Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

T WENTY - FIVE Y EARS OF U RBAN C HURCH P LANTING AMONG THE P OOR : A R EPORT • 393

Twenty Five Years of Urban Church Planting Among the Poor: A Report 5 3.

World Impact’s Church Planting Initiative is known as “Crowns of Beauty.” The prophet Isaiah predicted a time when God himself would come and make beautiful a people in bondage and exile (Isaiah 60:4). The Lord would make ashes into a “Crown of Beauty” (Isaiah 61:10). He would do this amazing work so that his beauty would be displayed (Isaiah 60:21; Eph 3:10).

II.

Executive Summary of World Impact’s Church Plant History A. Church Plants and Churches 3 1.

Totals: 156 church plant teams commissioned by World Impact and its partners since 1991. a) 1990 í 1999 = 25 Church Plants b) 2000 í 2009 = 82 Church Plants c) 2010 í 2015 = 49 Church Plants.

2.

Generations: a)

17 Second Generation Church Plants

b)

1 Third Generation Church Plant

c)

2 Fourth Generation Church Plants

3.

Church Plant Sizes: a)

11 are Simple Church size (3-19 people)

b)

93 are Small “House” Church size (20 í 50 people)

c)

53 are Community Church size (51 í 150 people),

d)

0 are Hub Church size (200+)

4.

Active Churches: a)

82 (at least) are currently active (82/137 CPs or 60% of total church plant efforts, 19 unknown status)

b)

0 simple churches are active (0/11 CPs or 0%)

3 A “church plant” is a formally commissioned church plant team which has not yet completed the “Transition” phase of a church plant cycle. A “church” is a church plant that has completed the “T” or “Transition” phase of church planting as evidenced by the commissioning of “elders” (Titus 1:5).