Your $200 Can Train a Pastor and Help Plant Three Churches

Steven Loots remembers the small plane and long shadow it cast across the ground below. Flying over Malawi in 1998, he watched that shadow sweep across one rural village after another, and each time it did, the same prayer rose up in him: “Lord, give us that settlement.”

That flight would inspire Harvesters Ministries—and a church-planting model built on a simple idea:

Train local pastors where they already live, equip them to plant churches in their own communities, and let God’s multiplication do the rest.

By the time the plane landed, Loots was carrying a vision that seemed impossible: plant one million churches, train one million pastors, and reach 100 million people with the Gospel by 2030.

More than 153,000 church plants later, God’s provision is shining brightly and the Harvesters are multiplying.

Twenty-eight years in, Harvesters Ministries now has more than 57,000 pastors currently in training. Steven’s incredible vision is already over 14% of the way toward the goal.

Sponsor a Pastor

Your one-time $200 gift trains one local pastor through four years of training and the planting of three new churches.

$200 at Harvesters Ministries

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Missions That Spread The Gospel Faster

For most of the history of modern missions, the strategy has been the same—a family from the United States or Europe is called to the field, raises support, learns a language, relocates across the world, and begins the long, costly work of building a ministry in a foreign land that isn't home. It is sacrificial, beautiful work, and the Church has been blessed by generations of believers who have done it faithfully.

But it is also slow. And expensive.

The average cost to train an American missionary, relocate their family, and support them through their first year in the field falls somewhere between $115,000 and $330,000.

That marks just the beginning of the challenges missionaries and their families face, like mastering a new language well enough to preach a sermon and build the relationships needed to lead someone to Christ.

Steven and his team began to wonder if there was another way. Not a replacement for the missionary—but a complementary one. What if, instead of sending an American to plant a church in a Malawian village, you found a Malawian pastor who already lived there, already spoke the language, already knew the families, and walked alongside him? What if you invested in him, trained him, gave him a curriculum and a network—and trusted the Holy Spirit to do what He has always done through local believers?

Harvesters calls this “the Hub Church Planting Model.” The idea is simple, but its effects compound in ways that are difficult to capture in a single paragraph.

How the Hub Church Planting Model Works

The model is straightforward. A pastor in the area — a Hub Leader — begins evangelizing in an area with no church. Once a small congregation forms, the Hub Leader is guided by the Holy Spirit to identify a believer from that congregation with a pastor's heart and trains them. The training runs four years, happens in short residential blocks at the Hub Church, and never requires the student to leave home or quit their job.

Training is free to the students. They are simply required to plant churches as they progress through the program. During those four years, the student plants at least three new churches. And those churches, in time, raise up their own pastors. Like a forest, each new tree casts its own seeds and spreads.

What Your One Gift Can Do

In the Harvesters model, the average newly planted church grows to about 100 members. Of the churches planted through their training, 98% remain planted.

They don't fold, don't scatter, don't lose their pastor and disappear. They become permanent witnesses in their communities. When members are discipled, each one is expected to disciple at least two more, and so the spiritual life of the church spreads household by household.

A $200 gift doesn't simply produce a moment of impact. It produces a pastor. That pastor produces three churches. Those three churches produce three more pastors. And the work continues, year after year, far beyond the places the giver will ever see.

How the Hub Model Works, Step by Step

1. Identify a local pastor. A Hub Leader evangelizes in an area with no church. As a small congregation forms, the Holy Spirit guides him to identify a believer with a pastor's heart.
2. Train for four years. Training is free and runs four years in short residential blocks at the Hub Church — the student never has to leave home or quit their job.
3. Plant three churches. Every student pastor plants at least three new churches before finishing the program. 98% of those churches remain planted.
4. Multiply. Each new church raises up its own pastors. It isn't a pyramid — it's closer to a forest. Each new tree casts its own seeds.

The 2030 Vision and the Years Just Ahead

The vision Steven received in that small airplane has shaped nearly three decades of work. That work is not done.

Harvesters has set a goal of planting one million churches by 2030. Getting from 153,000 churches to 1,000,000 is going to take something more than the current pace. This is Harvesters' season of acceleration, not autopilot.

What does acceleration look like, in practical terms? More countries opened. More pastors trained. More translations of the curriculum so that pastors in remote regions can study Scripture in the language of their own hearts. More partnerships, more Bibles distributed, more student pastors enrolled, and yes—more financial partners willing to walk alongside the work.

Sponsor a Pastor

Here is the specific ask: a one-time gift of $200.

Your $200 sponsors one pastor through four years of training and the planting of three churches. Every $200 given today puts one more name on the roster of Student Pastors currently in training and one more region on the map of communities reached by 2030.

Your dollars don't sit. They set in motion the path to the Great Commission, equipping leaders, planting churches, and advancing the Gospel where it's never been heard.

Step into the mission

Give now and equip a pastor where the Gospel is still needed most. One gift, four years of training, three new churches.

$200 at Harvesters Ministries

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