The following is a report written by Bruce Bennett following the compilation of Village Church Planting results for the second quarter of 2011...
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The grace and peace of God are yours. We praise God for yet another very productive quarter; with 2,290 new churches initiated or an average of 25 new churches initiated every day with 983 new members.
It is probably wiser to look at the year-on-year figures which saw 6,107 new churches with 266,716 new members; a growth of 16.7 new churches and 730 new church members per day. We rejoice in what God is doing in this, the age of the church planting movement.
Thanks to our many partners across 28 African countries for their sterling work. We also commend the numbers of financial and prayer partners who are investing in this movement.
Points worth noting:
- Average church size dropped from 69.4 to 57.6 members per church – due to increased numbers of smaller house churches in North Africa
- Year-on-year the contribution of first generation churches decreased from 44.9% to 42.7% of total churches. For the quarter, first generation churches comprised only 31.4% of new church plants, indicating the growing contribution made by daughter churches to our church planting initiatives. Of the 2,290 new church plants for this quarter, 741 were 1st generation (32.3%), 791 were 2nd generation (34.5%), 493 were 3rd generation (21.5%), and 217 were 4th+ generation (9.5%).
- In security sensitive nations for this quarter, churches grew from 607 to 926 or 52.5% and members from 10,702 to 16,131 or 50.7%. This, a pleasing result at the start of a new initiative, demonstrates the resilience of the VCP Model.
Yes, we praise God for His faithfulness in what He has done; Yes, Jesus is building His Church. Hallelujah!! Yet as I was reflecting on what God has done in these last years, He bought to mind these verses:
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isa 43:18,19 NIV)
So we must pray that God will open our spiritual eyes so we might see the “new things” he is doing in this age. Yes, He is making a way and streams in the desert! As we see what God is doing, that is our invitation to work alongside what He is doing. And so too we must welcome ministries in the “desert.”
Bruce Bennett
