The Acts of the Apostles gives a good picture of the efforts of the early church to grow and expand their influence on people and ultimately the society of their day. Church planting was a priority as those who came to know the love, power, mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, found it necessary to share those same things with others who had not heard.
In Acts we find the church praying and commissioning missionaries at the direction of the Lord. These men and women then went out to plant churches in key population areas. These churches were established with evangelism and discipleship and ultimately become “sending churches” themselves when they were finally established.
Following this model Foursquare has grown from one church in the United States in the 1920’s to over 66,000 churches worldwide. In Papua New Guinea we started with one church in the late 1950’s and have grown to over 1800 churches across the nation.
The purpose of multiplying churches in not grow an organization, but to plant a live-transforming community of faith in a geographic area. Through love, patience, evangelism, discipleship and meeting human needs we demonstrate the love and power of God and share His message of forgiveness and eternal life through His Son Jesus.
As a “stage four” country we are now sending out our own missionaries to plant Foursquare churches in other countries in the South Pacific Region.