Church Planting

A church built entirely from snow has opened in Germany this week – more than a century after villagers first built a snow church in protest.

In 1911, residents built the first snow church because they had to walk hours to the nearest church in the neighboring town of Mauth, and decided they wanted their own church within the community.

The new snow church in Mitterfirminansreut, the mountain village near the Czech border, is comprised of 49,000 cubic feet of snow as well as slabs of ice. The structure is 65 feet in length, including a tower, and was displayed Wednesday with blue lights shed upon it. more >>

Southern Baptists are planning to plant between 50 and 100 churches in the New York City area over the next five years as part of a larger movement to accommodate the ethnically diverse city and its ever-shifting population.

According to the North American Mission Board, a church planting initiative by the Southern Baptist Convention, 45 churches have been established in New York City over the last decade.

The group cites the ratio of one Southern Baptist congregation for every 6,828 people in North America as the motivation for the initiative. more >>

A pastor who ministers in several churches in West Virginia has his mind set on converting a shuttered strip club into a church. He is hoping to raise $795,000 to transform the "devil's dominion" into a place of worship and healing.

Art Hage, who is a pastor at churches in Putnam and Cabell counties and also operates a local mission, has been eyeing the building that used to be home to the Pink Pony, a local strip club that was also the scene of a controversial robbery in 2003.

The strip club has been up for sale for over a year, according to The Associated Press. more >>

The pastor of a successful church in Utah is moving his family to back to Ohio with no specific plans, admitting that leading a Christian congregation in a predominantly Mormon community has taken a mental and emotional toll.

Pastor Charles Hill planted One Community Church in South Jordan nearly three years ago in an area estimated to have about 90 percent of its residents belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church congregation grew to be as much as three times larger than other Christian churches in Utah, Hill said.

Hill once felt led to reach out to Mormons, the dominant religious preference in Utah, but now feels that God is calling him back to Ohio in a state where he was the pastor of a multi-site church. more >>

Man in the Mirror, the popular Florida non-profit men-only ministry under the leadership of charismatic evangelist and author Dr. Patrick Morley, announced this week that it will hire 330 ministers in a national effort to form 1,000,000 male disciples by 2015; and 10,000,000 by the end of 2020.

The 20-year-old ministry said it is looking to hire 330 full-time "area directors" who would disciple the men at their locations throughout the United States. The "casting" for the 330 positions opened nationwide Tuesday, and is being organized in cooperation with Young Life, a non-denominational Christian youth ministry, and three evangelical non-profits, Campus Crusade for Christ International, Compass – Finances God's Way, and The Navigators. Candidates across the country were invited to apply via an online address.

Morley is the author of a 1989 book, The Man in the Mirror, which gave birth to the ministry by the same name, founded in 1991. The theologian started by teaching a weekly men's Bible study in Orlando, Fla., 25 years ago. The group has since grown to include more than 5,000 men worldwide. Morley has written a total of 18 books, including the soon-to-be released Man Alive. more >>

Seven members of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), the largest global evangelical body, including the organization's CEO, the Rev. Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, held a joint Thanksgiving service with the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) in Seoul, Monday.

The theme of this special sermon concerned the forthcoming 2014 WEA General Assembly, which is to take place at the Asem Hall Coex Convention Center in Seoul starting on Oct. 27, 2014.

"Three years from now, thousands of WEA leaders from around the world will gather to receive a fresh vision on how as followers of Christ, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit we can see the world impacted through God's transforming power," Tunnicliffe said Monday. "As we pray and work together in preparation for this General Assembly, we are trusting that it will be the most historic event drawing thousands of leaders from almost every nation on earth." more >>