“But we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel to the regions beyond you.” 2 Corinthians 10:15b-16a

A fellow minister asked me “Do we really need another church here? We already have churches here.” I answered with a question, “Do you think we need to plant churches in Serampore, India?” He said, “Yes, of course!” I smiled and said, “Why? William Carey planted many churches there already!”

Why are we so eager to do missions in foreign lands when there are lost people across the street from us?

Here is a good saying…Church planting always begins where you are.

We are here in the North Texas area because God wants us to fulfill His command to give the gospel to every person here.  Paul knew this principle very well.  He knew if the Corinthian church grew in faith, there would be opportunities to preach the gospel “beyond” them.  Interestingly, the Greek word for “beyond” is not used anywhere else in the New Testament or Septuagint, for it is the joining of two words, literally meaning “beyond him/her/it.”  The translators incorrectly put “regions,” for the word, in context, simply means beyond the Corinthian Church.  To put a region on it would not be correct.  Paul simply desired the Corinthians to grow so there would be opportunities for more church planting.

Our Southern Baptist forefathers applied this principle as well.  I. T. Tichenor, corresponding secretary of the HMB from 1882 to 1900, stated about the growth of the South during his time,      

        This is the era of city-building in the South.  Our people are flocking to our business centres, and new demands are laid upon our city churches.  Old houses of worship are too small or too shabby to meet the demands of the congregation.  New and costly edifices are erected.  Then new churches must be organized and houses built for them.

Did you notice Tichenor’s missiology here? The cities were growing, just like ours.  The existing churches had new demands on them, just like ours.  What was his solution? Strengthen the existing churches and plant new churches.  How did he strengthen the existing churches? Sometimes by giving them a missionary planter that helped the church grow, then when the church planted a new church, the missionary planter became the pastor of the new church.  Sometimes he would send a missionary planter to pastor the existing church and lead them to be a church planting church.  Sometimes he would encourage churches to help each other in growing by sharing pastors/ministers and planting other churches together. Sometimes he would send the existing church funds to update their facilities.

Am I saying these ideas would work today? Yes! The following “Areas of Importance” are places we should begin to strengthen:

Areas of Importance

Markets are geographical boundaries in a group of people’s minds that affect their travel, shopping, etc.  The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) reports the following market areas will be the largest in DFW by 2040:

The fastest growing markets, however, will be the following:

Fastest Growing Markets that are or will be at least 100,000 people

With every passing year, the population grows around us while we are asleep in the advancement of the gospel.  Will we let these areas of importance be filled with the pure truth of the Bible? Or, will we let them be filled with the pernicious and dangerous doctrines of others? God has us here.  It is now that God favors what we do!