Trinity Presbyterian Church is a brand new church for Norman, OK. Some might wonder why we need another church at all, much less a church that has vision from day one to start another church in three years that will start other churches? And our church hopes to repeat that process until Jesus returns. So why do we want to do this and why should you join us?
Three reasons:
- Church Planting is Biblical. In obedience to the great commission in Matthew 28:18-19, the church in Acts expanded from Jerusalem to Rome with a recognizable pattern: plant, build up, and send out leaders to another place.
- Church Planting’s impact is extraordinary. Studies show that church planting is the most effective way to reach new people. The average new church gains 1/3 to 2/3 of its new members from those not attending any worshipping body, while churches over ten years old gain 80-90% of their new members from Christians transferring from one church to another. According to the numbers, new churches are 6-8 times more effective reaching new people. Larry Krieder states that in an average church plant, you see one baptism for every three people attending. At an existing church, stats show only one baptism per 95 members.
- The need to plant churches is great. Many will say that we already have plenty of churches and Christians in Oklahoma. But did you know that according to 2010 data, 57% of Cleveland County is not connected to any church? That is roughly 150,000 people who are unconnected to any church. At Trinity, we pray to see many of those people consider the gospel of Jesus Christ, believe it, join the church, and then become leaders and helpers in starting other churches. Many great things are already happening in Norman, but still so many needs exist and we hope to serve Norman well and move forward. You don’t need to leave the country or your regular life to go on a mission trip with us. We pray you’ll feel called by God to join us for a local mission trip right where you live-serving God by starting new churches in Norman.
A Church Planting Movement in our Presbytery
After our church moved beyond mission status and became a particular/organized church, we saw a movement to plant more churches grow further in our presbytery. Our church extension committee, representing 25 congregations, now has a vision to see 40 new churches in the next decade. Our geographical target is Florida (our presbytery home state) and the two additional states (Oklahoma and Minnesota) where we have four additional congregations (including Trinity Presbyterian Norman). You can view our new website, see our video regarding the vision, give to support planting more reformed churches, and indicate interest in planting a church with us and explore church planter assessment.