Earlier this week, a group of missionaries sat down around a table with a veteran missionary. The countries represented were Peru, South Africa, Chile, North Africa, China, Japan, and Argentina. The topic? Church planting on the mission field. We all read three books in preparation for this class. We all learned about the importance of church planting and the “how to’s” of church planting on the mission field.

Why Plant Churches?

This is a great question. I will answer it by giving you an example. Almost 40 years ago, a man named John Faison started a small church in a house in Monroe, GA. The church moved a few places and before long, Mr. Faison moved on, handing off the church to be lead by another pastor. The church began to grow more each year. Today the church is located in Loganville, GA. It is my home church, Victory Baptist Church. This church has sent (or is sending) out  7 missionaries in the past 5 years. This church has trained and built 6 more men who are Pastors/Assistant Pastors/Youth Pastors. This church is continuing to train men to advance the Gospel.

I don’t know if Mr. Faison is still alive, but I can tell you he did something (more appropriately, God did something through him) that will long outlast his life! Because of 1 man’s labor of planting 1 church, there are churches that are growing and changing lives around the United States, and there will be churches planted in Brazil, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Chile, and Argentina! Why plant churches? Because they will last long after us, and will reach far beyond our capability!

That is why we gathered together around a table with a veteran missionary. God’s plan to evangelize the world is through churches! May we all strive to advance the Gospel by planting churches around the world!