At Bold Grace, we have become very aware of the need for local church fellowship, but there are many people out there who believe in Free Grace who do not have a local church to call "home." There are many more people out there who have never heard the Free Grace message at all and who may not find our websites, or have contact with the various Free Grace parachurch ministries out there. So, God has put it on our hearts to organize and facilitate church planting.
Why Is It Needed?
There are some great Free Grace parachurch ministries out there. We are so thankful for GES, FGA, 289 Design, Grace Life, and many others. But the Christian life is meant to be lived in community and written materials, recorded sermons, and videos are not an effective tool for holistic disciplemaking without being combined with local, godly fellowship, spiritual leadership, and opportunities for service.
Through this church planting initiative, we seek to supplement, not supplant the ministries already working to spread the Free Grace message. The ministries listed, and others do provide teaching for knowledge and understanding; the Bold Grace Church Planting Initiative (BGCPI) seeks to provide a means of establishing local churches that can provide the rest.
What Will It Look Like?
New church plants will be Free Grace by belief and teaching.
BGCPI will focus on planting churches that meet in homes or in free-to-use public places, and which have volunteer or bi-vocational pastors at the beginning.
New church pastors, once trained, will be encouraged to help train new pastors in new church plants. This can be done through training people locally with the goal of planting new churches, or training from a distance through the tools available on the internet.
While BGCPI will solicit cooperation with seminaries and Bible colleges, we will be organized in such a way that training for ministry can (and will often) be done separate from institutions of higher learning.
New church plants will be encouraged to use doctrinally sound materials as teaching aids. Bold Grace's publications, Getting Started and The Guts of Grace: Preparing Ordinary Saints for Extraordinary Ministry were written to provide such resources. More is yet to come.
Bold Grace can offer teaching, training materials, prayer, and other support for new church plants.
How Can You Help?
Pray for BGCPI
God works amazing things through prayer. If His people will pray for this ministry, it will be successful in carrying out His will in us.
Partner With Us Financially
BGCPI will need a staff to be able to carry out the needs of the ministry. Some of these positions will need to be paid (fully or partially) because the ministry time requirements will not allow them outside employment. Also it is foreseen that the time may come where we would need a permanent office and single point of contact for the ministry.
If God has given you the resources and the desire to participate financially with Bold Grace to help make BGCPI a reality, please consider an ongoing monthly gift. You can set one up here. To set up recurring donations through check or bank draft, please send an email to info@boldgrace.org or contact us on Facebook.
You can also email us to request info about our specific financial needs and the salaries (current and needed) of our employees.
Start a Home Church or Bible Study
Those who wish to plant a new church in cooperation with Bold Grace must agree to the doctrinal statement here, must submit an application to info@boldgrace.org, and must be interviewed for approval by Bold Grace staff.
If you are in need of church fellowship and can gather at least one family in addition to your own, send an email to info@boldgrace.org, contact us on Facebook, or call or text 214-450-7706 and we can talk about how BGCPI can help you get going.
Volunteer
Do you have some time and would like to help? Contact us to let us know.
Make Connections
Do you know someone who is in need of church fellowship, someone who would like to partner with us in some way, or someone who could use our help in one way or another? Let us know, or have them contact us. We are meeting people all over the world who are involved in spreading the grace message, and much of that has come through people making connections. It seems like a small thing, but it's one of the most important things a person can do to help.