The Need for a New Church in Northeast Lincoln

The need to reach lost people in northeast Lincoln
Nearly 30,000 people live in the target area in northeast Lincoln, which covers roughly 1.5 square miles. Only about 4,800 of them attend an evangelical church, which means that as many as 25,000 may not know Jesus. Around 9,000 of them are completely unchurched. There are simply not enough evangelical churches to reach the lost in this area.

The number of lost people in Lincoln is growing. Some neighborhoods in northeast Lincoln are projected to grow as much as 10 to 30 percent in the next five years. The rapid growth is fueled by large sections of undeveloped farmland along the east border of the target area. New houses are going up, and many businesses are constructing new buildings and moving into the area for the first time. Plans are being made for the construction of a new retail center anchored by a grocery store, and a golf course is being cleared for a housing development. Northeast Lincoln provides convenient access to Interstate 80, the main corridor to Omaha, a feature that will stimulate continued growth as the metropolitan areas of Lincoln and Omaha continue to grow toward each other.

The need to reach lost people in Nebraska
The state of Nebraska has a tremendous need for new evangelical churches. Saline County is a good example of the need. Saline, which borders Lancaster County along its southwestern border, has nearly 14,000 people and only two evangelical churches. The remarkable thing is that Saline is not isolated. Its neighbor, Lancaster County, has nearly 275,000 people and is home to Lincoln, the state capital and second largest city in Nebraska. Nebraska, which is about the size of South Carolina and Virginia combined, has about 1.7 million people living in ninety-three counties. Twenty-one of the counties each have fewer than three evangelical churches, and several have none. Sixty-seven counties have no Southern Baptist churches. The entire state is served by only four Southern Baptist associations.

The need for a new church—the best way to reach lost people
At this point someone may ask, “Can’t established churches reach these people?” As Peter Wagner, a widely recognized authority in the fields of church growth, prayer and spiritual warfare, said, “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches.” New churches are usually better at evangelism and grow faster because they are built around reaching the unreached. Established churches focus most of their energy and resources on programs needed to care for their own members, making it difficult for them to reach out to the community. Not having a need for the complex organization and ministries of an existing church, a new church plant is able to focus precious resources and energy on reaching the lost. 

Existing churches have established traditions that can make the unchurched feel uncomfortable or even unwelcome. New church plants have the opportunity to start fresh and create new forms that fit with the current culture of the community, creating a user-friendly environment that removes unnecessary barriers to the gospel.