Church-Planting Congregations Share Insights with National Staff

November 11, 2002

SAINT LOUIS – Representatives of six LCMS congregations that have done "an exemplary job" of starting "daughter congregations" shared their expertise with national mission leaders Sept. 5-7 in St. Louis.

Congregations represented were:

• Carmel Lutheran Church, Carmel, Ind.;

• Ascension, Wichita, Kan.;

• Christ Assembly, Staten Island, N.Y.;

• San Pablo, Aurora, Ill.;

• El Redentor, Rockford, Ill.; and

• Rivercliff, Atlanta.

Pastors from each of the congregations were personally thanked by Synod President Gerald Kieschnick, and took part in a panel discussion with North America mission leaders, sharing the joys and struggles of planting new churches.

The purpose of the three-day gathering was "to listen to those who have done it and to honor those who have done it," said participant Dr. Ken Behnken, director of the Center for U.S. Missions, Irvine, Calif. Behnken said Synod mission leaders are trying to shift the responsibility for church-planting from districts to congregations.

"If half of Synod's congregations would consider having one child,' or one daughter church,' that would be 3,000 new congregations," Behnken said. "If every district continues to plant one to four [congregations], we have less than 120."

The discussions, which were videotaped, provided "tremendous insights," Behnken said, and will be made available next year to other congregations interested in planting daughter congregations.

Forty-six other congregations also will be recognized for their church planting efforts, and will receive a certificate of appreciation from the Synod and the North America Services unit of LCMS World Mission.

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