Kent State University
January 21, 2008
H2O Church at Bowling Green State University is sending a team of twenty to plant a new church at Kent State University in the summer of 2008. I spoke with Jason Slack, one of the team leaders, about their vision for church planting.
First, why is church planting important to you?
It’s part of our DNA as a church. It’s something we aspire to do often. Church planting has been known to be one of the most effective ways to reach non-Christians. There’s something about the momentum of a brand new church that attracts unbelievers.
How did the team come together?
We began dreaming about a church plant in the fall of 2003, just after we had sent people to help start churches in Amsterdam and Orlando. During the “recovery period” over the last four and a half years, our number of student-leaders grew tremendously, and we had more people come on staff with GCM than ever before. It felt like the church was ready to give birth, because there needed to be a chance for new leaders to step up and serve. When we announced the church plant, many people showed interest in it, because there’s a vision and passion in our church for being “sent off.” We tried to be very honest about the sacrifices involved, and then we had an interview and application process, which refined the team.
What made you choose Kent State?
When Chad Frank, the co-leader, joined the team, he asked us to look at Kent State. We did research and talked with other ministries on campus, and they all recognized a need and asked us to come join them. They were in agreement that they’d love to have us. We also looked at the numbers: Kent State is a larger university than Bowling Green, but it has far less students involved in Christian groups on campus. The need there is great, and many students are lonely. Community is one of our strengths as a group, and that’s what we want to bring.
What goals do you have for the first year of the church plant?
Our vision is not to have a high-production kick-off service. Our strengths are community and relationship, so that’s what we want to build first. We’re asking each team member to look at their interests and see how they could get involved at Kent. Everyone will be involved in some campus activity. We want to study the culture of the campus and from that, develop a strategic vision. Our hope is to have a service within the first year, and we also want to become a registered student organization.
What can people be praying for?
First, all four of the staff who are going still need to raise support, and we’re also raising support for the start-up costs. Pray that God would open doors on campus and that the administration would welcome us. Pray that we would find avenues to meet non-Christian students, and pray that our leadership team would grow closer in friendship.
