A Development Pipeline for Missionaries and Church Plants

Churches in these neighborhoods can flourish, but it requires the body of Christ responding together to the Great Commission in faithful partnership.

Neighborhood Churches exists to help create a pipeline for churches to raise up missionaries and plant churches in places that need gospel witness.

If you were to read through the history of most churches, you would find that very few have ever sent out a missionary or a church plant from their own congregation. Yet many churches carry a genuine desire to see the Great Commission fulfilled and to play an active role in it. Often, what is missing is a clear pathway.

We want to build a mutually beneficial partnership marked by real cooperation. We believe the cities of New Bedford and Fall River are ideal places for churches to identify, train, and send urban missionaries and help plant Neighborhood Churches.

Together, we can raise up the next generation of gospel workers and see thriving churches established in these communities.

Where to begin?

  • The very first thing we want you to do is to see it! We want to show you our city, both the great need and the great opportunity. We hold an annual Vision Trip Weekender every May. These trips are a Friday - Monday, where you will go on neighborhood tours, develop relationships with church members, worship with Grace Harbor Church | New Bedford, and attend our annual Neighborhood Church Conference.

  • Once you have come for a visit, we want to ask you to make a commitment to partner with Neighborhood Churches, as a vital part of your church’s Great Commision efforts and strategy by committing to pray, to give, and to send.

  • Item descriptionAs your church visits on Mission Trips, we pray the Lord might call someone to serve alongside us in New Bedford & Fall River. We invite men and women to explore vocational or bi-vocational ministry opportunities—whether as an Intern, Urban Missionary, or Church Planter.

    Opportunities include:

    • Church Member – Serve locally and be part of a gospel-centered community.

    • Internships (10 Weeks – 2 Years) – High school, college, or gap-year interns gain hands-on ministry experience, theological training, and disciple-making skills while serving the city and church.

    • Urban Missionaries – Serve full-time in the city, leading outreach, building relationships, and supporting church planting efforts.

    • Church Planters – Men called to plant, establish, and shepherd healthy churches in underserved neighborhoods. Training focuses on spiritual vitality, leadership, disciple-making, and developing a Kingdom mindset.

    “Mission fields need missionaries. Could God be calling you to move, serve, and labor in forgotten neighborhoods?”

    Whether short-term or long-term, every role is designed to equip you to impact your community and grow spiritually, preparing you to make disciples wherever the Lord leads.

  • Once your church has formally decided to partner in this capacity, we would love for you to schedule a Mission:New Bedford Trip on your calendar! We want your church to know ours, and ours to know yours.

  • Finally, as all these elements come together, we are praying that it leads to planting churches in our forgotten neighborhoods. As your church comes year after year on Mission Trips, we pray that the Lord would burden your church for a particular neighborhood in our cities. And as He does, and as your church potentially sends Ministry Workers, we want to put them in the very neighborhoods that God has given your church a burden for, tilling the ground for your church to be part of a future church plant in that very neighborhood.

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