Frequently Asked Questions

What is a "church"?

Church Planting Canada (CPC) recognizes denominations vary in their definition of church (i.e., the point of development at which they choose to include the outreach ministry in their directory of churches). CPC recognizes a "church" for statistical purposes therefore when its denominational parent recognizes it, simply because the CPC draws its data from published denominational annual directories. CPC does however encourage a relatively simple definition of 'church': "a Christian community with  recognized leadership meeting regularly for public worship and holding the intention of permanence and multiplication.”

How do you determine if a congregation is classified as "evangelical"?

Evangelical churches are currently determined by denomination. If the faith statements of the denomination are of an evangelical nature, then the denomination (and its congregations) are considered evangelical. We recognize some “mainline” congregations are in fact “evangelical,” and they are included in the database as such when they affiliate with the renewal movement in their denomination. The research department however does not have the capacity to identify, on a national basis, each congregation’s stance within non-evangelical denominations. An additional reason evangelical churches are highlighted in the research is that they have tended to have a significant interest in church planting and evangelism.  

Do you classify the Roman Catholic Church as Evangelical?

We recognize movements seeking to be evangelical within the Roman Catholic church, and that there may be individuals, priests, and/or parishes who sometimes claim an evangelical identity, but within Canada the Roman Catholic church has had a historic identity distinct from “evangelical.”    

Why do you determine that every 2000 people should have a church? In other words why is the goal not one church for 3000 or 4000 people?

The ratio 1:2000 for urban centers (and 1:500 for rural areas) is simply a current target goal. The strategy embraced by Church Planting Canada ( www.churchplantingcanada.ca ) is that of the international DAWN (Discipling A Whole Nation) movement which is described as “saturation church planting.” Basically it means that in an area where there are already some churches, the goal should be to have so many churches that everyone has easy access to encountering the gospel and entering into discipleship through a local church. A ratio of 1:2000 is a stepping stone towards that ideal. The penultimate goal will be to to grow towards 1:1000 simply because the "relational footprint" of the average church in not likely to be able to connect relationally with more than 1000 persons.