Written by: ARC Southern Africa
Article source: JOY! Magazine
We are a family with a mission!
Our ARC Southern Africa family consists of over 200 churches within Southern Africa, representing every style, size, and location! We have a common dream to see life-giving churches all over Southern Africa! We are not a denomination and everyone is free to relate to the extent that works for them.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together
At ARC we say, “Don’t do ministry alone.” We don’t want anyone to be isolated in ministry. Although our number one mandate is to plant life-giving churches, we completely believe that we are BETTER TOGETHER! So, a large part of our focus is on building and growing a healthy family of churches. “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9. ARC provides access to relationships, tools, and environments that pastors, leaders, and future church planters need to flourish through our Annual Conference & regular Meet-Ups. Our Meet-Ups are smaller gatherings and provide a great opportunity for you to connect with other like-minded church leaders.
Pastors Koketso & Thato Malaolwe, Mmuso Church, ARC Southern Africa’s 7th Church Plant
Annual conference
ARC Southern Africa launched in 2017 with 181 delegates at our first conference. Our conference has consistently grown and at our 4th annual conference in September 2020 we had 462 delegates, more than any previous year! Due to Covid-19 regulations we were not able to gather in one large group as with previous years, but we met in groups of 50 delegates at different locations in South Africa, Angola, Kenya, eSwatini, Zambia, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. Many pastors and leaders also joined our conference online!
Our 2021 Annual Conference will be hosted by Rhema South Family Church in Johannesburg on the 1st & 2nd September. Pastor Dino Rizzo, Co-Founder & Executive Director of ARC US and Missions Pastor of Church of the Highlands will be our guest speaker. Our annual conference is a great opportunity for leaders and pastors to learn, be encouraged, and to connect with others in this big family! Registrations will open soon.
“Now, this means that when we come together and are side by side, something wonderful will be released. We can expect to be co-encouraged and co-comforted by each other’s faith.” – Romans 1:12
Pastor Mark Van Pletsen and Mark Cerfonteyn – The Rock Church, Paarl
We are part of a global family
ARC USA was formed in 2000 and has been able to help plant 911 churches in the USA. Many of these churches have experienced rapid growth with incredible community impact. Church of the Highlands, led by Pastor Chris Hodges, started in 2001 and is now the second largest church in the USA, averaging 51 900 attendees every week!
ARC’s global impact is also growing rapidly! ARC has not only started in Southern Africa in recent years, but also in Ireland, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Asia, & Brazil. More churches are being formed continually! ARC Global has seen an additional 69 churches planted to add to the 911 in the US!
In total, ARC has assisted with 980 church plants in the last 20 years!
7 of these are in Southern Africa and part of our ARC Southern Africa family!
Pastors Dino & Kelly Cicatello, View Church Tygerberg Hills, ARC Southern Africa’s 1st Church Plant
Why ARC Southern Africa?
We believe God has a great plan for Southern Africa and His plan involves the local church! It’s through the working of the local church that individuals encounter Jesus and experience the abundant life He came to give. It’s where families are restored, communities are transformed, and nations are changed! When the local church functions well, the local church is the hope of the world!
According to theologian, Tim Keller, statistics indicate that where there is 1 church per population of 10 000 people, approximately 1% of the population will be churchgoers. Where there is 1 church per 1000 people, 15% to 20% of the population will be churchgoers. Where there is 1 church per population of 500 people, 40% or more will be churchgoers!
We are convinced that if we want to see Southern Africa transformed, we need more life-giving churches!
Pastors Paul & Marinette van Coller, Leaders of ARC Southern Africa & Lead Pastors of Hope Church
How did ARC Southern Africa start?
Pastor Paul van Coller, Lead Pastor of Hope Church in George and The Zambia Project in Zambia is a church planter at heart! Over the years he’d had many conversations with other pastors in Southern Africa about planting churches more effectively. We knew church planting was the answer to the many challenges facing our continent. We knew that if like-minded pastors and leaders could collaborate more and share ideas and resources, then somehow, we could achieve more together than we could on our own.
Pastor Paul heard about ARC in the US and, along with a few of his pastor friends, attended the Global ARC conference in 2016. Pastor Paul’s words best describe their experience as, “Walking into that room, seeing thousands of like-minded pastors and leaders with the same dream in their heart … It felt like we had come home”.
“We don’t know how we would have planted our church without our ARC friends.” – Pastors Dino and Kelly Cicatello, View Church Tygerberg Hills
“ARC gave us attainable goals, we learn from ARC and we made friends who are cheering us on!” – Pastors Koketso and Thato Molaolwe, Mmuso Church, Pretoria
Volunteers welcoming pastors at the 2020 Conference Meet-Up at Hope Church George
We plant life-giving churches
We support couples with a dream in their heart to plant a life-giving church in their city. We provide the necessary tools to help them on their journey and guide them through a 4-step process towards the launch of their church. This includes an assessment of their readiness to start a church and the necessary training and coaching to make their dream a reality.
To date there have been 7 ARC Church plants in Southern Africa. View Church Tygerberg Hills was the first to launch in February 2018, led by Pastors Dino and Kelly Ciccatello. The most recent and 7th church plant through ARC Southern Africa is Mmuso Church in Pretoria, led by Pastors Koketso and Thato Molaolwe and was planted in November 2020!
Contact us:
Facebook: @ArcSouthernAfrica
Instagram: @Arcsouthernafrica
hello@arcchurches.co.za
www.arcchurches.co.za
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Date published: 25/11/2020
Feature image: Pastors Phil & Lucinda Dooley – Lead Pastors of Hillsong Africa, Pastors Donavan & Shelley Cassell – Lead Pastors of Rhema South, pastors Chris & Phindi Mathebula – Lead Pastors of Hope Restoration Ministries and Pastors Paul & Marinette van Coller – Lead Pastors Hope Church George
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