Why Start New Churches? Church Planting is Biblical

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. A-men.”KJV Matthew 28:19-20

ACTS 1:8 " But you will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ACTS 8:1-4 "….On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem; and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria….those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went."

Could it have been to start new churches? "Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch, and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus….Saul met with the Church….." (ACTS 11:19-26) WHY PERSECUTION?

New and Old No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better (Luke 5:36-39).

Why Start New Churches? Also the FACTS convince us of the need to plant new churches

Church Planting is the most evangelistic methodology to reach the lost. NO County in Oklahoma has a greater percentage of churched persons today than a decade ago. (Barna and ASCG)

CONSIDERING OKLAHOMA SBC CHURCHES; SMALLER churches win more people per person than LARGER churches. Churches with a resident membership of 1,500 & UP had a ratio of 23 resident member to win 1 Churches with a resident membership of It took 13 resident member to win 1 Churches with a resident membership of It took 11 resident member to win 1 Churches with a resident membership of It took 6 resident member to win 1 Churches with a resident membership of It took 4 resident member to win 1 Churches with a resident membership of It took 2 resident member to win 1 The top ten Oklahoma SBC churches in ratio of resident members to baptisms;

You can see from the chart below we need baptisms in Oklahoma

Less Committed Witnesses Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

SBC CHURCHES STAGNANT POOLS? Membership and baptisms at Southern Baptist churches: Membership7.1 million12.1 million16.3 million Baptisms376,065336,050377,357 Baptismal ratio 19:136:143:1 SOU RCE: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, spring 2005

SBC CHURCHES SMALLER SHARE The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as Southern Baptists has fallen in recent years. April 2005, 4% 2004, 6% 2003, 7% 2002, 7% 2001, 7% 2000, 8% 1999, 9% 1998, 8% 1997, 8% SOURCE: Gallup Poll

While the population has grown by 1,000,000 people Oklahoma Churches have plateaued and began to decline began to decline

The last 6 years the total resident membership in Oklahoma continues to fall.

When you take away the new churches that have been stated the resident membership per church would be worse.

Why Be Concerned about Oklahoma? On any given Sunday in Oklahoma 84 out of 100 people are not in Church

We must Understand: A new church will grow from 0 to 95 in attendance in the first 5 years. A church older than 5 years will grow from 95 to 100 in attendance in the next 95 years. (Tim Ahlen,Dallas Baptist Association)

Considering all evangelist churches in America, we are losing ground In 1900, there were 27 churches for every 10,000 people in America In 1950, there were 17 churches for every 10,000 people in America. In 2000, there were 11 churches for every 10,000 people in America.

In Oklahoma we have 1,631 churches and 83 missions. A total of 1,714 Anglo 1,411 Black 27 Hispanic 56 Chinese 5 Indian 182 Korean 8 Other 25 Total 1,714 9 churches with an average S.S. att. Of over 1, to 1, – 200 to – 100 to 200 1,048 – 0 to 100

How are we doing? 2005 estimated Population to church ratio 2000 Population of 3,381, estimate 3,499,409 net gain of - 117,820 Divide 1714 churches, today’s number of churches, in to today’s population and it will give us a population ratio 2,042! For the last 3 years we have averaged around 60 new starts per year. We have gained from the 2000 ratio of 2,052 people per church. First gain in 45 years. It still would take 274 new churches to get us back to the population to church ratio we were in 1960 of 1 church to 1,760 people

WE MUST COMMIT TO PLANT MORE NEW CHURCHES Here are some popular excuses churches make to avoid starting new churches: Not enough leadership Not enough money Not enough members In three years, Calvario Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas has started 31 new missions...In three years, Calvario Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas has started 31 new missions... Calvario only has 332 members. Now, what’s your excuse?