By Joe Westbury

Illustration by Jamel Akib

When many Christians who are now adults were growing up they were taught a song about missions that pretty much summed up the condition of their world of 50 years ago. The song affirmed the perceived reality that the mission field was overseas. It was international, thousands of miles from where you laid your head each night.

Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

But the mission field didnt remain overseas for long. As a result of massive waves of new immigrants, North America has become an international mission field in short order. Its still made up of people who are red, brown, yellow, black and white. Jesus still loves them, but they now live down the street.

In recent years Southern Baptist church planting efforts have likewise changed. Responding to the vast lostness of the United States and Canada is no longer seen in terms of planting cookie-cutter churches but in planting seeds among a variety of people groups and population segments longing to hear the gospel.

Church planters in North America now look at their mission field as either people groups like Han Chinese or Egyptian Arabs or

as population segments composed of groups of people with similar social characteristics, lifestyles or interests. Cowboy churches and biker churches are congregations as viable as those launched among Han Chinese or Egyptian Arabs.

Partnerships

Similarities exist between the missionary on the international field and the church planter on the domestic field. Both tailor their approaches to a specific audience, but the church planter in North America has the advantage of partnering with another church to undergird his efforts.

Planters say the key to their success is the partnership between an established church and the mission thats just learning how to walk.

Strong, healthy partnerships between existing and new churches are critical to developing strong, healthy, reproducing churcheschurches that reach their communities with Christ, says Richard Harris, vice president, Church Planting, NAMB.

Since 1980 only a few SBC churches have directly sponsored or partnered with a new church. And many of those relationships were more formalities than intentional commitmentsnot true partnering experiences.

In 2002 only 4.8 percent of SBC churches reported sponsoring or partnering with a new church-type mission, according to the Annual Church Profile. And, according to a study by George Barna, only 13 percent of pastors participated in a church plant in the previous year. But congregations taking the step to partner with a new church start are discovering the joy theyve been missing.

Good sponsor churches are essential for giving the church plant the healthy start it deserves, Harris adds. The sponsor church brings many positives to the cause:

• Community credibility if the plant is in the same city, or if the sponsor has a credible radio or television program

• Prayer support

• Doctrinal integrity and accountability

• People and financial resources

• Business credibility, or just a good credit record thats often necessary to rent buildings and purchase land or equipment. One planter in New York City could not rent an apartment until NAMB contractually guaranteed the rent for two years.

• Experience. Often the new plant is reaching a people group or population segment the sponsor church has experienced success in reaching. The sponsor then brings a wealth of strategic expertise to the cause.

• Encouragement. The sponsor is often the planters source of encouragement, mentoring and spiritual counsel for dealing with the every day issues and challenges of growing a church. Filling this void of loneliness and caring concern is what keeps the planter going.

texas Gen X planter

Will Lewis is a prime example of those benefiting from partnerships. The church planter who has started two congregations and is now beginning his third says he couldnt do it without the help of a partnering church. With the support of a Corpus Christi church in the background, he was able to channel more of his ministry toward building leadership in the new congregation. That investment has paid big dividends.

Lewis, 35, has felt called to start churches among those of his age groupthe Generation X population that has largely written off church involvement. Now that Gen Xers are married and starting their families, their values are beginning to change and their searching is becoming more serious, he says.

Lewis first began North Metro Church in the Lewisville/Coppell area and, after it was established, moved to Mission, Texas, where he launched Valley Fellowship. While at that congregation he mentored church member Ingo Tophoven in how to grow as a Christian.

Every Monday they would meet and explore how to put down deep roots in the Bible and how to be sensitive to Gods call. Before long, Ingo sensed a call to the pastorate. As Lewis helped Tophoven gain experience through leading training sessions, teaching classes and occasionally preaching, it became apparent that he was ready for a church.

Sensing a call to begin another Gen X church, Lewis continued discipling Tophoven until the 300-member congregation called him as their pastor. Lewis then felt free to move to College Station with his family to plant the seeds of Brazos Fellowship. That church launched in January.

It was amazing how God raised up one of our own members to assume the role of pastor for our people, Lewis says. With Gods direction we grew our own leadership from the ranks of our laity, and that freed me up to start another church.

Reaching Hispanics

Lewis has been on both sides of such partnerships. Valley Fellowship was launched through a partnership with Bay Area Fellowship of Corpus Christi. And while he was at Valley Fellowship, he led the church to start a new congregation among English-speaking Hispanics.

At that church, Cornerstone was birthed and members of Valley Fellowship were there to help it take its first steps toward independence.

I remember how much love and support Bay Area provided us in the beginning when we were meeting in a former hardware store. It was a huge amount of encouragement that helped us through some tough times. I wanted to be sure we were there to do the same for Cornerstone, he says.

When you walk onto a church field and look around and realize that no one there shares your vision, you can really become discouraged. Thats natural. But when you get a call from the partnering church, you realize youre not aloneyou have an entire army behind you, praying for you and supporting you in a variety of ways to make this work.

Canadian church planter Cesar Parra, who is starting a new church among Hispanics in Toronto, shares those sentiments.

My pastor, Francisco Aular, had a dream of starting a bilingual church. It would be the first daughter of Iglesia Bautista Betel. He saw my potential as a future church starter and helped me understand my call to the ministry.

He discipled me for three years before we started Emmanuel Baptist in a high-rise multihousing complex in north Toronto. For one entire year the mother church sent 40 members to worship with us and to help us reach the community, plus two couples who helped us as volunteer staff members.

Their help has made all the difference in the world for us, Parra says.

Will Lewis, who ministers far to the southwest of Cesar Parra in Texas, has similar words of appreciation for the nurturing relationship between his church start and the partnering church: The mother churchs role is to serve as a resource to keep the church planter strong and healthy and to provide encouragement. I know of too many church planters who were out there on their own like the Lone Ranger, and they burned out because they didnt have the safety net of a partnering church.

I wouldnt want to do it any other way. Partnerships are just as good for the mother church as they are for the church plant. Everyone wins.

Joe Westbury is a writer in Atlanta, Georgia.