Church Planting and Revitalization
The Need for Church Planters
Demographics pertaining to the United States of America show that our nation’s population is continuing to increase. Consequently, it is imperative that new churches be planted if we want to stay on even par with our country’s numerical growth. If church planting is not a priority, “…we will soon have fewer churches in proportion to the population than we had in the past. The witness in our communities, therefore, will be weaker rather than stronger as time goes by.” 1 It is not difficult to understand why the Assemblies of God denomination is placing great stress upon the planting of new churches.
SAGU's Church Planting Program
America’s existing churches will also need to be vibrantly healthy and actively engaged in sharing the message of Christ in the communities where they are located. Unfortunately, according to Dr. Aubrey Malphurs “Studies reveal that many of the churches in North America are either plateaued or in decline.” 2 This problem must be addressed.
Southwestern’s new Church Planting and Revitalization specialization presents a potentially significant response to these challenges. SAGU offers the most fully developed church planting and revitalization program that currently exists among Assemblies of God colleges and universities.
If you are interested in reaching new target audiences with the gospel or if you sense you have a role to play in rejuvenating existing churches, this specialization may be precisely where you want to be as a student at Southwestern.
The goal of this new specialization is to train students to successfully start new churches and bring resurgent growth to existing ones. The 30-hour specialization exposes students to solid leadership principles, the importance of cultural relevancy in ministry, and how-to courses regarding both church planting and church revitalization. Specialization requirements also include hands-on experience gained through participation in a practicum, an internship and a BootCamp experience.
Interested?
Contact Dr. Jim McCorkle - Coordinator, Church Planting and Revitalization. Telephone: 972.825.4715. E-mail: jmccorkle@sagu.edu
1 Maphurs, Aubrey. Planting Growing Churches for the 21 st Century. Third edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004.
2 Sanchez, Daniel R., Ebbie C. Smith, Curtis Watke. Starting Reproducing Congregations. Cumming, GA: Church Starting Network, 2001.
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