Church planting in the Minnesota Baptist Conference is a part of ConvergeUSA, the church planting arm of our national movement, Converge Worldwide. Every year, ConvergeUSA asks its different districts across the United States to gather a few simple statistics to provide a snapshot of our church planting movement nationally.
After a number of emails to our planters that included a small amount of guilt along with a heavy dose of appreciation, here’s what was gathered from 22 or our 27 plants that launched publicly between 2000 and 2008. The information is for the 2008 calendar year.
Avg. Weekend Worship Attendance in 2008- 227
Avg. High Weekend Attendance in 2008- 310
Avg. Monthly Income in 2008- $5353
Avg. Baptisms in 2008- 12
If you do the math, you will see that these Minnesota Baptist Conference church plants gathered almost 5000 people in weekly public worship. They collected almost $118,000 a month to resource life-changing ministry across the state. (That’s more than $1.4 million for the year!) But most important, these young Minnesota Baptist Churches baptized 264 disciples in 2008. This doesn’t take into account for the churches for which I did not receive information from, or for the 10 plants that were planted in the latter half of the 90’s.
When comparing this information to the 2007 snapshot, average weekly attendance was up 11% in 2008 and the average monthly income was up 27%. The only decrease was in baptism, down 9%. However, from the reports I’ve heard from a number of our plants, it looks like 2009 is going to be a great year for baptisms!
I’m looking forward already to what 2009 will look like. In 08 we launched four churches. Already in 09 we’ve had three church launch and this fall should see another three or four launch. Plus, another three are coming together for a 2010 launch!
When the information is compiled from the other Converge districts, I’ll pass along the “big” snapshot!
Blessings!
Joel Nelson
Minnesota Baptist Conference Church Planting
