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ACNA: Making 1,000 Church Plants a Reality

ACNA: Making 1,000 Church Plants a Reality

By The Rev. Dan Alger

1,000 churches in five years? Really?

Anyone who has ever been around the work of church planting responded to Archbishop Duncan’s challenge with a mixture of childlike joy (Finally, here is an Archbishop who get’s it!) and scoffing (1000 in five years? Does he really know what it takes to plant a church?).

The call to plant 1,000 churches was a commitment to dedication and intentionality in church planting. 50 or 100 churches would have made church planting a negligible part of a bigger whole. 500 would have made us think hard, but not drive us to our knees. 1,000 was a statement that said church planting would be one of the primary activities of our newly forming Province. It was a call to community as we strive towards a common goal. It was a call to an outward focus, to seek and save the lost, not create comfort and safety for ourselves. It was a call to faith, as it is only God who can accomplish such a task.

Three years later we have made great strides towards our goal. We have seen thousands of people realize the importance of church planting, Dioceses are beginning to organize for planting and over 230 churches have been planted. But we still have much to do.

In conjunction with Archbishop Duncan, Anglican 1000 is issuing the 1,2,3 Challenge:

EVERY CHURCH IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA IS CHALLENGED TO PLANT 1 CHURCH, IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS, USING ONE OF 3 DIFFERENT STRATEGIES- JURISDICTIONAL PLANTING, CONGREGATIONAL PLANTING, OR PIONEERING PLANTING.

If all of the churches in the ACNA rally around this challenge, together we can reach the 1,000 church goal set for us by the Archbishop. 1,000 can truly be a reality!

At Anglican 1000 we believe that every church can be a part of church planting regardless of size or situation, that is why we are laying out three different strategies/models:

In the Jurisdictional Model, Dioceses and Networks set aside leadership, funds, and other resources to start a new plant. Centralization makes numerous plants difficult, but it’s an effective way to catalyze planting in strategic areas where we have no other churches.

In the Congregational Model, a local church or team of churches sacrificially sends out people and resources from their number to plant a new church. Like the birth of a child, it is painful and difficult, but it brings about beautiful new life. Our desire is that multiplication will become the norm in our local churches as a natural outcome of the pursuit of the Great Commission.

Planting in diverse cultural settings and people groups requires churches contextualized to fit the local environment. There is no one right way to plant a church, or one style of church that will work in every setting. The Pioneering Model encourages innovation and the implementation of creative methods for planting, funding, leading, strategizing, worshipping, and organizing while maintaining integrity in our standards of theology, polity, ecclesiology, and ethos. The Pioneering Model grants great freedom in the practical pursuit of planting in order to explore new territory and build flourishing communities of faith

Our role at Anglican 1000 is not to challenge and watch, but rather to encourage, equip and catalyze the work of church planting. To accomplish this we need to take the wisdom and leadership resources of the Province and bring them to the local level. So, beginning this fall 2013, we will conduct regional conferences to build up our local congregations for the work of church planting.

Anglican 1000 will travel to eight regional epicenters (Chicago, Atlanta, New England, Seattle, Houston, Canada, Phoenix, and Boston) to gather, serve, and equip the people of our Province. These gatherings will offer practical equipping tracks for church planter assessment, training and coaching as well as leadership development, congregational development, youth ministry, campus ministry, global mission and more. The content will be brought by leaders like William Beasley, Greenhouse; Todd Hunter, C4SO; Tom Herrick, Titus Institute; the Anglican 1000 Team and many others.

We believe that these events will provide the tangible skills and essential relationships for the successful pursuit of church planting in North America. We invite you to come and be a part of these important events. Details will continue to be posted on the Anglican 1000 website (www.anglican1000.org).

It has become clear over the years that Anglican 1000 is not about planting 1000 churches, and it never has been. It is about planting the first 1,000 churches. The beauty of Archbishop Duncan’s challenge is that it is not a finite goal. If we organize, equip, pray and work together to pursue planting 1,000 churches our Province truly will become a missional movement with the tools and experience to continue to plant churches well into the future. Our pursuit of 1,000 churches is building a foundation for continued missional church planting and faithfulness to the Great Commission.

Can 1,000 churches be a reality? Yes. And by the grace of God it will only be the beginning. We pray you will be a part of this great work.

Go plant a church.
We are here to help.

Find out more at www.anglican1000.org.

The Rev. Dan Alger is Anglican 1000 Director of Communications and Equipping

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