Mission – Envision
Envision (New Church Planters)
Website: www.envision.cc
This organization assists in planting new churches in NC. They began as PEF (Piedmont Evangelizing Fellowship), which helped provide Burlington Christian Church a loan for our building in the 70’s. They also work with other church planting agencies like Stadia to identify and locate new church opportunities. Their goal is to have 20 new churches in NC by 2020. They are currently working with 6 plants: Catalyst Church in Greensboro, City Church in Winston-Salem, Varsity Church in Chapel Hill, Vintage City in Hickory, Venture Christian Church in Wilmington, and Westside Christian Church, a plant in Lewisville sponsored by Jefferson Christian Church, who oversees them.
A common priority is to connect people to Christ, sometimes in a less traditional building, like a shopping center or movie theatre. The focus is on an outreach to those who may not feel welcome in many existing congregations. They try to be “A church for people who don’t go to church.” This doesn’t mean changing God’s message, but their target is to reach those who are open to Jesus Christ, but may not attend a more traditional church because of disinterest or a bad experience in the past.