Healthy Church Multiplication
by Terry Shanahan, Northeast Regional Minister
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)
Trick question: How many churches have been planted in the CCCC? Answer. All of them.
Every church has a beginning, a time when it was “planted,” usually by a few people called by God to meet an existing need. CCCC churches in Wakefield, Essex, Middleboro, and West Newbury (all in Massachusetts), were planted in 1644, 1683, 1694, and 1698 respectively. As I read our yearbook, another dozen member churches had their beginnings between 1702 and 1781. Just this year, 2015, a church in Westford, Massachusetts is being launched along with others around the country. For the past 371 years, Congregational Churches have been planted in our tradition, and yet I often hear of the “new movement” within our Conference to plant churches. In retrospect, I think we would have to agree that this is an “old movement” which has taken on “new life.” In fact, a former pastor of one of our churches planted in the 1600s tells of his church having planted five churches but not having done so since the mid 1700s.
I often attend anniversary celebrations for our churches. Invariably I am taken with the story of the churches’ founding. In 1711 the folks in what is now South Church, Peabody, Massachusetts petitioned and had quite a long struggle to be released to plant their church and leave the Salem church, the site of the witch trials. Their request was finally granted, and I was able to attend a wonderful 300-year celebration there. In 1712 the founding members of First Congregational Church, Hamilton, Massachusetts appealed to their home church to plant a new church because traveling five miles over the winter ice was prohibitive. The next year the Massachusetts General Court granted their request.
In 1809 historic Park Street Church in Boston was founded by fourteen men and twelve women when the population of Boston as just thirty-four thousand people. They raised the sum of twenty thousand dollars to purchase land on which to build. In 1846 Free Christian Church in Andover, Massachusetts was founded exclusively on the issue of abolition of slavery. They had a heart to be an evangelical church that came down on the right side of this controversial issue.
Our guiding value of healthy Church Multiplication has deep roots, and we are nurturing those roots so other seedlings will sprout. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24) The Church Planting movement had its beginning with New Testament churches, and continues today in our Conference and others.
Each of our aforementioned churches has a wonderful story to tell of their faithful beginnings. They continue as vibrant ministries today. These churches were founded by a few people with vision. The CCCC is seeking such people to continue a movement that began centuries ago. We are seeking to recruit partner churches and advocates to join with us as we meet the needs in our current times for healthy, vibrant churches.
Look around you. Can you or your church give to this movement? Many already have. The Congregational Church of Chester, Vermont, not in a position to plant a church themselves, has allocated thirty thousand dollars for one of our new church plants. The Phillips Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, St Marks Church in Philadelphia, and Westford Bible Church in Westford, Massachusetts have become legacy churches, giving all of their assets to the church planting movement. Will you pray about how you or your church may become involved in planting healthy new works of God through the CCCC?
