Are you interested in planting a church but don’t know where to start? These church planting organizations are doing the good work of planting new churches all around the world!
Communitas International is an international church planting organization that focuses on building communities of faith that transform their neighborhoods through loving like Jesus. For 50 years, Communitas has sent people who value and respect local cultures and expressions of faith, embed themselves in communities, and love in ways that transform the people around them. Communitas has nearly 150 church planting projects at various stages in 40 cities in Europe and 20 cities in the Americas.
Their church planting model is based on principles of incarnational presence: being the hands and feet of Jesus in intimate neighborhoods and communities. Communitas says that intentional listening and looking for what God is already doing is critical to starting, growing, and sustaining incarnational faith communities. And as an egalitarian organization, there are roles for men and women in church planting. You can read more about their church planting model here.
Acts29 is a church planting organization that plants churches across the United States and in several other countries across the world. This organization has a high value of planting healthy, multiplying churches that can multiply to spread the gospel and create disciples of Jesus around the world. They also have a high value of evangelism and want to see conversions to Christ through prayer and evangelism relationships.
Acts29 has a library of resources for church planters and congregants. These resources include articles, podcasts, books, conferences, videos, and training opportunities. You can access these church planting resources on their website.
Forge International is an organization that trains people as church planters wherever they currently live. Their mission is to see the Gospel spread through relationships, with church communities emerging as a byproduct. They intentionally build partnerships with local churches, seminaries, nonprofit organizations, and parachurch ministries.
Forge uses a “hub” based model, with different hubs in cities and countries around the world. You can find opportunities to be engaged in a hub close to where you live. If there isn’t a Forge hub in your neighborhood or city, you can start a hub in your location to see people in your community equipped to be everyday missionaries. You can read more about their hubs here.
For Forge, being a church planter doesn’t mean you have to move to another country… they want you to live missionally right where you are. There are people in your own city who need to hear about Jesus. Forge is equipping people to spread the Gospel in the world immediately around them.
V3 is a grassroots church planting movement that wants to see a wave of new and rooted churches emerge in the 21st century. The V3 movement began out of a partnership of religious leaders and pastors who wanted to launch a fresh, “ecumenical” kingdom movement. The V3 movement has over 200 church planters and is training new planters in America and around the world.
V3’s namesake comes from their three key priorities: vision, voice, and viral. V3 says these represent “discovering a hopeful vision for the in-breaking Kingdom of God in our local places, learning our unique voice within the 5-Fold ministry of Jesus, and developing practices for being a viral movemental church.”
Stadia is a church planting organization that wants to equip believers with the skills and calling to start and lead churches. They have a large church planting mission as well as a Discovery Center with events to help potential church planters discern their calling and learn how to use their gifts to plant new churches. They have planted over 1,300 churches since 2003 and equipped thousands of leaders.
Stadia also has specific tools and resources for women in church planting. Whether you are a woman pastoring a church, planting a church with your husband, or a woman supporting a church plant in any way, Stadia Bloom wants to support the unique opportunities and challenges of women in church planting.
The Underground Network (Tampa and Kansas City) is developing microchurches and communities around the world. As with all of the Underground Network’s churches, there are specific churches and networks that serve a variety of places and needs in each city that Underground Network has a presence.
The Underground Network has microchurches in multiple neighborhoods around different city, but they also have networks for correctional facilities, people involved in public radio, and the LGBTQ community. If you can think of a subculture that needs Jesus, The Underground Network probably has a network for it. These networks aim to build relationships founded on Jesus all over the city.
The Underground Network is constantly equipping people with the resources, support, and tools to start their own microchurches in new ways. You can read more here if you’re looking to serve in microhub communities.
Strategic Launch Alliance is a church planting organization that is equipping people to start churches and spread the Gospel in hard to reach places across the United States. They are looking for planters who are humble, strategic thinkers, and reliant upon God. They affirm that church planting is the most effective evangelism tactic and believe that church plants who focus on evangelism and disciple making have a high return on real life change because they target new generations.
SLN has opportunities for church planters, and other passionate people who want to support and be partnered with church plants. Their strategies for church planting help them change lives across the US.
3D Movements is a church planting organization that is made up of men and women around the world who are following Jesus together, multiplying disciples who make disciples, and empowering spiritual families to live on mission for the sake of the lost. They invest in leaders of established churches, church plants, megachurches, house churches, parachurch organizations, denominations, businesses, and families to build a discipling culture that produces a missional movement with the power to change the world.
They offer workshops, learning communities, coaching huddles, and speaking events to empower churches and ministry leaders to share the Gospel. They believe in creating discipleship movements in and out of the established church.
NAMB (or the North American Mission Board) is a church planting organization that has a church planting mission across all of North America. Their goal of making disciples in every North American city has launched over 4,400 new churches in the USA and Canada. They believe that church planting is at the core of what missionaries do as they proclaim the gospel.
For NAMB, they desire to see healthy and growing church plants emerge from their networks across the US and Canada. They have a church planter pathway that includes discernment, coaching, and care for all of their church planters.
Written in partnership with Reach The Lost.
