Partnership...the primary way this church planting ship sails!

I've heard Dave Ramsey say tons of times that the only ship that won't sail is a partnership. He's usually talking to someone about a business venture and he's trying to talk them out of entering into a bad business deal. However, when I think about Kingdom expansion and the best way for the gospel to get across the street and around the world, I believe gospel-oriented partnerships are the way to go. I believe Christian family members should pray and commit to seek to work together to reach other family members that don't yet believe the Gospel.I believe neighbors should commit to intentionally work together to reach other neighbors. I believe local churches should partner together to reach more of their community. I believe the best way to plant new churches is through partnerships with existing churches.
While we are moving to a new town where we don't really know anyone, we believe partnerships will be one of the reasons we are able to focus our time, effort and energy on planting this new work. We're grateful to the North American Mission Board, Encounter Life Church, and other churches and individuals that are already committed to walk with us along the way. We're praying and asking God to help us find other individuals, churches, and groups who would be willing to partner with us in 4 different ways.

1. We're asking for people to commit to pray for our family. For specific needs right now you can click here to read the last post, where I wrote about how you can pray for us! We know that we must have people walking alongside of us and faithfully praying for our family and for the new church. If you'd be among those who would commit to pray for us, we would be grateful! If your church would be willing to commit to pray for us, we would love that too!
2. We're ask for people to consider partnering with us financially. We believe God owns all of money on the planet and he's going to provide the funds necessary for the planting of the church. We also believe, in the beginning, the primary way he's going to do this is through partnerships! We're praying for people who might be willing to make one time gifts to help with the relocation and resettling process. We're also praying that God would provide partners who would be willing to commit to financially support the new church for 3-5 years. We believe that in the first year of planting we need to raise about $60,000. That probably seems like a lot of money, but we believe God can do that! We already have several people, churches and organizations that have committed financial support. Based on the need that still exists, we're praying that God might call 35-40 individuals, churches or organizations to commit to give $100/month. We're grateful for people and churches that are able to give more, but we wanted to give you quick snapshot of one way God could meet the need. Would you consider partnering with us in this way? We aim to make it as simple as possible. Whether you're giving a one time gift or plan to give in an on-going way, here's what you can do. Encounter Life Church is our sending church. All support goes through them, so your gift is still tax-deductible (if that's important to you).  You can give online by clicking here and putting PA in the memo or description line or you can mail a check to: Encounter Life Church Attn: PA Plant PO Box 375 Manchester, TN 37349.
3. We're praying that God would call some people and churches to partner with us to bring mission teams to come as needed to help with various projects along the way. We'll work to coordinate those as we get settled and begin seeing where God might be calling us specifically to jump in. A team might help us serve a non-profit or school in the area. We might do physical labor or we might facilitate conversation to share the gospel. We'll aim to utilize a variety of people with different gifts to try to reach more people for God's glory! Would you or your church be willing to commit to serve in this way?
4. Finally, God may call some of you to move to Oxford with us. We're praying God would call some people to move who have a heart for those who aren't yet redeemed and feel called to church planting. If you're interested in this please reach out to us so we can begin the conversation!

Whether you can commit to pray, give financial support, be a part of a mission team or feel led to move to Oxford with us, we're grateful for whatever role God is calling you to in this partnership! Together, for God's glory and other's good, we'll partner together under the banner of the good news of Jesus Christ that others might hear the gospel and find life and hope in Him. As always, thanks for taking time to read and for walking with us on this journey!