Church Plants Growing In Idaho And Across Other Northwestern States
In a small town in Idaho’s Treasure Valley, Tim Nay began his church planting work by setting up a booth at a town festival where he asked people what question they would ask of God.
Most replied that they’d want an answer to the question of suffering, or why bad things happen to good people.
The interaction allowed him to learn more about the spiritual lives of those he encountered. Not many were regular church attenders, Nay learned.
He planted and leads LifeSpring Christian Church in the growing town of Star, Idaho, about 17 miles from the state capital of Boise.
Many congregations in the Boise area dwindled in membership as their members aged, but they are being replaced by new churches.
LifeSpring is one example of churches being planted by different Christian agencies in the area. It meets at the site of a former church that endured aging membership and internal conflict.
Intermountain Church Planters Association is a church planting agency that has planted seven churches in the Treasure Valley area of Idaho over the last 20 years.
Steve Edwards, the founder of Intermountain Church Planters, says the group is not just interested in planting new churches. “We’re interested in helping you be a multiplying church,” he told the Idaho Statesman. “We hope we’ll be planting a church that plants other churches.”
It focuses its church planting efforts in Idaho, Utah, Montana, Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Western Wyoming and Alberta.
The LifeSpring Christian Church in Star, Idaho. (Video screenshot via Idaho Statesman)
Intermountain has increased its church planting strategy from planting one church every three years to planting two churches per year.
Evergreen, another church planting agency, recognizes that a majority — 51% to 64% — of people in the Pacific Northwest are not affiliated with any religion. It aims to help plant long-lasting churches in the region that will reach the unchurched populace.
Since Evergreen started in the 1960s, it has planted about 70 churches in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and British Columbia.
Just last month, Evergreen planters Mario and Jamie Romero launched United Church, meeting in homes in Caldwell, a community near Boise. Recent data suggests 70% of Caldwell residents don’t attend any church regularly. The Romeros want to reach those people with the message of “God’s goodness through Jesus Christ.”
Some of the most active new churches in the Boise area are independent, nondenominational churches. For example, Eagle Christian Church is a large, four-campus nondenominational church planted in the 1990s. It now has over 4,500 members and has helped to plant other churches in the area, such as LifeSpring.
While Eagle Christian Church is an example of a very large, multicampus congregation, many new churches seek to grow to a certain size then launch other congregations, often with the help of existing churches.
Nay started LifeSpring with the help of Evergreen, Intermountain Church Planters, and Bridges Christian Church — the church in Kentucky where Nay had previously served.
LifeSpring has reached over 400 members, many of whom are new believers. It expects to spin off another congregation in about two years with 50-100 of its current members.
In anticipating this multiplication effort, LifeSpring reorganized its entire staff last year and is reworking its training program before hiring a “resident planter” — an experienced minister — to get to know the church.
“We just want to see another congregation birthed,” Nay said. “It’s the No. 1 way to reach people that don’t know about Jesus.”
Church planting groups recognize that churches are closing faster than they can plant new ones. “From our point of view, in new church work, we’ve always been behind and getting behinder, if you will,” said George Johnson, former executive director of Evergreen.
According to a Lifeway Research report, more Protestant churches closed than opened in 2019. “Church planting is slowing, and the number of closures is growing,” said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. “Yet, the opportunity is still before us—people are searching spiritually, and the gospel is the answer.”
Some church planters think the northwestern United States is fertile ground for reaching those people who are searching. And with states like Idaho growing rapidly, church planters see even more opportunity.
“Those are great places for church planting, because of the dynamics of people moving in,” Johnson said. “They don’t have doctors, they don’t have grocery stores, they don’t have friends yet or neighbors, and so as they move in, they’re starting fresh and new in many ways. So those are always rich places to prospect for relationships and connect with people.”
This article has been republished with permission from Ministry Watch.
Kim Roberts is a freelance writer who holds a Juris Doctorate with honors from Baylor University and an undergraduate degree in government from Angelo State University. She has three young adult children who were home schooled and is happily married to her husband of 28 years.