On Sunday morning, as I sit in my office to prepare for worship, I can hear the muffled sounds of singing and preaching coming from the main hall in our building. Pre-school aged children are playing in the classroom next to my office. The aroma of brewed coffee comes from the kitchen. Communion cups have already been prepared. 

And yet . . . no one from our church has arrived. Instead, at 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, members of Grace Fellowship Church in Bardstown, Kentucky, have gathered for their weekly worship gathering. It’s a church we planted, and it’s a church with whom we’re delighted to share our property. 

We planted a church in our own building. 

THE STORY 

In 2012, the elders of Bardstown Christian Fellowship (my church) presented to our members a proposal for what we termed “On-Site Church Planting.” The early years of Bardstown Christian Fellowship, a church planted south of Louisville, were difficult. Evangelism proved an uphill struggle in an area where only one in ten people are active in church, and half are Roman Catholic. The church experienced slow but steady growth over the first decade. In


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