Planting churches

"Our team is focussed on making a spiritual and physical impact on our community and in this part of the world there has never been a church. It’s amazing to think that we might be the ‘midwives’ in this process. It’s also incredibly freeing to know that we can’t do it in our own strength and to really depend on Jesus to make himself real to people." - Will, 32

Fellowship groups form locally

In Bangladesh, recently five new believers declared their faith by water, and each month new people are coming to Jesus in the areas where we are working.

Changing minds and hearts

We have seen people change their minds and declaring their faith in the areas where we work. We have had many opportunities to reach people directly and indirectly for God, and plant new churches amongst those who had formerly been muslims.

An unusual baptism

One day Kamal, a young Muslim man, travelled from his remote village to a larger market town where he was given a Gospel of Matthew. Returning home he sat on a rock by a river and began to read the Gospel. At first, Kamal did not understand what he was reading but he kept going.

Building a business, planting a church

A well known businessman from the village that I had not seen for a while came in with a friend and said, 'First we are going to have coffee and then I want to talk with you.' After serving the coffee he motioned to me to sit down. He then proceeded to show me his identification card. There, in the space which signifies religion, it read 'Christian' instead of 'Muslim.'

A house church begins

For many years we have been discovering seekers in Turkey by placing adverts for a Bible Correspondence Course in national newspapers. Our visits to receptive contacts can take us to provinces many kilometres away from our office in Istanbul; they can take us to cities where there is no church.

Church growth

The church in a large Muslim city has grown by 50% this year, thanks to dreams and a television channel! At the beginning of 2007, the church averaged 20 members but now has more than 30 and most of the growth is from one family.

* all names are changed for security

Afghanistan / Caucasus / Iran / Kazakhstan / Kyrgyzstan / Tajikistan / Turkey / Turkmenistan / Uzbekistan

Opportunities in planting churches

Leadership trainers

Pioneer church planters