What is a Church Plant

We would define a church plant as a small group of believers just starting to meet together and sharing about Jesus with others. New Beginnings Grace Brethren Church of Myerstown, PA. has commissioned missionaries to Syracuse to do a church plant. Although we call ourselves Syracuse Grace Brethren Church, we are just starting out. We are trusting in God to grow this church plant into a healthy body of believers with Jesus as its head. You should consider joining us in this exciting time of our church’s life. Typically decisions made by founding members will dramatically shape the future of a churches life. When will Syracuse Grace Brethren become a church? A group of Christians becomes a church when there is form and function that is consistent with the principles laid out for a church in the scripture. The church is one body made of individual members (1 Corinthians 12:20) working together with Jesus Christ as the head (Col 1:18). The form and organization of the church would probably start with appointing elders (Acts 14:23). The elders must be men that would meet the qualifications that are laid out for them in the scripture. They would be responsible for protecting sound doctrine, refuting opposition to truth, shepherding the body, and keeping order. The body is not formed by man, but by God (1 Corinthians 12:18). Therefore a true church that is put together by God will be able to function with the individual members using the gifts that God has provided. The function of the church would be to bring glory to God (Ephesians 3:21) through obedience. The church is the pillar and support of truth (1 Timothy 3:15) and is subject to the word of God through which His desire is made clear in the command, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15), and through the commission, “Go… make disciples… baptizing… teaching them" (Matthew 28:19-20). As a result the true church will gather together and be built up in faith to be made effective in serving God and enduring persecution as they continue extending throughout the world in missions.