Better church planter support is NAMB's goal

Church planter support is becoming a priority at the North American Mission Board as Southern Baptists seek to greatly increase the number of churches planted in North America over the next 10 years.

"We need thousands more church planters," NAMB President Kevin Ezell said. "We know it's God's role to call them. But we also know we must do a better job taking care of them once they've responded to the call."

One of Ezell's first actions after coming to NAMB in 2010 was to establish a church planter support network directed by Micah Millican, who helps establish support teams for planters in cities throughout North America.

Local church planters, church planting catalysts and NAMB city coordinators lead the city-specific support teams. NAMB encourages three events a year per city designed to deepen relationships between planters and their families and build a sense of brotherhood between planters in a city. Local planters decide what those events will be.

"Cities are not won in isolation," Millican said. "Cities are won in community. Church planters need to be able to lock arms with other planters to effectively push back lostness in a city. They desperately need one another." Read more

What is your denomination doing to support church planters? Your judicatory? Your local church? What more could they do? What keeps them from doing it?