back to articles EVANGELICAL SATURATION CHURCH PLANTING: BARRIE, ON (Jerry Steingard, M.Div. Aug. 2002, Gateway Harvest Fellowship, Barrie, 721-4824; home 792-1819 I welcome feedback on this topic which could sharpen the accuracy of this information) C. Peter Wagner & others strongly argue that the most effective means of evangelism is planting more churches. In 2002: Barrie has approximately 115,000 population (and growing fast, one of the fastest growing cities in Canada! In 1996, Barrie was the 29th largest (metropolitan) city in Canada, in 2002, it is now the 23rd largest!) According to the 2002/03 Bell Telephone yellow pages, the approximate number of Evangelical churches in Barrie is 35. (taking into consideration a few evangelical churches just outside city limits & guessing that a few mainline Churches might be strongly evangelical. By “evangelical” we mean that the Bible is considered God’s authoritative word for all man for all time, that salvation is by faith in Christ alone, and this good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is foundational, central, and must be boldly proclaimed to a world lost without Christ) If this is true that there are about 35 Evangelical churches in Barrie, with a population of 115,000 then there is 1 Evangelical church for every 3,286 people. The average church in Canada is less than 135 people and may be able to influence for Christ about 500 people (p66, binder notes, Canadian Church Planting Congress 97, Vision Canada & Outreach Canada) . If our target was to have 1 Evangelical church per 2,000 we would need 22 more churches planted. If our target was to have 1 Evangelical church per 1,000 we would need 80 more churches planted (need to triple!). If our target was to have 1 Evangelical church per 500 we would need 195 more churches planted! According to the 2002/03 yellow pages, there are about 55 Christian churches in Barrie (Evangelical, Mainline, Catholic, Orthodox) which is roughly 1 church per 2,000 population. Therefore, to target 1 Church per 1,000 pop., we need 55 more churches planted (need to double!) NOTE: this is NOT taking into account the growth projections of Barrie over the coming years, only today’s population needs! According to a 2001 government study (see www.city.barrie.on.ca ), Simcoe County will grow from 370,000 to 600,000 in the next 20 years (almost double)! Barrie will grow to 175,000 by 2021 (making it 140 new churches we need in 20 years, not just 80 for 1 evangelical church per 1,000). This will require the leaders of the city-wide church to be bold & aggressive in vision, in cooperative & prayerful strategizing, as well as risk-taking faith. (due to time, effort, and cost for real estate, buildings, etc, alternative church planting models such as house churches could be considered. If a congregation of a approx. 100 can touch 500, then we will say a house church of 20 can touch 100, therefore need 5 times more house churches than congregations. If our target is 1 Evangelical church per 1,000 and we need 140 more evangelical churches in the next 20 years, 4 times our present number, the target could be say 70 new congregations & 350 new house churches) Let me close with a fishing analogy. Think of the city of Barrie as a pond with 115,000 fish in it (minus 10,000 or so who are already caught and in the boats; church attendance is about 20% in Canada & those claiming a personal relationship with Christ about 10%) & we have 35 evangelical boats plus another 20 or so boats on the pond & we desperately need more boats fishing on the pond to catch these fish. Instead, the fishermen are preoccupied with survival, spending too much time competing for & focusing on the fish already caught (who may be flopping around from one boat to another) & not enough time & energy to working together to build more boats & get more fishing lines/nets into the water which is teeming with fish. Lord, forgive us for our competitive spirit and give us fresh eyes to see & Your heart for this city. Help us to make it more difficult for people to go to hell from our city!