Free Republic

Why We Need to Plant New Churches… Nationwide According to the January, 1996 Gallup Princeton Religion Report, there are an estimated 195 million unchurched in the United States. During the last ten years the total combined membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.55%, nearly 4.5 million people, while the population of the U.S. increased by 11.4%, or more than 24 million.(4) In 1991, 49% of those polled said they attended church regularly. In 1996, only 37% said they did.(5) Evangelical churches have failed to gain an additional two percent of the American population in the past fifty years.(6) In...

The help-wanted ad had the whiff of a practical joke. “Documentary will pay you $5,000 to start your own religion,” it said. “No exp. necessary.” “I laughed out loud,” said Joshua Boden, 35, a bald-headed bassist in an indie rock band, the Angelic Bombs, who stumbled across the ad in the Village Voice last spring. But Mr. Boden, whose friends have long urged him to write down some of the bits of pop religion and philosophy that he has developed over the years, said his curiosity was piqued. He went to the corresponding Web site and dashed off an application....

Next, the idea is to broadcast the Gospel, see people come to Christ, disciple them and then plant a church. In Indonesia it's not longer that easy. The government now requires 100 members and a review by all religious faiths before building. Back to the Bible's Frans Silalahi broadcasts Christian programming on 27 stations in Indonesia. He says the requirement is a challenge. "You have to ask permission from 70 people (who) are unbelievers to set up one church. That's what the law says and they released those laws this month." Silalahi knows spiritual growth isn't dependant on a building....

Found this on the ACC Diocese of Mid-Atlantic States web site, and thought it might be of interest to those giving thought to planting a church. The material in this booklet was contributed by members of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) who were instrumental in the formation of new parishes in areas where previously no ACC parish existed. Endowed with a spirit of evangelism and a strong loyalty to the historic faith, and trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide them, they set about accomplishing what might have seemed at the outset to be impossible. Today these efforts have come...

NICOSIA, CYPRUS - The first Christian church in the conservative Muslim state of Qatar since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century is to be built on land donated by the reform-minded Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

DOHA -- A Christian church will be built in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, the first in a Muslim state since the advent of Islam in the seventh century. Construction on the Church of the Epiphany - which is expected to cost about $7 million - will begin early next year, but the structure will not have a spire or freestanding cross, reports The Times of London. The land for the facility in the capital, Doha, has been donated by the reform-minded Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. "We are there as guests in a Muslim...

An Anglican congregation plans to build Qatar's first Christian church since Islam's arrival in the 7th century. Clive Handford, the Nicosia-based Anglican bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf, says construction will start in the Qatari capital of Doha in early 2006 on the 26-million Qatar riyal ($7 million) Church of the Epiphany, along with a conference centre and meeting rooms. Plans for the Anglican church and three other Christian houses of worship have not been well publicised in Muslim-dominated Qatar, which is also the forward headquarters of the US military's Central Command. While some see the construction as a sign...