Report of the
Executive Director of Church Extension
“…remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said
…It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35
In Christ’s quote, the Apostle Paul sets forth the essence of Christian character- sacrifice! The Church is to be other oriented and willing to give up itself and its possessions for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. The same sentiment is revealed in two other sections of Paul’s writings. In his letter to the Church in Corinth, he tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. 13) that love is centered in how willing we are to give ourselves up for one another. In Romans, the same other-oriented sentiments are expressed when Paul enters into his one-anothering section (Rom. 12). The ultimate example of sacrifice is our Lord’s willingness to give up glory for the cross (Phil. 2). In summary, we are not to be holding on, but rather giving up what the Lord has given in order for the Kingdom to grow and people’s lives to be blessed.
How does this principle apply to the BFC and specifically to Church Extension and its mission to reach people with the Gospel and plant new Bible Fellowship Churches? The BFC has a vision,
“To be an expanding fellowship of churches
united to make disciples of Jesus Christ.”
One or several growing churches do not grow a denomination. This is evident by our own history. Looking at the Particular Churches in the BFC (not the Mission Churches in Church Extension), the BFC declined in 2006 from 7,486 members in 2005 to 7,448 in 2006 (2005 and 2006 Yearbooks). There was a loss of 38 members even though six churches grew by more than ten members each. In morning worship services, nine churches grew in attendance by at least ten people while most of the remaining churches lost people and some remained the same. My point is that just because we see a handful of churches growing, we cannot expect to be an expanding fellowship of churches. Growth among some churches does not grow a denomination. It helps but if a denomination is to grow, its churches must have an outward and sacrificial vision. To be an expanding fellowship we must sacrifice our people and resources and plant new Bible Fellowship churches.
Church planting is dependent upon sacrificial church planters and sacrificial churches. When a man follows the call to plant a church, he takes a huge step of faith and makes tremendous sacrifices. No one knows for sure whether or not a new church plant will survive; therefore, the church planter is truly on a faith mission. Our men live on minimal salaries and have little resources or start-up materials available to them. They and their families work hard at making contacts, winning souls, gathering people and maintaining support. This weighs constantly on their minds and energies. The ministry, material and financial support we receive from the BFC is very much appreciated, but is not nearly what is needed to plant new churches and be an expanding fellowship. Churches will need to give up people, resources and finances for the church-planting mission of Church Extension Ministries. The idea is not only giving up for Church Extension, the church-planting Mission charged with planting churches, but most of all giving up for the Lord and His Kingdom. Particular Churches ought to plant daughter churches, BFC Regions ought to come together and plant regional daughter churches because this is God’s means for building His Kingdom and what He is doing throughout the world. All over the world great church planting movements are focusing on this strategy of churches planting churches, yet few denominations in America, including the BFC, are following what the Holy Spirit is doing through church-planting movements that are giving up their people and resources to go and plant new churches.
It is not wrong for churches to plan building projects, increase their programs, or add staff, but when these things take precedence over the opportunities to sacrifice and build the Kingdom through evangelistic church planting, a denomination stagnates and declines and the Kingdom suffers.
At last year’s Conference I presented the Board of Church Extension’s new Forward Plan, Missions Here and Now. The Plan calls for thirteen new Bible Fellowship Churches to be planted in the next five to ten years. This is not a grandiose goal compared to a number of other denominations who plan on planting this many churches every six months, but is a great step of faith for the BFC, yet a step that needs to be accomplished if we are going to expand and grow.
Missions Here and Now has a goal of planting five new churches in the DELMARVA Project. This project has bogged down because of the need to assist New Life BFC, DE, get back on its feet and the lack of men responding to calls for church planters to go to the region. Our Plan also calls for planting four ethnic churches among Hispanic people in America. We are pursuing ways to accomplish this through help from sources who minister among Hispanics and our Hispanic Church Planters, Brothers Ramos and Rodriguez. Four daughter churches are to be planted by Particular BFC Churches and two BFC Regions. One pastor and his church, Pastor Dennis Spinney – Thompson, CT BFC, are planning a daughter church plant in Danielson, CT. No regions have yet responded to plant a regional daughter church.
Our Five-Year Plan for planting a church estimates it costs $280,000.00 to plant a church in five-years. The math is clear, thirteen new churches multiplied by $280,000.00 equals $3,640,000.00. The BFC now gives an average of $360,000.00 a year to Church Extension and outside sources total about $200,000.00. Most of this giving is designated for our present church planters and other portions are needed for administrative costs, staff salaries, equipment and special projects. What we have for starting new churches may be enough to plant one church for five-years. Where will $3,000,000.00 come from to reach our goals?
Maybe even more important to reaching our goals is having qualified church planters answer God’s calling to reach people with the Gospel and plant churches. Church planting is not a track of ministry most Bible Colleges and Seminaries offer. Yet, it is the Biblical model for missions and those whom we call missionaries from the pages of Scripture were church planters, i.e. Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, Epaphroditus, Silas, Timothy, Acquila and Priscilla, and more. The recruiting of gifted church planters will be a struggle and without the resources for these gifted men, it makes recruiting even more difficult.
I believe we have developed a good plan and strategy for planting new churches, a good process for assessing men to plant, a good team structure, good accountability and training for our men, and good communication and relationships with the churches of the BFC. I remain committed to church planting and the conviction that the planting of new Bible Fellowship Churches is the salvation for a stagnant denomination. My prayers and my work will continue with the casting of this vision, challenging the BFC to plant churches, raising the resources and financial support necessary to reach our goals, and going after men gifted to reach people with the Gospel and plant churches. I am praying I will be able to count on the churches of our denomination to support this vital Mission called Church Extension Ministries and increase their involvement in church planting through the means of churches and regions planting churches and sacrificially increasing their giving to this lifeblood of the BFC.
I close with a paraphrased quote from my 2005 Report:
“. . . There exists the potential to do great things for God by means of church planting and establishing new Bible Fellowship Churches. May we look beyond and see the ripe harvest – stepping out into our Jerusalems, Judeas, and Samarias, and the uttermost parts of the world and planting churches. This remains our challenge. The Bible Fellowship Church must become a fervent evangelistic church planting force. May God give us His vision of what He can accomplish through a church planting movement within the Bible Fellowship Church.”
There is an Addendum to this report titled, Church Extension Activity Chart. You will see the course charted for church planting in the years ahead.
REVIEW OF 2006 IN CHURCH EXTENSION
• We recorded thirty-one people making professions of faith this year and sixteen baptisms.
• Giving from churches increased in 2006 by approximately six percent.
• Two Training Dayswere held for our men including guest presenters and case studies from former BFC church planters.
• Mark Morrison and Frank Lenahan attended CMTC Church Planter’s Boot Camp Training in Lancaster and were sponsored by Church Extension.
• I met with two churches seeking Connection with the BFC.
• Hundreds of new contacts were made, door-to door surveys took place in target sites, networking in community events, nine VBS programs were organized, and several thousand Gospel tracts were distributed.
• Fellowship Community BFC graduated and is now a Particular Church in the denomination.
• The DELMARVA Team was active in the Millsboro, Dagsboro and Georgetown areas. Our Aquila & Priscilla Team, Harry & Sandra Workman, started a Bible study in their development and the Team assisted at New Life BFC.
• Pastor Ken Barber retired from the pastorate of New Life BFC. This young church went through some trials this year. It called Jonathon Arnold to be its new pastor in December. The church is seeking to graduate from Church Extension in 2008.
• The Hellertown Mission grew from twelve to thirty-five this year and a couple from the Nazareth BFC was commissioned to come and help.
• Pastor Mark Morrison served part-time as Assistant Director. In December, the Board of Church Extension called him to full-time ministry. He is assisting at Cape May, NJ, Adams County, PA, Hellertown, PA, and South Allentown, PA.
• Nine ministry and work teams were sent out to assist our plants in DELMARVA, Cape May, NJ, Brooklyn, NY, South Allentown, Hellertown and Reading, PA, and Las Cruces, NM.
• The Cape May County Mission held numerous outreach events, but has not seen significant growth, along with struggles it faced over the past year. The Mission is praying for a growth year in 2007.
• David & Barb Way set up housekeeping in Adams County, PA, and areconsistently networking with the community and seeking to gather new people and acquire a full-time meeting place. A team from Bethlehem BFC came to assist with outreach.
• Administrative Assistant, Lisa Christensen, has been a tremendous help with all the administrative duties of the Mission. This year, the office moved to Fellowship Community and, in doing so, gained a very active volunteer force.
• We praise God for the blessing of a monetary gift from the estate of a dear sister in the Lord and supporter of the Mission. This gift enabled us to buy some needed office equipment and computers for the staff.
• Willis Dowling continues his bi-vocational church planting ministry and remains actively seeking to develop a church in Chesapeake, VA. AWANA club continues, along with several home Bible studies. God has raised up a potential elder.
• New Beginnings BFC in Mantua, NJ, petitioned the Board of Church Extension to be approved as a Mission Church in the BFC. The Board approved this connection and meetings are being held to assimilate this church into the BFC.
• Pastor Dennis Spinney of the Thompson, CT BFC communicated his desire to plant a daughter church in Danielson, CT.
• Our Church Planters and their Organizing Elders implemented the Five-Year Church Planting Plan, comprised of the DCPI Church Planting Handbook and the BFC Church Planting Guide.
• The Forward Plan: Missions Here and Now was presented to several regions during the year.
• A number of meetings were held with prospective church planters.
• Thirty- two Churches were visited this year by Church Extension staff where we presented our Mission and ministry.
• We had two fund raising projects, SummerTen and Christmas Gift Month. They were well organized and the responses were good but fell short of our goals.
• The Las Cruces Mission Church continued to grow in size and finances. Plans were made for graduating the Mission in 2008. Planning began on planting a second church in southern New Mexico.
• Our Hispanic Church Plants in Reading (La Roca) and Allentown (El Faro) under the leadership of Carlos Rodriguez (Reading) and Pastor Elliot Ramos (Allentown) continued their outreach to the Hispanic community. La Roca experienced significant growth in 2006 along with many challenges. El Faro grew this year and a new Organizing Elder Board began serving. It is faced with financial challenges. God has raised up several men for leadership.
• I chair the Joint Committee on Ethnic Church Planting. This year the Committee focused its efforts on Hispanic church planting. We visited a church in Merida, Mexico, interested in becoming a Bible Fellowship Church.
• Jason and Joanne Englehart, a new Aquila & Priscilla teamfrom Blandon BFC, were commissioned by the church to serve alongside Carlos Rodriguez at La Roca Mission Church.
• John Pello (Outreach Assistant) was diagnosed with liver cancer and is undergoing treatments. His wife Judy is battling scleroderma.
• I once again served this past year on the Ministerial Candidate Committee and have enjoyed working with new pastors coming into the BFC.
God continues to give me the privilege of serving Him and the BFC. I count this a true blessing. With all the challenges that accompany the call to ministry, they pale in comparison to the honor of serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Pray for the Board of Church Extension and me in 2007. Pray for God to give me wisdom to direct this Mission. Times are dark and doing missions is increasingly difficult. Pray that Mark Morrison and I will be able to assist our men in developing their church plants. Pray for our Team: Lisa Christensen – Administrative Assistant, Carol Snyder – Special Projects Coordinator, John Pello – Outreach Assistant, Ray Bertolet – Assistant Church Planter and our growing list of volunteers. Please pray regularly for our church planters and their families who serve in Church Extension Ministries. They are the spearhead of this Mission and sacrificially serve you as your missionaries to America.
In His Love & Service, Respectfully Submitted,
David E. Gundrum, Executive Director of Church Extension.
Resources for Churches & Regions Seeking to Plant
and Prospective Church Planters
Churches/Regions
• Churches Planting Churches – A guide designed to walk your church through the process of planting a daughter church.
• The Dynamic Daughter Church Planting Handbook (DCPI) – The Biblical basis for planting a daughter church. Answers to common questions: (e.g. can we afford to plant a daughter church? What size do we need to be to daughter? What is in it for us as a mother church? Won’t a daughter church destroy the fellowship in the mother church?) The six-step process for planting a daughter congregation.
Prospective Planters
• DCPI – Pre-Assessment and the BFC Comprehensive Assessment – The DCPI booklet is an inductive and introductory assessment for those looking into church planting. The BFC Assessment is a complete assessment process to determine whether a man has the gifts, abilities and competencies to plant churches.
• BFC Church Planting Guide & DCPI Handbook – The BFC plan and approach to church planting. A complete systematic process for the Planter and his Team to move from the initial Identification Stage to the Graduation Stage.
• Church Planter’s Toolkit – The Church Planter’s Toolkit includes 12 audio CDs as well as detailed checklists and action planning worksheets to form a comprehensive package for church planters and their TEAM.
Addendum – Church Extension Activity Chart [not included]