USMB plants six new churches in 2012

Mission USA news story

USMB announced a little over a year ago a goal of partnering with the various Mennonite Brethren districts to plant six churches in 2012. Although a few of the churches will hold their first public worship service in 2013, they all experienced a good start with core team development and small group gatherings in 2012.

Here is a list of the churches started in 2012:

· Axiom Church, Peoria/Glendale (Phoenix), Ariz., Gavin Linderman, church planter;

· Christ Church Sellwood, Sellwood (Portland), Ore., Jared Pulliam, church planter;

· Grace Point @ McAllen, McAllen, Texas, Aaron Hernandez church planter;

· Mountain View Community Church Sunnyside, Fresno, Calif., MVCC interns and staff;

· Slavic church plant (unnamed) in Spokane, Wash., Aleks Borisov, church planter;

· The Stone

, Denver, Colo., Mark Groutas and Jonathan Branch church planters. The Stone is an affiliated church and is not a USMB-member church. As an affiliated church, oversight is more loosely defined and fiscal support amounts are lower.

“This list reflects what God has orchestrated among us over the past year,” says Don Morris, director of Mission USA. “I believe God has even greater things in store for us as we continue to plant churches that are making a difference.”

Morris says, “Not only are we planting churches in light of the vision that God gave to us, but we plant churches together, with local MB churches, districts and Mission USA all partnering to get the job done.”

USMB, through Mission USA, continues to pursue the vision of planting 60 churches within the 10-year span of 2012 to 2022—with the goal of partnering to plant another six churches in 2013.