The Acts 29 Network is a diverse, global family of church-planting churches characterized by:
- Gospel centrality
- Cultural engagement
- Missional orientation
- Complementarian relationships
- Biblical leadership
The name comes from Acts 29 in the Bible, which refers to the ongoing work of church planting that continues today through the power of the Holy Spirit. The goal of Acts 29 is to encourage, resource, and replenish gospel-centered, Christ-exalting, reproducing churches through:
- Assessment
- Training
- Funding
Acts 29 began in 1998 when Mark Driscoll and David Nicholas planted churches in Arizona. It started as a small network of church planters who wanted to band together for accountability, fellowship, and mission. Over the past two decades, Acts 29 has grown into a worldwide family of church-planting churches on mission to reach those who don’t know Jesus.
As of 2023, Acts 29 includes churches across North America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. While autonomous and diverse, these churches share a common theological vision and philosophy of ministry centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the inerrancy of Scripture.
Distinctives of Acts 29 Churches
While Acts 29 churches come in all shapes and sizes, they share some common characteristics and values:
1. Gospel Centrality
Acts 29 churches are committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ as the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). This gospel-centered identity shapes their preaching, evangelism, discipleship, and entire ministry philosophy. The gospel is not assumed but intentionally explained and applied across their church ministries.
2. Expository Preaching
Acts 29 pastors devote themselves to the expositional preaching and teaching of God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:2). This means preaching verse-by-verse and passage-by-passage through books of the Bible, explaining the original author’s intent, and applying it to everyday life.
3. Complementarian Relationships
Acts 29 affirms that God created men and women as equal image-bearers yet distinct in their God-given roles for the church and home (Genesis 1:26-27, Ephesians 5:22-33). This complementarian view shapes their approach to gender, marriage, family, and church leadership.
4. Elder-Governed Churches
Acts 29 churches are led by a plurality of biblically-qualified elders who provide spiritual authority, teaching, discipline, care, and direction for the church (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:1-5). The elder team includes the senior pastor along with other pastor-elders.
5. Missional Orientation
Acts 29 plants churches with the intention of seeing new churches planted. This missional drive propels their evangelism, community engagement, church multiplication, church planting partnerships, and global vision (Matthew 28:18-20).
6. Cultural Engagement
Acts 29 churches seek to exegete Scripture as well as their cultural context in order to meaningfully proclaim and embody the gospel within their communities (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). This leads to thoughtful cultural analysis and engagement.
7. Church Planting
Acts 29 focuses on planting new churches rather than just growing large churches. Church plants are viewed as essential for reaching the lost, growing disciples, and spreading gospel renewal through new works (Acts 13-20).
How to Join Acts 29
Acts 29 has an extensive process for prospective churches/pastors to be assessed, trained, and eventually approved for membership in the network. Here’s an overview:
1. Application & Assessment
Prospective planters complete a detailed application explaining their calling, vision, doctrinal beliefs, philosophy of ministry, and more. If approved, the candidate goes through a thorough assessment process including screening, interviews, and evaluations by assessors.
2. Training & Development
If assessment is passed, the planter undergoes 2+ years of rigorous training through conferences, cohort groups, residencies, pastor training, and more. This develops the character, skills, and theology necessary for church planting.
3. Fundraising & Launch
Before launching, planters must raise personal support as well as ministry fundraising goals. Acts 29 helps guide planters in this process but does not provide direct funding. Finally, the church is publicly launched in its community.
4. Church Planting & Replication
Once launched, the Acts 29 church is expected to be involved in planting other churches directly or through partnerships. This multiplication is a key part of the network’s missional priority.
5. Assessments & Accountability
Member churches agree to ongoing assessments, connections with other pastors, and accountability to the network’s vision and priorities. This provides fellowship, alignment, and health for the broader family of churches.
This extensive process is designed to assess, equip, and unleash highly qualified, gospel-centered church planters to start new works for God’s glory.
Acts 29 Network Leadership
The Acts 29 Network consists of a small staff along with lead pastors and elders who help guide the movement. Key leaders include:
- Matt Chandler – President, Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX
- Darrin Patrick – Vice President (former), Lead Pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, MO (deceased)
- Steve Timmis – CEO, Lead Pastor of The Crowded House in Sheffield, UK
- Leonce Crump – Lead Pastor of Renovation Church in Atlanta, GA
- Sibu Mazunda – Lead Pastor of The River Church in Johannesburg, South Africa
There are also regional leaders who oversee Acts 29 efforts in their part of the world. The central staff provides vision-casting, training, assessments, events, publishing, and more to resource Acts 29 pastors and churches.
Prominent Acts 29 Churches & Pastors
While Acts 29 has hundreds of churches, some prominent examples include:
- The Village Church (Flower Mound, TX) – Matt Chandler
- Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis, MN) – John Piper
- Imago Dei Community Church (Raleigh, NC) – Trevin Wax
- Redemption Hill Church (Washington DC) – Alex Duke
- Trinity Grace Church (New York City, NY) – Jon Tyson
- Redemption Church (Gilbert, AZ) – Adam Ramsey
- Coastlands Church (Wellington, New Zealand) – Sam Freney
These pastors are well-known for their writing, conference speaking, podcasting, blogging, and leadership influence across evangelicalism. They represent the caliber of leaders involved in Acts 29.
Partnerships & Church Planting
Acts 29 actively partners with other like-minded organizations to train church planters and plant churches worldwide. These include:
- Reach Global – The international mission arm of the North American Mission Board
- Alpha USA – Providers of the Alpha Course for church evangelism and discipleship
- The Gospel Coalition – A theologically Reformed evangelical network
- Lifeway – Publishing and ministry arm of the Southern Baptist Convention
- Send Network – Church planting initiative of the North American Mission Board
Through events, training content, shared vision, and more, these partnerships multiply efforts to see new healthy churches planted for reaching people far from God.
Acts 29 Conferences & Events
Acts 29 hosts a number of national and international conferences and training events each year. These include:
- Acts 29 Network Gathering – Occurs every 18 months for vision-casting among network pastors.
- Church Planting Europe Conference – Annual European conference for training church planters.
- Acts 29 Orientation – On-ramps new pastors into the network through training and connection.
- Pastors Intensive Retreats – Offers retreats for pastors to rest, recover, and renew.
- Pre-Planter Cohorts – Acts 29 stages of training before church planting.
- Church Planting Residencies – Year-long church planting apprenticeships.
Beyond this, Acts 29 offers online media content and published resources to continue equipping pastors and planters for ministry success.
Theology of Acts 29 Network
Acts 29 landing page describes the network as “theologically conservative and culturally liberal.” This points to their very conservative Reformed doctrinal views combined with progressive stances on cultural issues.
1. Conservative Theology
Acts 29 subscribes to a Reformed, Calvinistic soteriology along with other traditional evangelical doctrines. Their affirmation of faith aligns with historic orthodoxy on issues like:
- Authority of Scripture
- Trinity
- Deity of Christ
- Substitutionary atonement
- Bodily resurrection
- Salvation by grace alone
Founders like Driscoll and Chandler are proponents of Reformed theology originating from the Protestant Reformation.
2. Complementarianism
As mentioned above, Acts 29 holds to a complementarian view of gender roles excluding women from senior pastor and elder positions in the church. This remains one of their most controversial stances.
3. Calvinism
Acts 29 subscribes to Calvinism’s 5 points regarding election, depravity, atonement, grace, and perseverance of the saints. Most pastors self-identify as “Reformed” in their theology.
4. Continuationism
Most Acts 29 leaders hold a continuationist position believing miraculous spiritual gifts like tongues, prophecy, and healing continue today. This contrasts with cessationist views.
5. Culturally Progressive
Compared to other conservative groups, Acts 29 takes notably progressive stances on topics like social justice, creation care, immigration, and similar cultural issues. They lean progressive politically.
This theological blend shapes the Acts 29 ethos – theologically conservative, culturally progressive, missionally engaged.
Controversies & Criticisms
As a leading evangelical network, Acts 29 has faced its share of controversies and criticisms over the years including:
Mark Driscoll Controversy
Co-founder Mark Driscoll resigned amidst controversy in 2014 over plagiarism, inappropriate language/behavior, unhealthy leadership practices, and other concerns. This required major reorganization.
Lack of Financial Transparency
Critics assert Acts 29 lacks transparency related to its finances including pastor salaries, revenues, expenses, property investments, and more.
Overly Rigid Assessments
Some believe Acts 29 assessment process is overly rigid, rejecting potentially good planters over minor issues unrelated to actual church planting gifts and abilities.
Unhealthy Church Discipline
Acts 29 faced criticism regarding discipline cases at Mars Hill Church under Driscoll, fueling charges of heavy-handed, unbiblical practices.
Limiting Women’s Roles
Their stance restricting women from senior leadership roles draws ongoing criticism as biblically unwarranted and harmful.
Despite criticisms, Acts 29 remains influential in evangelical church planting and pastors training worldwide.
The Future of Acts 29
Looking ahead, here are a few possibilities for Acts 29:
- Continued international growth adding churches/networks in Africa, Asia, and South America.
- Increasing ethnic/racial diversity to better reflect global church.
- Planting emerging church models like multi-site, microchurches, online churches.
- Resurgence in church planting after decline during COVID pandemic.
- Move toward financial transparency and accountability.
- Shift away from predominantly white, male leadership.
- Influx of Reformed Charismatic planters and churches.
- Progress in gender roles but still limiting senior female leadership.
- Ongoing church planting partnerships with SBC, NAMB, TGC, Lifeway, etc.
Regardless of what’s next for Acts 29, their commitment to gospel-centered church planting will continue shaping evangelicalism in the years ahead.