Church Planting a Real Concern for the ABA

Church Planting/Mission Starting is apparently a much bigger challenge than what one would think in our ABA fellowship.

When I began to reasearch the beginning of new works it soon became apparent that it would not be easy. It had never been done before. No one in Texarkana was keeping a record. No one to this day knows exactly how many new churches/missions have been started, ever! And yet we are meeting together every year to put on new missionaries.

I have learned that almost every new salaried US interstate missionary that was put on at the ABA messenger meeting last year has taken over an existing mission work and not started a new work. This ought to cause us great concern. I am glad that the existing works are being tended to but this is not church/mission planting, it is maintenance. What will it be like in 10 years? Not pretty.

It has also caused me real concern, that no one knows how many churches or missions have closed their doors in the past year. Researching that info would be a challenge in and of itself.

We can do better than this.
David