At our 100th District Council in April, Doug Vagle, our Minnesota Church Multiplication Director, shared a report highlighting what is happening in church planting and an update on some of our initiatives following the unrest in the Twin Cities last year.
After the prayer gathering at North Central University last June, we added Pastor Darrell Geddes to our Church Health Team and connected with African American pastors to see what we could do as a District. Out of those discussions we took steps to raise up Black pastors to lead new churches in the Twin Cities and the surrounding communities. At the time we had one new Black pastor in the pipeline, and now a year later we have five.
We’ve also seen some great church partnerships being formed like the one in our featured article (on page 2) this month. We have a long way to go, but along with the new William Seymour Scholarship for MNSOM and the $100,000 church planting initiative, we’re heading in the right direction.
While most church planting efforts were on hold in 2020 due to the effects of COVID-19, there were still three new church plants last year: Legacy Church in Virginia, Bluffs Church in La Crosse, and Joyful Way AG in St. Louis Park.
Since the start of 2021, two churches have already launched: Mosaic Church in Burnsville (pictured above) and Revive Church in Forest Lake. There are three more set to launch in September in Buffalo, Coleraine, and North Minneapolis.
We currently have identified six locations that already have a committed parent church, but are still in need of a leader. We believe God will call workers to plant churches all across Minnesota. As Doug said in his report, “Where there is a vision, God will show up with the provision.” And we are ready for those willing to say “Yes.”
