Go West, Young Man

A friend from Utah just sent me this picture. Each blue push-pin represents a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) as of 2005. He is making a very good case for planting more churches out west, particularly in Utah where only 2% of the people are Evangelical Christians.

It is easy to lie with maps (my daughter had to read a book by this title for school). For example, this map shows where churches are in relation to geography, not population, and that can be misleading. There are portions of Nevada and Arizona where nobody lives. So, we don’t really need to feel guilty about not having a church in the middle of the desert. Plus, while this map makes it look like there are plenty of churches in the northeast, when one considers how many people live there, the northeast is a very under churched (at least evangelical church) area.

Also, while each push-pin represents a congregation, it does not tell you anything about the size or health of that church. Just because there is a church present, that doesn’t mean we should not plant more churches in that area.

Yet, even with all of those caveats, I think this picture is very telling. While I am active in our church planting movement here in Central Florida, I think it is clear that our denomination needs to continue to put its energy into reaching the west, particularly the larger cities.

On the positive side, this map does a great job of showing the success of our church planting efforts, particularly here in Florida. Of the 29 churches that currently compose The Presbytery of Central Florida, 22 of those were planted in the last 25 years. Without church planting, the map of Florida would look a lot like the map of Colorado.

Right now, we have six (6) church plants underway in Central Florida. Former UPC Associate Pastor Scott Puckett is the church planter at UPC’s daughter church, Christ Kingdom Church. UPC member Mike Tilley is at Lake Baldwin Community Church. Don Bailey is at Conway Community Presbyterian Church. David Netzorg is at Avalon Presbyterian Church (I have the privilege of being David’s coach). Gary Ginn will soon be starting a church in Titusville and Matt Lowe is looking to start one in Wildwood. In addition to these, we are talking to candidates about starting churches in Lake Nona and downtown Orlando.

If you figure we need one PCA church for every 10,000 people, then we still have a long way to go in Central Florida. Our work is just beginning. Still, my friend has a point: The need out west is great.