Pray, Plan, Plant—Grow

Story by Tamyra Horst

The Pennsylvania Conference has developed, “Pray, Plan, Plant,” a strategic initiative to take the everlasting gospel beyond the established churches and into places and cultures beyond their current areas of influence. This process creates opportunities to make inroads among the unreached and underreached areas of Pennsylvania.

Both the Upper Darby and Kennett Square Hispanic churches began as mission groups started by other churches in neighboring communities. They grew to become church companies and were recently organized into healthy and fruitful churches.

Members are now repeating the process of reaching others in nearby areas with the gospel. “These two new churches are now planning how they can expand God’s kingdom by sending church planting missionaries from among their growing congregations to areas not yet reached in the greater Philadelphia area,” shares Pablo Perez, pastor of both churches.

Another mission group is reaching the growing population in and around New Tripoli. In cooperation with their mother church—the Reading Hampden Heights church in Temple—this group has grown from a handful gathered each Sabbath to now about 65 attendees.

“Your local community may be the next place God is preparing to plant a new and impactful presence in reaching the unreached,” says Shawn Shives, executive secretary.

To learn more about church planting, visit paconference.org/church-planting.