churches
themselves. Walking in Jesus’ footsteps, we’re building His Kingdom with the
strength He provides, and we’ve already seen
great fruit.
Through strategic partnerships and support,
Southeast is helping a wave of new churches start
off on the right foot. In the last decade, we have
helped launch dozens of new churches in cities throughout
the United States—from New York to Seattle, Los
Angeles to Miami. Half of these congregations have
already developed strong local leadership, and all
of them are growing. One church in Providence,
Rhode Island, has already grown to 350 in
attendance, and this family of faith saw 72 baptisms
in its first year. Every one of these plants sets aside
some of its weekly offering to fund even more
church plants in the future. In this mission
of multiplication, 11 of our church plants have
already partnered with us to launch more
churches worldwide.
God is faithful to His promise. He’s building His
church and His family is growing. But there’s still
so much work to be done. We won’t rest until
everyone has a place to call home, until all the
orphans find rest and belonging in the loving arms
of Jesus Christ.
To learn more about our partners
and church plants, and to discover
how you can pray and help, CLICK HERE.