Why Church Planting?

Wait, But what is church planting?

We hear this phrase used quite a bit with the Gospel City Network (GCN). They often discuss the need for planting new churches and strategies to overcome challenges. They also talk about and models of church planting and characteristics of church planters.

So what is church planting?

It is facilitating the birth of a new home for the lost to come together to get to know Christ, to a saving faith in Him and to grow into a thriving community of faith.

It is more than reviving an existing church. It tills the land and plants the seed of the gospel for growth in new grounds “from the ground up” (1 Cor 3:6-7).

So why plant new churches?

Why? when we can add another service or stream the sermon or even re-allocate portions of the congregation to another part of town when the congregation grows to full capacity at a church site?

“The only broad-scale way to bring many new Christians into the body of Christ in a permanent way is to plant new churches.”
—Timothy Keller

We want to obey the great commission and reach those who are not yet exposed to the gospel or attached to any churches.

We want to win new people and not transfer people from one church to another. Studies have shown that new churches are best positioned to reach the unreached.

We want to see vibrant churches planted in the Klang Valley and other cities in Malaysia with robust evangelism attracting those who are “outside” to experience the new life in Christ.

Am I Called to Plant a Church?

In the first chapter of the book Am I Called to Plant a Church, Tim Keller addresses the common push backs to church planting often based on inaccurate underlying assumptions and offers reasons for why church planting is crucial and of top priority.

The following is an excerpt.

What are your thoughts about church-planting?

You can read the entire ebook on “Am I Called to Plant a Church” here.

It discusses:
Chapter 1: Why Plant Churches?
Chapter 2: What Kind of Churches Should We Plant?
Chapter 3: What Does It Take to Plant a Church?
Chapter 4: Am I Called to Plant a Church?

You will find articles, testimonies as well as coaching focus for the topics discussed. If you are interested to know more about church planting or our training for church-planters, you can write to admin@gospelcitynetwork.com.

Training for Church Planting

GCN facilitates two types of proprietary training for church planting. The Intensive Training spans two full weeks of full-day training while the Incubator Core, packs the training over eight months with regular full-day training once every month.

We typically run this once a year and the next GCN Incubator Core is scheduled to start in March 2023. If you would like to understand more about the training, do get in touch and we can begin the conversation.