It’s planting season!
“What has kept us from planting more churches in the recent past?” EMC Director of Canadian Outreach Carl Heppner asked this question as part of his report during the April 18, 2026, conference council meeting (see the more detailed report on the weekend meetings on p. 25). It’s been five years since EMC has planted a church, he said; the most recent is Bow Island EMC in Alberta, which was planted in 2021.
The poll question to go with his report shows that respondents believe the biggest barrier to planting new churches is a lack of leaders willing to go out (see chart).
This makes sense. We’ve seen this in other areas as well. While the situation is not as bleak as it was about a year ago, several of our churches continue to look for pastoral leadership without a positive result. Some of the EMC’s boards are struggling to find members. (If you know of someone—possibly yourself!—who would be a good fit for the Board of Church Ministries, the board responsible for this award-winning publication and more, talk to EMC Executive Director Emery Plett.)
And for the other barriers that were presented as possibilities, the EMC has a pretty strong game plan. For example, church plants receive financial support from the Conference for up to 10 years. We also provide resourcing and support through national office staff, equipping events, and other resources.
Hopefully, as a Conference with the motto “live, reach, gather and teach,” we also have a vision for reaching our communities. However, as Heppner challenged, when our churches think about meeting the needs of our communities, is the expectation that people will come to us with their needs? Or, are we considering how we can “go out and meet them in their need?”
Further to that point, Heppner said, “Do you know what the needs are in your community? And have you, as a congregation, been talking about how you will encounter and walk with those who are in need in your community? That’s the basis upon which we have this drive to be a people that plant churches, that meet people where they’re at and proclaim the good news wherever we go.”
In an increasingly secular society, we know that the fields are indeed “ripe for harvest” (John 4). Significantly, when Jesus says this, he has just encountered the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus went to a specific place at a specific time to meet a specific need. Let’s do the same. EMCers, it’s planting season!
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