Make disciples of all nations in New England

Transcription

1 NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT LCMS CHURCH PLANTING Make disciples of all nations in New England Pastor Eric Sahlberg We ve got some really good news for you. If it s the Lord s will, we re on pace to plant one new LCMS church per year for the next few years in New England. Some new churches are English speaking and others reach non English populations with the Gospel. Praise God for His abundant grace in raising up harvest workers! We need your prayers and financial support to grow the Kingdom in New England. Some of our church plants are staffed with part time future pastors. Some are working on their seminary studies and working while they plant a new church. Please contact Brenda Bacon to invest in church planting in New England. (bbacon@ned lcms.org) MULTI-ETHNIC CHURCHES [Re]planting an English speaking congregation at Our Redeemer Lutheran in New London, CT with Vicar Gem Gabriel. Oromo speaking, Ethiopian Lutheran congregation in Boston, MA. Ethiopia has the largest and fastest growing Lutheran churches in the world. Spanish speaking Lutheran church plant in Willimantic, CT with Vicar Angel Rodriguez. GROWING THE KINGDOM Word & Sacraments Means of grace for all people PARTNER We are prayerfully trusting Jesus to continue raise up new mission churches here in New England. If you would like to partner with us in supporting new LCMS mission churches please contact esahlberg@ned lcms.org. Did you know? If it's the Lord's will, the number of district churches will increase by at least 10% over the next decade.

2 N E W E N G L A N D D I S T R I C T L C M S VISION The Mission of the New England District is to encourage and assist its congregations in their ministry of Word and Sacrament to build up the body of Christ and to make disciples of all peoples. Pastor Tim Sandeno by developing a comprehensive plan for missions delineating rationale, history (in New England), models of ministry, funding options, current effective missions. by promotion on, but not limited to, its website, social media sites and NED News. by regular affirmation at functions throughout the district and Synod. through use of speakers, workshops, and continuing education opportunities. towards mission development and new mission starts. The NED is a resource, coach, encourager, catalyst, but not the initiator or primary sponsor of missions. It is better that locations take ownership of their mission endeavors. by facilitating training of mission planters. with ministry plan development. with funding development. with coaching and mentoring of mission planters and mission planting teams. coordinate with and garner support from circuit and/or other interested parties. with the calling process. The NED Vision should be to support/foster/encourage congregational and/or circuit initiation of missions (i.e. the more local, the better). The Vision is broad enough to include individual missions that the district did not or could not have foreseen. G U I D E L I N E S & B O U N D A R I E S The New England District has Mission Planting Guidelines featuring boundaries and roles for the district, local congregations and mission starts. It includes fiscal responsibilities and a New Mission Start Covenant Agreement between the church planter and the District President.

3 "Christianity in its Global Context, : Society, Religion, and Mission," a report produced in 2013 by researchers at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, offers a timely overview of the changing demographics of Christianity over the past 40 years while looking forward to the next ten. If current trends continue, what will be the state of the world in 2020 and beyond? How does this impact New England? S H I F T I N G S O U T H In 1970, 41.3% of all Christians were from Africa. By 2020, this figure is expected to be 64.7%. In Asia, Christianity is growing twice as fast as the general population through conversion, though it is still only a minority religion (8.2% in 2010). At the same time Christianity is shrinking in North America and Europe as a percentage of the population. Missionary efforts of the nineteenth and early twentieth century are showing Kingdom growth. Christians immigrating to New England are bringing the Gospel. M I S S I O N & H U M A N C A R E In 2010, one in five children around the world were underweight. Between 2006 and 2009, nearly 850 million people lived in hunger. Twenty-first century Christians recognize that mission and human care go hand in hand. For example, the largest and fastest growing Lutheran church in the world is in Ethiopia. They have a very holistic view of care for the person along with the proclamation of the Gospel. Mission and human care are united. S O U T H C O M I N G N O R T H In 2010, about 400,000 international missionaries were sent around the globe. The United States sent 127,000 missionaries (#1 sending country). However, international missionaries from the global South are also sending missionaries. The top "Southern" countries were Brazil (#2 in the world), South Korea (#6) and India (#9). The second grouping of top-tier sending countries included South Africa, the Philippines, Mexico, China, Colombia, and Nigeria. In total 9 out of the top 20 missionary sending countries are from the South. The top receiving country in the world was the United States. Bottomline: Christian missionaries are moving around the world and to the United States to share the Gospel.

4 G L O B A L S O U T H I M P A C T O N N E W E N G L A N D According to a Research Report, Portrait of New England s Immigrants by Antoniya Owens with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, there were 1.6 million foreign-born in New England (out of just under 13.8 million), representing 11.5% of the total population in % of the immigrants live in Southern New England (MA, CT, RI). Immigrants represent about 1 in 7 people in MA and 1 in 8 in CT. In Boston and Providence, one-quarter of the cities population is foreignborn. In fact, over the past decade the population of New England would have barely grown without immigrants. The growth of the New England economy, house values and population growth is dependent upon immigrants. The top countries for immigrants coming to New England are: Brazil 6.1% Eastern Europe 6.2% Canada 5.5% Dominican Republic 5.2% China 5.2% Portugal 4.8% India 4.8% Russia 4.7% Italy 3.2% Guatemala 3.1% Immigrants are bringing the Gospel to New England Q U I E T R E V I V A L Jeff Bass, executive director of Emmanuel Gospel Center, a Boston ministry that works to build churches in the city. Bass says that Boston's cultural elite of white, affluent professionals who live in loft apartments are the city's least churched demographic. The center's own research, Bass says, shows that 90% of all church plants are among minorities. "This is something we have been documenting for the last 30 years," Bass says. In 1970, the Gospel Center drove through Boston, street by street, to discover why churches were dying. But what they found was startling. The big churches were dying as members stopped attending or left for the suburbs, as Bass expected. But small storefront churches full of minorities were growing. Historically, Boston's church growth always mirrored population growth. From the 1600s through the 1950s, when Boston's population grew, so did the number of churches. And when affluent residents fled to the suburbs, churches closed. But Bass says they have been witnessing an unprecedented rate of church growth over the last 35 years, while the population has remained steady. In 1970, Bass and his team found 300 churches as they drove throughout Boston. Today, their research has documented 600 churches. "This is the longest sustained period of Christian growth," Bass says. "We call it the 'Quiet Revival.'" (Source: Christianity Today, January 25, 2006)

5 A L L N E W E N G L A N D The Vision for new mission starts is for all of New England. We will plant churches as Jesus opens up opportunities and resources are available locally and at the New England District. No corner of New England is favored because the Gospel is for all people. By God's grace, we hope to see new churches in our urban centers, suburban towns and rural villages. Some of the new churches will be English-speaking congregations. Other new churches may speak languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, French Creole, Mandarin, Oromo, Tigrinya, Tamil and other languages. Our goal is to bring the Gospel to the language of the people living in New England. In some cases the new churches will be located within the existing facilities owned by our existing network of 70 churches scattered across New England. In other cases a new mission church may need to meet in a rented piece of property or a home. Here are two examples. An existing Cantonese Lutheran congregation shares their church facility with a new Mandarin church plant. An English-speaking congregation of 200 people worships at 9am and 11am and a new Spanish-speaking church plant worships at 6pm. W H Y S T A R T N E W? Some may ask, "Why start new churches when our existing churches need help?" The New England District is committed to assisting our existing churches with prayer, coaching, guidance and church revitalization. Christ commanded us to go and make disciples (Matthew 28). As new disciples are made then new churches are made. Simply living out our faith, making disciples and baptizing them leads to larger existing congregations and in some cases new churches. New England is a large, unchurched corner of the United States. If New England's six states became one large state, then it would become the fifth most populated state in the country (just behind Florida and larger than Illinois). Yet it is the least Bible-minded, least Christian corner of the country (Source: Barna Group 2015). We need more missionaries, disciple-making and new churches in New England. (NOTE: If you grew up in New England and think Christianity in New England is "normal" then you really need to visit some other parts of the world.) We need more diverse congregations. The majority of the New England District congregations are English-speaking only. We are not effectively reaching 1.6 million non-english speaking people with the Gospel (i.e. 1 in 9 New Englanders). According to the City of Boston, 65% of the city speaks English and 35% speaks another language. Many of our urban centers and even suburban towns have sizable populations of immigrants. There is plenty of opportunity to support our existing congregations while starting new churches.

6 N E W E N G L A N D D I S T R I C T L C M S New London, Connecticut (English) Vicar Gem Gabriel Boston, Massachusetts (Oromo) Oromo Lutheran Church Willimantic, Connecticut (Spanish) Vicar Angel Rodriguez BEYOND New England is the least Christian corner of the United States. But God is on a mission to save New England. We are very excited about what God is doing and what He is going to do over the next decade. If it's the Lord's will, we will be planting ten new churches over the next decade. These new churches need your partnership to make an eternal impact in the Kingdom of God. Our goal is to raise $1 million over the next decade to support this Kingdom movement. Will you partner with us with your prayers, your finances and your commitment to the Gospel in New England to start ten new churches over the next decade? We appreciate your prayers and partnership in the Gospel. NEW CHURCHES NEW ENGLAND

7 NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT LCMS CHURCH PLANTING Make disciples of all nations in New England Pastor Eric Sahlberg We ve got some really good news for you. If it s the Lord s will, we re on pace to plant one new LCMS church per year for the next few years in New England. Some new churches are English speaking and others reach non English populations with the Gospel. Praise God for His abundant grace in raising up harvest workers! We need your prayers and financial support to grow the Kingdom in New England. Some of our church plants are staffed with part time future pastors. Some are working on their seminary studies and working while they plant a new church. Please contact Brenda Bacon to invest in church planting in New England. (bbacon@ned lcms.org) MULTI-ETHNIC CHURCHES [Re]planting an English speaking congregation at Our Redeemer Lutheran in New London, CT with Vicar Gem Gabriel. Oromo speaking, Ethiopian Lutheran congregation in Boston, MA. Ethiopia has the largest and fastest growing Lutheran churches in the world. Spanish speaking Lutheran church plant in Willimantic, CT with Vicar Angel Rodriguez. GROWING THE KINGDOM Word & Sacraments Means of grace for all people PARTNER We are prayerfully trusting Jesus to continue raise up new mission churches here in New England. If you would like to partner with us in supporting new LCMS mission churches please contact esahlberg@ned lcms.org. Did you know? If it's the Lord's will, the number of district churches will increase by at least 10% over the next decade.