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Sending is in their DNA
CityView Church launched in February 2014 with a mission to multiply.
Since its inception, the church has sent out 12 planters to start churches throughout Houston and the surrounding communities including Alvin, Friendswood, Pearland, Tomball, plus Brazoria and Montgomery counties.
“For us, the goal is to make disciples of Jesus and to plant 100 churches in 25 years in the Houston area. That’s our vision statement,” said pastor and planter Jason Crandall, who also serves as church planting consultant for Send Network SBTC.
“We saw the growth of Houston … neighborhoods springing up everywhere,” Crandall said, noting that the name CityView suggests the church’s goal of planting neighborhood churches within the view of the city.
Currently, the church has its 13th resident planter in training. As many as three planters at a time have undergone CityView’s assessment and preparation process, Crandall said.
"“When we don’t have one for a period of time, our church just kind of lags a little bit. It’s part of our DNA that we’re always going to have someone with us getting ready to be sent out by us as a church plant.”
“When we don’t have one for a period of time, our church just kind of lags a little bit,” Crandall said. “It’s part of our DNA that we’re always going to have someone with us getting ready to be sent out by us as a church plant.”
Some of CityView’s plants have remained small, with COVID limiting growth at times. But West Oaks Church in West Columbia-Brazoria County runs some 200 weekly, despite being less than three years old.
Its emphasis on planting has given CityView a unique growth curve, Crandall said. Currently, the church runs about 140-150. When numbers reach that level, it’s time to plant another congregation.
“We grow for a while. Then we send a planter with some people. Then we grow for a while,” he said. The cycle repeats as attendance again approaches 200.
CityView recently moved into its own building, a welcome relief from “eight-and-a-half years of set up and tear down,” Crandall added.
The church has devoted five percent of its tithes and offerings from the beginning directly for Houston-area church planting, funds separate from Cooperative Program and associational giving, the pastor said, adding, “We decided we were going to live on less and see the gospel go.”
