The following post comes from CBF executive coordinator Suzii Paynter, and was originally featured in the October/November issue of fellowship! magazine. This post begins a series on CBF church starting and church starters. Check back throughout the week for posts about individual church starters, starting a church through CBF and how to support church starts. Visit www.thefellowship.info/churchstarts to learn more about CBF’s New Church Starts Initiative.

John Norwood, a CBF church starter, recently spoke to the CBF Texas Coordinating Council and said:

“CBF churches have a most compelling vision for the Kingdom of God. There are other groups whose vision is just as holistic as ours, but they don’t have the benefits of local autonomy. There are other groups who have local autonomy, but their vision of the Kingdom is very narrow.

“There can be a bright future for churches that share our core values. But this future is only possible if we get serious about starting churches. This future is not going to happen by chance. We must be intentional about it. This is a big task, but it is one where we can have great success.”

How is the church being born? Re-born?

“This is the only student who ever stole theological education from McAfee,” said Alan Culpepper, dean of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, as he introduced me to Gary Burke, a minister and McAfee alum. While in prison serving an 18-month sentence for drug-related offenses, Gary became involved in the 40 Days Without Violence program.

Several years later, Gary followed God’s call to seminary. When Gary’s church was unable to pay his tuition during the second semester, he continued to attend classes and take exams – until an online assignment that Gary could not complete forced him to share with his professor that he was not actually enrolled. Rather than kick him out, Dean Culpepper gave Gary a full scholarship to McAfee.

Now, a few years later, Gary co-leads the Power of Peace Project in Atlanta, an organization founded on the principles of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and other peacemakers. Gary’s congregation is an oasis in the Lakewood community with its focus on peacemaking and life restoration. It is a congregation that is changing lives in the name of Christ.

In some cases the ministry comes first and then the church follows. As ministries grow in communities, they become a seedbed for a new congregation. It takes leadership and commitment, a core group of supporters and encouragers alike and much prayer.

In other cases the relationships come first and the community cannot get over it. Such is the story for the Western North Carolina Cooperative Group Fellowship, a group of friends who, although living in different cities, drive every Sunday to meet and be church with each other. Born of friendship and spiritual connection, these friends cook, eat, study and worship together.

However they get their start, here are 10 things I have learned about new churches:

• Churches on our “cradle rolls” may not look at all like the mother church.
• Merging churches are new churches – embracing another church through mission or ministry partnerships can lead to a blended family.
• Bicultural and bilingual outreach can be the exponential multiplier for new churches.
• New churches are the passion of certain called believers – join up with one and support their work.
• Re-purposed property can be the source of a new church. The cowboy church started with an abandoned corral.
• Refugee communities often long for a church in their new town. They just need a friend.
• Contemplative prayer groups can be the soil of a new church.
• A congregation of less than 200 people is four times more likely to participate in a church start than a congregation of 1,000 or more.
• Sometimes it’s just a matter of one person. Lending help to support a staff person in a struggling church can revitalize that church.
• A chaplain – hospital, military or corrections – can be the catalyst for a new congregation.

Some churches are fertile places – they have been supporting or sponsoring congregations here and abroad. Perhaps this is a chapter in the story of your church and its history. How will it be a chapter in the future?