Imagine witnessing the baptism of 22 new believers in the first few weeks of a new church plant. Grace Irvine, a church plant among Chinese Americans in California, had the privilege of seeing God work in this way! The Lord is at work, preparing a harvest for himself.
As MNA sharpens our focus on church planting and church vitality, mobilizing the church for mission, we have the joy of a mountain-top view of the Lord’s work in North America. Some of our recent efforts include reimagining the Church Planter Assessment for greater effectiveness, working with other PCA committees and agencies to expand the pipeline for leader development, and exploring ways to offer General Assembly in the heart languages of those who attend and those who desire to but are currently unable due to language barriers. We are strengthening church vitality ministries to mobilize the people of God to serve their communities. We are working with our church planting team to see plans for hundreds of church plants among every nation, tribe, and tongue the Lord has brought to the US and Canada. We are establishing robust development practices to connect the hearts of donors with the vision of seeing the PCA increase 50% by 2033. Why are we doing all of this? Because the Lord is at work, preparing a harvest for himself.
If the Lord was pleased to bless the PCA with this kind of health, 22 baptisms would be the tip of the iceberg. This vision would reach 500,000 new individuals with the Gospel, reduce the number of church closures by 25%, and impact 3,000 new communities and 200,000 families. This kind of vision is worth pursuing, friends, because it is so large that only the Lord could accomplish it. No one would be able to say, “Look what I have done.” We would join our voices together giving thanks to the Lord of the Harvest for what He has done among us! It is happening. The Lord is on the move preparing a harvest for himself.
