The North American Mission Board (NAMB) partners with the six Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) seminaries and one Canadian seminary to train church planters. The partnership was launched in 1998 and has been in place at all the seminaries since 2000. As part of the original covenant, the parties agreed to evaluate its impact. This article is based on the first of several research bulletins birthed from a study undertaken by the Center for Missional Research at the North American Mission Board.

CMR shared data with 11 denominations and networks to survey more than 2,000 new churches planted from 2000 to 2005. We were able to determine the status of 1,000 of them and phone interviewed 500 of them. We found that the survivability rate of the church plants in our study was 68 percent after four years—and this was similar in all denominations. 

If, for the church planter, the expectations of the church plant meet the reality of the church planting experience, the chance of survivability increases by over 400 percent. For example, for those planters who said their expectations were realized, 54 percent of their churches survived. For church plants that failed, 79 percent of church planters stated that their prior expectations of the church plant did not meet reality.

CMR shared data with 11 denominations and networks to survey more than 2,000 new churches planted from 2000 to 2005. We were able to determine the status of 1,000 of them and phone interviewed 500 of them. We found that the survivability rate of the church plants in our study was 68 percent after four years—and this was similar in all denominations. 

If, for the church planter, the expectations of the church plant meet the reality of the church planting experience, the chance of survivability increases by over 400 percent. For example, for those planters who said their expectations were realized, 54 percent of their churches survived. For church plants that failed, 79 percent of church planters stated that their prior expectations of the church plant did not meet reality.