The Village Church Planting (VCP) project is a focused program to plant churches in the unreached villages of Africa with a training-in-ministry philosophy. Through this outreach, hundreds of Africans are coming to know the Lord each day and multiple churches are being planted daily across the continent.
The Village Church Planting (VCP) Vision Statement
The VCP program aims to plant spiritually maturing Churches in every African village.
The Village Church Planting (VCP) Mission Statement
The VCP program seeks to facilitate the planting of spiritually maturing churches in all unreached African Villages by mobilizing the Body of Christ to train indigenous Church Planter Pastors to start Church Planting Movements.
New Village Church
The African Situation
The vast majority of Africans are predominantly rural, and surveys show that thousands of these villages are still without an evangelical witness. Conservative estimates say that there are still 300,000 African villages that do not have an evangelical church. The average life expectancy of sub-Saharan Africans hovers around 45 years. In light of this, we need to dramatically increase the rate at which church planting is to be done if we are to remain relevant and faithful to the Great Commission by establishing a church in every community of every nation.
The VCP program is designed to rapidly increase the rate of church planting by investing in a model that:
- Encourages the priesthood of all believers
- Places training of pastors into the hands of the church
- Relies heavily on the sons and daughters of Africa to take on leadership of VCP partnerships
- Casts vision for church planting firmly into the heart of both new and existing churches
- Prays and expects a movement of the Holy Spirit
Village Pastors in Bukavu area of the DRC
A criticism that has been leveled at African churches is the depth of training and discipleship. To address this important issue, we feel it prudent to give intentional focus to discipleship and leadership training in our exponential VCP model. We have developed a model that dramatically increases the rate at which we plant churches, as well as train, equip and release pastors into ministry.
Another New Village Church in Africa
We need an integrated holistic approach to the task at hand. In Phase 1 the VCP program encourages multiple church plants out of rural training centers, where bi-vocational pastors are trained in the heart of the targeted area. The training center is the mother or hub church that spreads and multiplies itself throughout a local area (see diagram above). We intentionally seek to embed a Church Planting DNA into first generation churches. In Phase 2 of the VCP program we transition from dedicated trainers to the local church itself as the primary initiator of church planting. This happens by mobilizing the entire church to be committed to this effort since it is central to fulfilling the Great Commission.
At its core, the VCP model aims at both exponential church planting, and exponential pastoral training.
Pygmy Church in Central African Republic
Main VCP Objectives
- A church in every African village which clearly understands its Biblical mandate
- A church that has vision, strategy, and passion to support its mission goals
- To develop 2 Timothy 2:2 pastor-trainers
- To instill a church planting DNA in all VCP churches
VCP End Goals
- A church in every sub-Saharan African village by 2030
- A church in every African village by 2050
VCP Project Milestones
- By 2007 a VCP project, or its philosophical equivalent, in 14 African Countries
- By 2017, in 25 African Countries
- By 2027, in 35 African Countries
- By 2037, in 45 African Countries
- By 2047, in 52 African Countries
Baptism in Lake Tanganyika
Spiritual Health Barometer
The Village Church Planting vision statement calls for "planting spiritually maturing churches in every African Village."It became increasingly apparent over the years that OMS Africa needed to intensify its focus on developing the spiritual health of our church plants. Out of this concern we developed a simple assessment tool known as the "Spiritual Health Barometer" (SHB). Click here to download a copy of the SHB documentation.
The implementation and regular use of the SHB assessment tool creates an awareness of the spiritual health of our churches by focusing attention upon both weakness and strengths. From this awareness pastors, trainers, and denominational supervisors can devise tailored programs to suit particular church needs.
VCP Links
