Church Planting Ex Nihilo: Addressing the Home Mission Difficulties of the Northwest Association of Regular Baptist Churches

The Northwest Association of Regular Baptist Churches (NARBC) has approximately 110 congregations throughout the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Under the leading of the Lord someone had to begin each of these churches at some time, but threatening obstacles such as property costs, building restrictions, attitudes of the populace, and the growing demands on established churches hinder the initiative and effectiveness for starting similar churches in this region currently. Many among the Northwest Regular Baptists sincerely desire to expand gospel outreach through establishing new congregations but the means -- actually accomplishing the tasks of church planting -- seem elusive and out of reach. It is easier at times to embrace genuine concern for mission fields in other parts of the world than it is to carry the burden for the very prevalent mission field at home. The mission calling from the backyard shouts for higher costs in time, money, attention, personnel, and energy. The existing churches seem too involved, too few, too small, too poor, and too spread out to make any appreciable difference. It is almost as if they are asked to produce churches ex nihilo -- out of nothing. Yet without operative (and perhaps co-operative) efforts toward numerical expansion of congregations, the combined corporate memberships of the 110 existing Regular Baptist churches will likely decline or continue to be marginalized, taking them into 'nothingness.'

The labor behind this project intends to address that problem. Various venues of research are directed at this over-arching question: How can the Northwest Association of Regular Baptist Churches, with limited resources and in the face of current difficulties, effectively plant more thriving Regular Baptist churches in the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington?