COVER SECTION
SEND>>NORTH AMERICA
NEW YORK CITY
Planting in metro NYC is tough. Partnerships are crucial to starting new churches.
By Mickey Noah and Sara Shelton
How do you reach North America— perhaps even the entire world—with the gospel simply starting with one church plant? For church planter Won Kwak it was obvious: start with New York City.
Struck by the strategic nature of planting in New York City, Kwak chose to plant Maranatha Grace Church just across the Hudson River from upper Manhattan in Fort Lee, N.J.
“The town is so strategic,” explains Kwak, a North American Mission Board (NAMB) church planter missionary. “They call Fort Lee the ‘Gateway to the Northeast’ and it is so true. Everyone going in and out of the city on the Jersey Turnpike has to pass right through Fort Lee.”
While church planting in metro New York has tremendous potential for advancing the gospel worldwide, it’s no easy task. Planters like Kwak need established churches to work alongside them.
That’s the motivation behind NAMB’s Send North America strategy: to mobilize and assist churches and individuals in hands-on church planting throughout the U.S. and Canada. On Sept. 30, NAMB launched its first Send North America city emphasis—Send North America: New York City.
“Dozens of SBC churches have already been mobilized to help plant churches in New York City,” explains Aaron Coe, NAMB’s vice president of mobilization, “but many more are needed.
“New York City is arguably the most strategic city on the planet,” continues Coe. “It makes sense that Southern Baptists would have a significant presence in this city.”
Through Send North America: New York City, planters like Kwak will find a network of partners and support to propel them as they serve the city. Established Southern Baptist churches are encouraged to partner with planters in the metro area and work with them as they strive to bring Christ into the hearts of New Yorkers.
Churches can partner with planters on a number of levels, from supporting them prayerfully or financially to sending teams to work with them to even multiplying the church by helping plant new ones.
“You can be a church of any size and participate in planting a church in New York City,” explains Danny Wood, pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., and chairman of the partnership coalition for Send North America: New York City.
14 Winter 2012 •
onmission.com
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