{"id":29238,"date":"2025-12-10T13:24:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/?post_type=resource&p=29238"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:24:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:24:33","slug":"keep-sending-a-family-of-churches-and-a-bold-vision-for-the-next-decade","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resource\/keep-sending-a-family-of-churches-and-a-bold-vision-for-the-next-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep sending: A family of churches and a bold vision for the next decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southern Baptists are at our best when we send \u2013 when local churches lock arms to plant evangelistic, Bible-anchored congregations and make disciples where Christ is not yet known. That conviction shapes everything we do in church planting. In a previous article<\/a> I was able to focus on where we, as Southern Baptists and the North American Mission Board (NAMB), have been over the last 15 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Noah Oldham serves as executive director of Send Network.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, I want to address where we are headed as a family of churches. NAMB doesn\u2019t plant churches; churches plant churches. Our role is to assist churches \u2013 exactly what messengers have tasked us to do \u2013 by helping them assess, train, coach and care for planters and teams, with a priority for population centers and underserved areas.<\/p>\n

What the next decade requires<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are praying toward a bold, simple vision: see God\u2019s kingdom expand by 1 percent in North America over the next decade \u2013 roughly 2.75 million people reached \u2013 through multiplying disciples and churches.<\/p>\n

To reach that horizon, we must significantly grow the number of partnering churches in the Send Network family from roughly 4,500 today to 9,000 in the coming years. Doubling the number of partners means doubling the reach of residencies, pipelines and sending teams in order to multiply Gospel presence where it is thin.<\/p>\n

This is not top-down control. It\u2019s local church-up ownership. When a sending church raises up leaders, trains them in its own ministry culture and commissions them with a team, a new work launches with relational trust and shared DNA. Because every community is different, churches are equipped to contextualize wisely, so they preach the same Gospel while planting congregations that make disciples in urban cores, suburban neighborhoods, small towns and rural communities.<\/p>\n

The on-ramps: simple, doable, replicable<\/strong><\/p>\n

Send Network has built practical pathways to help churches step in: the Sending Lab<\/strong> is a one-day, collaborative workshop designed to help pastors and teams develop a church-specific sending vision and identify concrete next steps for finding, developing and sending church planters (Read more here<\/a> and here<\/a>). Residency Builder<\/strong> helps churches stand up a pipeline they can actually walk through\u2014moving leaders from discovery to development to deployment (see Residencies for Churches<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Across every region of North America, our field teams keep the main thing the main thing with several outcomes in view, including: local ownership, farm systems, new churches and church mobilization. Healthy pace and depth go together; we\u2019re calling for Sending Churches that plant every three years and Multiplying Churches that plant every year \u2013 supported by well-assessed, well-trained planters, sustainable pipelines and a cooperative family committed to prayer and generosity.<\/p>\n

Why we\u2019re hopeful<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
217 newly endorsed church planters gathered at Send Network Orientation at NAMB headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga., last week. The diverse group represented 182 Sending Churches, 8 different languages, 30 U.S. states, and 4 Canadian provinces.<\/em> (NAMB photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No one denies the cultural headwinds. Yet we see spiritual momentum: multi-year increases in baptisms across Southern Baptist life (Lifeway ACP analysis<\/a>) and sustained generosity toward mission (see Baptist Press<\/a>). Those aren\u2019t just numbers; they represent people meeting Jesus and congregations stepping forward to plant and multiply.<\/p>\n

Cooperation through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering fuels the strategy \u2013 providing assessment, coaching, care and start-up grants \u2013 that turns a church\u2019s conviction into a church plant in a real neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Your church\u2019s next faithful step<\/strong><\/p>\n

For pastors and churches, the first move is clarity and ownership. Bring a team to a Sending Lab to clarify your sending vision and three-year roadmap, then name a point leader and a small sending team to own the plan. Choose a rhythm, every three years or every year, and put the next commissioning date on the calendar so you can work backward with purpose.<\/p>\n

Build a right-sized residency using Residency Builder<\/a>, align the budget to fund assessment, residency and launch support, and adopt a target place and planter profile that fits your church\u2019s calling. Finally, commit to a care plan for your planter family \u2013 regular coaching, relational touchpoints and practical re-supply \u2013 so the work remains healthy beyond the launch.<\/p>\n

For members and teams, the invitation is to leverage your life for the mission where you already live, work, learn and play. You don\u2019t need to hold a microphone or change jobs to be part of multiplication; God delights to use your job, skills, and passions for His glory and the expansion of His kingdom. We\u2019ve created a free study \u2013 Leverage Your Life<\/a> \u2013 to help every believer see how God can use their everyday life in disciple-making and church planting.<\/p>\n

In 3 John 5-8, we\u2019re reminded that those who \u201csend them on their journey in a manner worthy of God\u201d become fellow workers for the truth. In other words, every believer can participate: some will be sent, others will send, and both are essential.<\/p>\n

Hard soil does not intimidate the Lord of the harvest. The story of Southern Baptists is not merely institutional \u2013 it is missional. It\u2019s the story of ordinary churches and ordinary Christians, in ordinary places, watching God do extraordinary things as we keep sending.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s seek first the kingdom, stick together as a family, and think multiplication until every neighborhood in North America has a Bible-preaching, disciple-making, church-planting witness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southern Baptists are at our best when we send \u2013 when local churches lock arms to …<\/p>\n

Keep sending: A family of churches and a bold vision for the next decade<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27267,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"content-type":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-29238","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeep sending: A family of churches and a bold vision for the next decade - 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