Dave Roberts wrote:I believe Suzi Paynter is on target with a church-starting emphasis. Developing areas, ethnic enclaves, and underserved populations need new congregations to minister to them. Strategically placed and well-supported church starts can make a huge difference.
That's the key--"strategically placed" and "well-supported." Baptists of all kinds have a tendency to run to the suburbs to either plant churches, or relocate existing ones. That's why, in the South in particular, the churches are showing lower baptism numbers and decreasing attendance. They've built on top of each other, and they've reached all the upper middle class white people they can. Now, the megachurches are offering their cafeteria-smorgasbord inwardly focused ministries and picking off the wealthier and younger members.
I just finished up a week of mission service where I served alongside a Hispanic pastor from the Chicago suburbs whose Spanish and English speaking congregation of about 500 people works with NAMB and the Illinois State Baptist Convention to support two language church plants in the city, one Polish-speaking and one Ukrainian-speaking, both less than five years old, both ready to become self supporting. The Polish church purchased an abandoned Catholic school facility and share it with the Ukrainians, and with another church plant. The inner cities are definitely underserved, and the lack of any kind of Christian ministry among the ethnic populations on the west side of Chicago was an open door. The Hispanic pastor told me that 700 people worship and attend Bible study in that building in the course of a week.
Geographically, I don't know how well CBF is positioned to be able to support church plants in areas like that outside the South. Looking at their website, there aren't many CBF affiliated churches beyond the Southern states, and a $12 million budget won't cover a lot of church planting without help from locals. Do any of the CBF partner schools offer a major or minor in church planting? That would be a good place to start.