<p> Worldwide the Church continues to grow and flourish in the most hostile environments. Today's church provides living proof that Jesus actively, intentionally, and powerfully builds His church. Around the world wherever the Church grows, it is growing through a church planting movement of unprecedented proportions. </p><p> This project proposes to show that church planting in America, as in the rest of the world, is a crucial, strategic, and biblical method for increasing the missional effectiveness of the Assemblies of God (AG). Historically, the AG in the United States has committed to fulfilling the Great Commission through a two-fold emphasis of planting new churches and sending out missionaries to foreign fields. The missional importance of church planting will be demonstrated through research data from over 8,000 AG churches, comparing the spiritual metrics of church plants to existing churches over thirteen years of age. Additionally, research will compare the missional metrics of churches that plant churches with churches that do not engage in planting other churches. </p><p> Today, the AG shows encouraging signs of growth. However, two realities must temper these signs. AG numerical growth as a whole is not keeping up with population trends. Nationwide the number of AG churches per one thousand people continues to decline, and the AG continues to be underrepresented in the growing urban areas. Although the AG should rejoice in God's continued blessings, it must intentionally prioritize proven ways to increase missional effectiveness. God strategically uses the planting of new churches to break new ground for the gospel and increase the harvest.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3689028 |
| Date | 25 April 2015 |
| Creators | Drost, Paul Ernest |
| Publisher | Assemblies of God Theological Seminary |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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