Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - June/89

Contributor - Rev. Murray Moerman

Title - Focusing On Church Growth: Church Planting Research

Topic - Church Growth

Did you know that there are 19,1081 churches in Canada?

Does that seem like a lot to you? Is that number enough to reach our vast nation with the opportunity for each person to respond to a proclamation of the gospel? If more churches do need to be planted, how will we know where they should be planted in order to best work together towards the great unfinished task?

These are important questions as the Reformed Church in Canada seeks to be obedient to the Great Commission of our Risen Lord at the brink of the last decade before the end of the second millennium.

More churches are needed in Canada. The fact is, though difficult and without individual guarantee of success, planting new churches on a large scale is the most effective way of reaching a nation for Christ.

How many more churches are needed to reach Canada for Christ?

If the Christian church in Canada were to plant enough churches to commission each one to seek to reach 1,000 persons in Canada which no other Christian church would seek to reach, assuming the Canadian population to be in the neighbourhood of 25 million persons, the Christian church would need to plant 5,892 new churches. And if the ratio were to be one church to reach each 750 persons in Canada, we would need to plant 14,225 new churches. If the ratio were to be one church to reach 500 persons, 30,892 new churches would be needed.

Most missiologists agree that one church to reach 1,000 persons should be a minimum goal and one church to reach 500 persons should be the ultimate goal.

But more information is needed.

Which languages are spoken in Canada? How large is the grouping of those who speak each of these languages and where are these groups located? Further, how many churches currently exist which offer evangelism, discipleship and worship in each of these languages, and do they exist and in the right proportions and locations in relation to age group reside?

In addition, it would be of value to know how many of these churches are evangelical and actively reaching out to invite their community to follow Christ. How many are non-Trinitarian cults or non-Christian religions and where are they strongest?

Research on these questions to the benefit of the entire Christian Church in Canada has begun, and the Council of the Reformed Church has committed up to $14,160 in church growth funds to help.

New Life Community Church of Burnaby, B.C has also set me free as their pastor on a half-time basis between January 1 an October 1, 1989 to work with a group of church volunteers on these questions.

The research model is this:

First, we are writing all Christian denominations in Canada asking, them for a list of their congregations and for the language or ethnic group primarily ministered to in that congregation.

Second, we are gathering, from the results of the most recent national census, the size of each language group spoken in Canada by census division, sub-division, metropolitan area, and census tract.

Third, we will link in a computer data base program, by postal code, the number of churches currently serving each language group in each of the above locations and compare those numbers with the number of churches needed to effectively reach the people of that language group with a 1:1000, 1:750, or 1:500 church-to-people ratio.

Finally, we will identify how many churches in each language group and each census division, subdivision, metropolitan area and census tract are yet needed to fulfill the Great Commission in Canada.

This information will be shared with an anticipated nationwide 800 church leaders who will attend the 'Vision 2000 Canada" conference in Ottawa during the spring of 1990 and then with church planters , denominational leaders, and district superintendents on an individual consulting basis to each in establishing the most effective church planting programs possible to reach Canada for Christ.

It is my prayer that the Lord will use the results of this research to facilitate the planting of several thousands of new churches in Canada by the end of the century, many of them by the Reformed Church in Canada. If readers would like to be of help, may I ask that those who know of or could take the time to discover associations, however loosely structured, of independent, ethnic or native churches in particular, forward to me the addresses of those association offices.

By the Lord's grace I hope to report further on the results of this study later- this year.

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