Priority 5: Church Planting

First of all we want to be clear that planting new churches and starting new kingdom ministries is not our last priority! Ideally church planting should be the result of vibrant prayer, healthy leaders, disciplemaking strategies and city service. But of our five TB4C priorities, this one is definitely the most aspirational. There are a lot of new churches in Tampa Bay, but not because of any coordinated strategy – simply because we have a vibrant and growing metro area that attracts church planters.

Today the Collaboration Podcast welcomes Pastor Darryl Williamson of Living Faith Bible Fellowship and Pastor Sam Phillips Jr. of Activation Church to talk about the why and how of church planting. Sam is setting the example by planting a church himself. Darryl is leading the way by developing a residency program to raise up church planters for the region. Listen in to be reminded of the importance of making disciples with simple, reproducible practices so they can go on to make more disciples that will be gathered together into new churches!

If we are going to reach every man, woman and child in our region with the good news of Jesus Christ we must be committed to planting churches. This will require dramatic shifts in our approach to church: from collecting to mobilizing, from competing to collaborating and from adding to multiplying.

What would it look like if the one Church of Tampa Bay embraced the practice of collaborating to plant churches and ministries where the city most needed them?