40 New Churches in the Dominican Republic

Matt WatsonMinistryUpdate

“Networks are the backbone of movement, and relationships are the backbone of networks!”

Jon Ferguson

My team has been to the Dominican Republic 3 times over the previous 2 years. I’m continually amazed at how God uses what we are doing to transform the Church around the world! The teams that we have worked with in the Dominican Republic started 40 NEW CHURCHES in the last year! Praise God! Here are a few additional highlights shared by our leaders:

  • “We had 29 new baptisms this past year! The year before that, we didn’t have any.”
  • “We didn’t have money to start a new church, but we did it anyway, and we’re meeting under a tree!”
  • “We have broken away from religious traditions related to clothing and hair styles.”

Our Dominican teams are planning to accelerate the growth in new churches this coming year. As network formation takes shape, we should see an acceleration in the rate at which new churches are formed!

We Can Accomplish More Together

Catalyst Community #3 primarily focuses on network and movement formation. Why networks? Because we can accomplish more together than we can alone! We struggled with getting networks started over the last year, but this time around, the importance of networks really hit home with our leaders. You could see lightbulbs going off and heads nodding. The way we form networks allows our leaders to maintain their denominational identity (if they have one), but to work together across denominational lines by aligning with other leaders based on mission and relationship.

“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” 

John 17:20-21

This year, four men stepped up to help form and lead networks among their peers! The picture on the left is my partner Colin Denlea, Nahun, and me. The picture on the right is Nahun and his family. Nahun is a pastor who owns and operates two pharmacies. His wife is a Dentist. Nahun’s father was a church planter before most people had ever heard about church planting. Nahun is passionate about extending and growing that legacy by leading a network that equips and challenges pastors to work together to start more churches!  Pray for Nahun, Santo, David, and Ricardo as they help form and lead new networks of reproducing churches in the Dominican Republic!

An Update On My Friend Ricardo

At the end of Catalyst Community #2 last year, Ricardo came to us with tears in his eyes (top left).  He passionately shared, “I have been a pastor for 29 years. Because of the time I’ve spent in this conference, I have a clearer vision of what God can do through my ministry now than I have ever had in my time as a pastor. I believe God will do more through me over the next 5 years than He has in the last 29. Thank you for thinking of our country.” 

Ricardo was back this year, full of life and actively engaged (top right)! He was excited to share how the church he leads “has moved into an exciting new phase”. He said they were experiencing a “tremendous move of God”. Ricardo’s story is one of many.

In Case You Missed It

We Need Your Help

We continue to move forward in faith with plans for a busy year, but we must grow our support base to make it happen. Please pray about how God might use YOU, alongside US, so that together WE can continue to catalyze movements of reproducing churches among the nations!