Research: Baptisms Are The Best Indicator of Health in Church Plants
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, April 05, 2007
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- (3) comments so far
The research -– based on more than 500 completed telephone interviews sampled from 1,000 church plants from 12 denominations and networks -— indicates that flourishing new church plants with a higher-than-average number of baptisms during their first four years of existence, share several common traits: evangelistic emphasis, effective ministries and expanding leadership.
“In the area of missions and evangelism, these new church plants recognize that the community will not connect with their church unless they connect with their community,” said Ed Stetzer, missiologist and director of NAMB’s research center. “They look for needs in the community and find ways to meet those needs,” through food banks, emergency shelters, drug and alcohol recovery opportunities and other ministries, Stetzer said.
Among other characteristics of high-baptism church plants:
-- They start at least one “daughter” church within three years of their original church plant, he said.
-- They have a proactive plan for stewardship development.
“This basic aspect of the Christian life is nurtured, not neglected by the new church plant,” Stetzer said. “Church plants that consistently grow their members and challenge them in the area of stewardship grow toward financial self-sufficiency and do so at a faster rate.”
-- They sponsor more events and ministries, such as block parties, midweek children’s programs and special children’s events, including Easter Egg hunts, fall festivals, Vacation Bible Schools and sports.
-- Via direct mail or other means, they have a strategy to promote and publicize their programs, events and ministries. “They don’t hide their lamps under a basket,” Stetzer said.
-- They place a top priority on the training and development of their church members and staff and they conduct new member training classes for all new church members.
Stetzer emphasized that many traits common among new church plants with higher-than-average baptisms are seen even in plants with a marked, higher-than-average church attendance.
“Church plants -– even effective ones –- aren’t all the same,” Stetzer said. “Some of those surveyed are stronger in some particular factors than others. But the majority of church plants with higher-than-average baptisms and church attendance showed all of these factors in common.”
Read more here…
Any thoughts?
Baptisms is the best indicator of church health in new plants, according to a new study, because baptisms measure whether churches are reaching the lost -- not just moving believers around. The "Church Planting Survivability and Health Study" was conducted by the North American Mission Board's Center for Missional Research based in Alpharetta, Ga...
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David E Thomas on Thu, April 05, 2007
I agree that conversion growth is a good indicator of church health. But disagree that baptism is a good measure of conversion growth. Several churches (Ev. Free Church and many non-denominational Bible churches) do not equate conversion with baptism. This measurement requires that baptist doctrine be applied to the larger body of Christ.
Rick White on Mon, April 09, 2007
David…baptism is a measurable because it’s the public “coming out” of a person that is now following Jesus. I agree that it does not equal conversion…but it is the only indicator that is practical for measurement. We have new believers walking amongst us that have yet to be baptized…but i don’t always know that they are following Jesus until they make their confession to others. I wouldn’t get too hung up on this…baptism has been used as an “approximation” for quite some time.
Dru on Mon, July 06, 2009
Hi all. Every moment of one’s existence one is growing into more or retreating into less.
I am from Saudi and know bad English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “This credit score comes in very handy to the lenders when you are applying for a car loan or a home loan, for a credit card, or any other type of loans.Sometimes digging yourself from the pain of bad credit requires inspiration by ariel pryorif you have been working to pay off your credit card bills, loans or other financial obligations and find yourself always falling short, a small change to your strategy can make all the difference.”
Thanks 8). Jonah.
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