Back to Church Sunday, observed Sept. 20 with the theme “Find Your Place,” encouraged churches across the country to invite neighbors, former attendees, and people curious about faith through their doors.
But getting someone through the door is only the beginning.
What happens when a visitor has questions? Or when someone wants community before they are ready to believe? When a new believer needs discipleship — or a growing community needs leaders and eventually another church?
This week’s Ministries Making a Difference looks at five Christian ministries helping churches reach new people and build communities beyond the initial invitation — through evangelism, church outreach, new forms of church, church planting, and long-term discipleship.
MinistryWatch tracks hundreds of organizations involved in evangelism, discipleship, Christian growth and leadership training in its database. At MinistryWatch, we spend much of our time reporting on questions of transparency, accountability, and stewardship — including stories of waste, fraud, and abuse. Ministries Making a Difference highlights another part of the picture: ministries doing notable work in their communities and around the world. As always, MinistryWatch also includes each organization’s current financial efficiency, transparency, and Donor Confidence ratings where available.
photo, alphausa.org
Alpha USA
As political and cultural divisions push people into opposing camps, Alpha USA says churches have an opportunity to offer something different: a place where people can be heard before they are persuaded. In a recent article on overcoming cultural division, Alpha encouraged Christians to listen first, ask questions, and try to understand the experiences behind another person’s beliefs. The ministry argues that people are more likely to seriously explore Christianity when churches are willing to engage the issues that matter to them without treating disagreement as a reason to withdraw.
Alpha USA is an evangelism and church outreach ministry that equips churches to create spaces where people can explore Christianity, ask questions, and discuss faith without being expected to arrive with settled beliefs.
Alpha USA has a 4-Star Financial Efficiency Rating, an A Transparency Grade, and a Donor Confidence Score of 90 in the MinistryWatch database.
photo, freshexpressions.com
Fresh Expressions North America
On Monday evenings in Kingsport, Tennessee, about 110 people gather around tables for a free meal, conversation, and a simple story about Jesus. The Table of Kingsport began with about 20 people and has grown into a weekly community where neighbors eat together, pray, and build relationships. This gathering is an example of what Fresh Expressions North America calls new forms of church: shaped around places and activities where people already gather.
Fresh Expressions works with established churches to reach people unlikely to attend a traditional Sunday service. Its communities often form around meals, soccer fields, recovery groups, music, and other shared interests, moving people from relationship and belonging toward faith and discipleship.
photo, Facebook/RENEW.org
RENEW.org
RENEW.org is a disciple-making network that equips church leaders and families for biblical discipleship, focusing on forming Christians who can understand Scripture, engage culture, and disciple others.
For RENEW.org, discipleship after Sunday includes teaching children how to understand the world they encounter throughout the rest of the week. In a recent conversation on discipling children in a biblical worldview, the ministry emphasized that children are constantly learning how to interpret what they see around them. Christian formation, it said, includes intentionally helping them understand life through Scripture and follow Jesus as they grow — both at home and in church.
RENEW.org also addresses questions adults encounter in the wider culture. In another recent conversation, the ministry asked whether science alone can explain why every person has dignity and rights, arguing that questions about human worth and moral obligation require more than scientific observation. These discussions are part of RENEW.org’s work to develop Christians who can apply a biblical worldview to questions about culture, ethics, and human dignity.
photo, launchstrong.com
Strategic Launch Network
One week before Back to Church Sunday, a new congregation opened its doors in northwest Las Vegas. Seth and Megan Philip spent 13 years ministering in Japan before returning to the United States with plans to start a church. On Sept. 13, Waypoint Church began weekly worship services in a Las Vegas middle school. The congregation tells newcomers they can “belong before they believe,” with groups and service teams designed to build relationships beyond Sunday attendance. Waypoint is one of more than 90 churches planted with help from Strategic Launch Network (SLN).
SLN is a church planting ministry that assesses, coaches, and supports church planters before and after launch. Strategic Launch Network has a 4-Star Financial Efficiency Rating, a D Transparency Grade, and a Donor Confidence Score of 70 in the MinistryWatch database (Give with Confidence).
Leonel and Janette, photo, multiplicationnetwork.org
Multiplication Network
In Tacares, Costa Rica, Leonel and Janette believed their town needed a church. After completing church-planting training, the couple helped start one in a garage that only had weightlifting equipment, a fishing boat, and a small wooden pulpit. In April, the congregation was only six weeks old when a Multiplication Network leader visited. Multiplication Network provides church planting training to local leaders and helps congregations develop leaders, assess church health, and multiply new churches.
Multiplication Network has a 1-Star Financial Efficiency Rating, a C Transparency Grade, and a Donor Confidence Score of 80 in the MinistryWatch database (Give with Confidence).
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