Disciples last year started most churches in almost a century; sets goal of 1,000 by 2020

(RNS) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) started 82 churches last year – the highest number in almost a century – and is well on its way to planting 1,000 new churches by 2020, church officials said.

“You have to go back almost 100 years to see this kind of growth in Disciples congregations,” Rick Morse, director of New Church Ministry said. The last time the church had seen this kind of growth was 1953, when 76 churches were started.

Of the 82 new churches, 27 were started by Haitian immigrants. Racial and ethnic minority congregations are a focus of the initiative. The flagship congregation in the program, New Direction Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., is predominantly African-American. It started with 60 people in 2001 and now claims 2,700 members.