Matthew 9:35-38 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
It was reported in March 2007 that roughly 100 million Americans are “unchurched” (www.barna.org). Not surprisingly, the Pacific Northwest is widely known to be the frontrunner. In the state of Oregon, at least 25% of residents claim to have no religious identity (The Oregonian, Oct. 15, 2006), and close to 43% of Oregon households reportedly have no faith involvement (www.percept.info). As such, Oregon is a major mission field, what Christ refers to in Matthew 9:37 as a plentiful harvest.
The PCUSA and Cascades Presbytery have both been declining in membership since the early 1990s. This downward cycle, according to Chuck Denison, former national Associate for NCD in the PC(USA), “is directly related to de-emphasizing new church development.”
We believe that one of the most effective ways for the Presbytery to move from maintenance to mission is by prioritizing new church development, which in turn will help our existing churches think and act in a more missional, outward-focused manner.
So rather than a Presbytery in decline, imagine a Presbytery planting a new church each year, every year? And these new churches then planting other new churches? Imagine this scenario being replicated again and again and again all over Oregon? What if this Presbytery became known as a fertile incubator of new churches? Our goal as an NCD Team is to not just plant new churches, but to plant church-planting churches, to start a movement. Won't you join us?