Vision

The vision for North America Church Planting is to see church planting movements emerge throughout the entire region eventually spreading to each major population center and group. While the perception is that many parts of North America are well-churched, the reality probably is that less than thirty percent of the population is engaged in church in any meaningful life-impacting way. In many of the major metropolitan areas and in Canada particularly an even higher percentage of people are unchurched (perhaps as high as 85% or more). These are people who will never engage with church as we know it today. Some parts of Mexico are virtually unchurched. In places like Haiti and parts of the American south where church attendance is high, in many places there is still limited evidence that the church has significant redeeming impact on society as a hold. While part of the vision is to see a reformation of the existing church as we know it so that it plays a far greater role in the transformation of society, the greater expectation and desire is that church will emerge among the unchurched, by far the majority population, and that it will be a culturally relevant model of church life that has a transformational impact on all of life. 

Perhaps the vision can be best summed using a Wolfgang Simson’s, Houses That Change the World.
Nothing short of the very presence of the living Christ in every neighbourhood and village of every corner of the nation will do. He has come to live amongst us – to stay on.  We therefore need to initiate and promote church-planting movements that initiate and promote other church-planting movements, until there is no space left for anyone to misunderstand, ignore or even escape the presence of Jesus in the form that He has chosen to take on earth – the local church.

There is no doubt that there are substantially increased interest and activity in church planting in North America.Manydenominations, churches and para-church organizations are talking about or are somehow engaged in some type of church planting.  Research indicates that this has led to a substantial reduction in the net loss of churches that we had been experiencing in North America in the prior decade; some studies even indicate that we may be remaining level at this point ; the number of new churches being planted equaling the number of churches closing their doors each year. So the environment is very positive toward church planting right now in North America.

However, at CityTeam we would express several concerns about the current church planting environment in North America. While thousands of new churches are being planted annually many are not emerging among communities of the lost or bringing significant transformation to the community. The self-replicating element is largely missing and therefore rapidly increasing numbers of new churches in order to reach saturation level (a culturally relevant church for every person) cannot be expected. Additionally, the majority of churches being planted in North America represent a model heavily dependent on the constant infusion of significant financial resources and highly trained professional leadership. Such a model cannot lead to the needed proliferation of new churches.  That’s why CityTeam believes the incorporation of the CPM model of disciple-making and church planting is critical in the future of the North American church.

 

Mission Statement


The mission is to be the catalyst for an explosion of CPM-type churches throughout North America; to ignite the spark of church planting movements throughout the region fanning a flame within individuals, churches, denominations, and organizations that will lead to their engagement in a new paradigm of disciple-making and church planting. This is expressed in the current CityTeam mission statement:
In obedience to Christ, passionately transforming individuals, their families and communities throughout the world. To glorify God:

  • By establishing self-replicating Communities of Believers who will serve people in need, proclaim the Gospel and make disciples in the cities and among the peoples of the world.
  • By mobilizing, training and equipping local believers to meet felt needs, engage families with the Bible, and establish communities of baptized believers who, in radical obedience to the Word of God, are being transformed by Christ, are transforming their communities, and are going to other communities to do the same.
  • By actively partnering with others to catalyze these Kingdom outcomes worldwide

 

Values

The following core operating values influence and guide CityTeam’s ministry of church planting in North America:

  1. Power of Prayer. Apart from prayer we lack the power, God’s power to accomplish the tasks He calls us to do. Without prayer we cannot move forward.
  2. Where is God working? Getting in sync with where God is working or intending to work is fundamental to our ministry engagement. We are not so much looking to make something happen as we are to discovering what God is up to and playing the role He calls for us to play.
  3. Kingdom Ministry. We seek to be about kingdom ministry, not building organizations, denominations, or existing churches. As we train, coach, and engage with partners this must be one of the shared values. 
  4. Catalytic.  While engaged in activities at the grassroots level that lead to the emergence of church and church planting movements, we focus primarily on igniting the flame within others to use their capacity and capability to launch CPM in their respective communities.
  5. What Will it Take? Rather than “what are we able to do?” or even “What do we think we might be able to stretch for?” we are driven by the idea of “what will it take to get the job done?” Getting the job done is defined by catalyzing hundreds of church planting movements that will saturate the countries of North America with biblical churches.  
  6. Partnership. “Getting the job done,” is way beyond the capacity of any one organization. Partnership, based on a CPM ministry philosophy is our fundamental mode of operation.
  7. Coaching. Aware that we are working primarily with partners who come, as we have, from a very different paradigm of church and church planting, we understand that basic training alone is not usually sufficient to help people develop and engage in a whole new paradigm of church and church planting. Thus, consistent and effective coaching is an essential component of our strategy.
  8. We are learners. In many places in the world church planting has advanced beyond where we are at in North America in terms of effective strategy. Turning the table of missions where we in the West learn from our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world is a core value.
  9. Strong Missional North American Church. At the same time, a strong missional church in North America can continue to play a valuable role is serving our fellow Christians in other parts of the world, particularly in playing a supporting role as these “majority” world Christians reach out to under-reached people groups.
  10. Success is measured in terms of movements, not churches. Thousands of churches is not the goal, per se. Rather a replication process of churches planting churches is the fundamental goal.