Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see a clear pattern of God calling and sending His followers. He sent Abraham out of Ur and on a journey that culminated in God establishing a people who would carry His message into all the world. God sent Moses to be a temporary rescue for His chosen people. He sent Jonah to a pagan Nineveh to warn of God’s judgment.

And He sent His son, Jesus,—the ultimate message of love—to rescue and redeem the world.

Jesus continued this sending pattern with His disciples and the New Testament church.

And God wants to send you. As believers, we are a people sent by God to carry His message of love, mercy and redemption through His son Jesus Christ. This is missions at its core. God’s missionary heart beats for all people to know and worship Him. And we have the privilege and responsibility of being the ones chosen by God to take the gospel into the entire world.

The North American Mission Board’s national strategy, “Send North America,” is a response to God’s sending nature. Send North America is NAMB’s primary mechanism for moving churches and individuals into all regions of North America to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ and ultimately start churches.

Why plant churches? 

Simply put, church planting is a natural outcome if believers are spreading the gospel. In His Great Commission, Jesus tells us to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” And later in Acts 1:8, He commands His followers to be “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Spreading the good news of Jesus Christ is something all believers should be doing both locally and globally. New churches are an inevitable result of obedience to Christ’s command to go and tell.

Throughout the New Testament we read stories of the apostles taking the gospel to cities and planting seeds, of new believers gathering together and of God growing the church in those communities. Church planting is the primary mode of evangelism in the book of Acts. Today it’s still key to spreading the gospel to every people group, population segment or affinity group throughout the world.

Evangelizing people who’ve never heard or responded to the gospel will naturally result in the formation of new churches. It’s within the church that people grow in their relationship with Jesus, it’s how they are fed and nurtured in their spiritual journey.

Not only is church planting a biblical evangelistic model, it also has practical advantages. Studies show that new churches reach more people. An examination of established Southern Baptist churches revealed 3.4 baptisms per 100 resident members, but new churches average 11.7 baptisms per 100 members. It’s evident that starting new churches will lead more people to Christ.

New churches also are needed to keep up with population growth. In 1820 there was one church for every 875 people in the United States. By WWI the ratio had dropped to one church for every 430 people. Today, there is only one church for every 6,194 people. In Canada the ratio is 1:123,971. Church planting has lagged behind population growth in North America for decades.

The population of North America is 345 million, and at least 259 million do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. It will require new churches to reach such a great and diverse population with the gospel.

The message we share is a never-changing gospel; however, our methods must be contextualized to the people we are reaching. In other words, one-size-does-not-fit all. Each church has its own unique and distinct culture because of the people who make up that congregation.

Send North America is not only about taking the gospel to everyone in North America, it is about providing a family for our brothers and sisters in Christ 
to gather, participate, serve and grow that will eventually lead to more lives transformed by Jesus Christ.

Send Strategy 

Send North America will focus on mobilizing missionaries and churches for evangelistic church planting. Once churches or potential missionaries connect with NAMB, they will go through an assessment process to identify the type of partnership or missionary track that best fits the church or individual. NAMB will provide any needed equipping and training—including evangelism and leadership development—before the missionary or church enters the mission field.

Churches that partner with NAMB will have a broad range of participation options, all the way up to and including starting a church themselves. Smaller churches can participate in clusters with other churches. All will be encouraged to send mission teams, volunteers and other resources to directly help and partner with church planters on the mission field.

Fewer than 4 percent of SBC churches are engaged in church planting as a primary sponsor (accepting responsibility for direct financial support in partnership with other churches). NAMB’s goal is to see an increase to 10 percent.

“This entire strategy points everything we do toward assisting churches in planting healthy Southern Baptist churches,” says NAMB President Kevin Ezell. “Our desire is to mobilize thousands of Southern Baptists to be engaged in church planting.”

Regional Focus 

NAMB’s leadership working with its state partners has divided North America into five regions: Canada, Northeast, West, Midwest and South. This regional approach will allow NAMB to be more strategic and responsive to the diverse needs across North America.

“We relate with 42 state convention executives. It’s vital we work together—not because we have to but because we want to,” says Ezell. “They, too, have a heart to reach North America and they all have a heart for reaching the underserved areas.”

The national strategy implemented through a regional approach will help to identify the unique needs for evangelistic church planting within each region, taking into account such factors as demographics, geographical challenges and spiritual realities (see regional profiles pages 14-42).

In addition to the regional approach, NAMB will focus on those regions’ largest population centers. With 83 percent of the population now living in metropolitan areas, the major population centers in the United States and Canada are vital mission fields for Kingdom growth and influence.

While the work isn’t limited to these cities, NAMB acknowledges that by reaching metropolitan areas, Southern Baptists can have a greater impact on lostness in North America.

“The great cities are the mouthpiece of any nation and the place where culture is created,” says Aaron Coe, NAMB’s vice president for Mobilization and a former church planter in New York City.

“If the gospel of Jesus is going to spread around the world in the 21st century, the great cities will be its launching pad,” Coe says. “We, the church, must move back and live out the gospel. As we see people come to Christ and plant churches, then we’re going to see massive transformation happen.

“And not just in the cities. What happens there will impact the rest of the nation as that gospel influence radiates out from the cities.”

Sending hope 

To reach North America, the church must be multiplied into every community whether it be urban, rural, ethnic, collegiate, bohemian or homeless. Every community has someone who needs to hear the life-changing message of the gospel.

Gabriel Frigon was one of those in the 99.5 percent of Quebec’s population who wasn’t connected to Christ. But Gabriel isn’t just another statistic. He is a young man who needed new life found only in Jesus Christ. By God’s divine appointment, Gabriel met church planter Jacques Avakian. Jacques led Gabriel to Christ and now is discipling him and helping him lead a Bible study in his apartment.

Jacques is praying for a church planting movement in Quebec so that more men and women like Gabriel can step out of the darkness and into the light.

In order to multiply the church, Southern Baptists need to create, foster and grow a church planting movement within the denomination. If we begin by building a culture of reproduction into our churches, multiplication will occur in every facet of church life, whether it’s discipleship, ministry or church planting.

“Our task is to mobilize churches to plant churches,” says Ezell. “Every Southern Baptist church can be a part of planting churches and spreading the gospel throughout North America.”

As you read the following regional profiles, consider how and where God may be calling you to serve through Send North America. There’s another Gabriel out there who needs to hear the gospel. Are you ready to be sent?

Carol Pipes is editor of On Mission.