Urban Atlanta Church Planting

urban-atlanta-church-planting

Urban Atlanta Church Planting is…

A cooperative effort of Atlanta Association of Southern Baptist Churches and Atlanta Metro Baptist Association to engage urban lostness by intentionally planting relevant reproducing congregations inside Atlanta’s perimeter (ITP) that produce community transformation through:

Prayer – praying for lost and unchurched people on a daily basis,
Engagement – engaging unreached people in small groups,
Sowing – sharing the good news and the truth of Scripture in every way possible, and by
Harvesting – developing contextual evangelistic strategies, conducting intentionally evangelistic events, following up and assimilating new believers into Bible Study and worship, and developing reproducing Jesus followers.

Our goals…

Plant at least 100 traditional and cell/house churches by December 2014.
Begin at least 75 Bible study/fellowship groups by December 2014.
Conduct at least 100 significant servant evangelism/acts of kindness events by December 2014.

The need inside the perimeter (ITP) …

Approximately 878,000 people live ITP with a projection of 951,000 by 2014.
Over 500,000 people living ITP have no religious affiliation; over 600,000 people ITP are not church members; and over 700,000 people living ITP do not attend church.
41% of the population ITP lives in rented housing. Typically 95% of those living in multi-housing/apartments/condos do not attend church.
75% of the total households ITP have no children. Baptists are traditionally “better” at reaching married couple households with children.
ITP 7% of the total population is birth to 5 years of age; 7% of the total population is 6 to 11 years of age; and 7% of the total population is 12 to 17 years of age.
Presently 69% of the adult population ITP is not married and singles and single parents are the fastest growing people groups ITP.
People of Hispanic origin (18,136 increase) and Whites (17,391increase) are projected to be the fastest growing ITP population segments between now and 2013.
The median age of people living ITP is 36.1 years of age. This is considerably less than those attending most Baptist churches.
ITP 6% of the adult population has less than a 9th grade education. 8% of the adult population dropped out of school between the 9th and 12th grade. 42% of the adult population has a college degree or higher.
Many ITP Baptist church members do not live in their church neighborhoods, do not reflect the “people groups” living in their church neighborhoods, do not impact their church neighborhoods, do not penetrate the lostness in their neighborhoods, and do not know or relate to those persons who make the decisions that affect the neighborhood. Many ITP Baptist churches are dying, declining, or just holding their own.
Of the 166 Southern Baptist Congregations that existed in the 1960’s in the area we now know as Inside the Perimeter, only 39 are still in existence ITP as the area has grown 24% during that time period.

Our Focus…

Our focus is to begin intentionally missionary congregations among the people (English speaking and non-English speaking) living in apartments, condos, and single family housing communities ITP. These congregations would be led by missionary pastors who have a vision and real desire to intentionally reach unchurched and lost people.

Our partners…

Atlanta Association of Southern Baptist Churches, Atlanta Metro Baptist Association, Georgia Baptist Convention, North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, LifeWay Christian Resources

Our leadership team…

Samuel Aleman, Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de Metro Atlanta pastor
David Bunch, retired state convention executive director and retired HMB (NAMB) staff
Joel Harrison, Atlanta Metro Baptist Association lead missionary
Bryan Pillsbury, Mount Vernon missions pastor
Fred Pitts, Clairmont Hills pastor
Tony Romans, Atlanta Association of Southern Baptist Churches interim associational missionary

Our staff…

Jim Haskell, FBC Chattahoochee pastor and UACP Strategist jimh {at} uacp(.)net

Tim Wolfe, 1027 Church pastor and UACP Residency Leader timw {at} uacp(.)net

Brooke Oliver, UACP Ethnographer brookeo {at} uacp(.)net

Identified Areas/People Groups for Church Plants…

Hills Park
Ashford-Dunwoody/Blackburn Park
High Rise Condo Community
Middle Eastern
Glenwood Park
East Lake
Castleberry Hills
College Park
Collegiate
Candler Park
Asian Indian
Home Park
Hapeville Latino
Centennial Park

Potential Planters…

Thomas Busby
Jeff Reams-Dunwoody Apartment Community
Justin Craig-Vinings
Danny Presten
Deane Johnson
Nate Mutispaugh

Planters in Preparation…

Greg Riner
Nathan and Carrie Dean-Edgewood Community
Jimmie Jordan-Washington Road Neighborhood
JB Brown-Clairmont/Buford Community

Planters/Church Plants…

Bill and Kitti Murray-Connections
Nathan/Christina Tran-Reflection Community
Cameron Ford-Upper West Side
Rusty Couch-Journeys Church at East Atlanta

Church Launches…

Faithful Friends Vine City-Carnell and Barbara Thomas
First Christ Cares Church-Don Lockhart
Bezalel Church-Kerry Jackson, Missionary

Churches…

Blueprint Church-Dhati Lewis
Calvary Russian-Andrev Ryzhkov
Empowering Christian Life-Gregory Sinkfield
First Nepali Church–Santosh
North Peachtree Vietnamese Missio-Hau Le
White Stone Somang Mission-Ciseon Kim

FBC Chattahoochee