About ARC (Association of Related Churches)
At the heart of the Association of Related Churches is the belief that church planters shouldn't have to build alone.
By bringing churches together to share relationships, experience, training, coaching, and financial resources, ARC helps turn God-given church-planting dreams into thriving local congregations and invites those churches to help the next generation do the same.
The Association of Related Churches is a cooperative of independent churches that works together to help new churches launch and existing churches thrive.
Its vision is simple:
A thriving church in every community, reaching people with the message of Jesus.
It Started With a Dream
ARC's story began around the year 2000.
Greg Surratt, founding pastor of Seacoast Church in South Carolina, believed every community deserved a life-giving church. He had an ambitious dream of helping plant thousands of churches around the world.
Then he met Billy Hornsby.
Billy understood something important about church planting.
A pastor might genuinely feel called by God to start a church and still have no idea how to turn that calling into a healthy congregation.
New church planters needed more than encouragement.
They needed practical help.
So ARC began creating a system where experienced churches and pastors could help the next generation get started.
You Don't Have to Plant Alone
Church planting can become lonely very quickly.
You're carrying a vision that doesn't exist yet.
You're recruiting people for something they can't fully see. You're raising money. You're trying to build systems while preparing sermons and caring for the people already around you.
ARC's response is:
Don't do ministry alone.
Relationships are a major part of the organization.
In fact, they're built into its name.
The Association of Related Churches was designed to become more than a funding mechanism. Church planters could become connected with pastors and leaders who had already experienced many of the challenges they were about to face.
That relational approach continues through ARC's coaching and wider church family.
Turning a Calling Into a Launch Plan
ARC gets very practical with church planters.
Someone considering planting can begin by attending an ARC Launch event, where experienced leaders introduce the nuts and bolts of starting a church.
Those who continue through ARC's process move into application, assessment, training, and coaching.
The preparation covers the things that can easily overwhelm a first-time planter.
How should the church be structured?
What should happen financially before launch?
How do you recruit people?
What needs to happen during the months leading up to opening day?
Instead of requiring each planter to figure everything out from scratch, ARC gives them a framework built from the experiences of churches that have already gone through the process.
Putting Resources Behind the Vision
Eventually, church planting costs money.
ARC helps there too.
Approved church planters can receive matching launch funding. ARC currently matches the first $50,000 a planter raises dollar-for-dollar, potentially providing another $50,000 toward the launch.
There's an important idea behind that money.
Pay it forward.
Churches and pastors who came before helped provide resources for today's planter.
As that new church becomes established, ARC asks it to invest back into church planting so another pastor can receive the same opportunity.
One church helps plant the next.
That church eventually helps plant another.
Generosity becomes part of multiplication.
Independent Churches, Shared Mission
ARC isn't a denomination.
Churches planted through ARC remain legally autonomous and independently led.
That distinction matters.
ARC provides training and resources without becoming the governing authority over every congregation it helps start.
Churches within the wider ARC family can also come from different denominations, networks, and ministry backgrounds.
There can be differences in style and approach.
What brings them together is a shared commitment to basic Christian beliefs and a desire to reach people with the message of Jesus.
The relationship is cooperative rather than denominational.
Helping Existing Churches Thrive
ARC's work doesn't stop once launch Sunday is over.
It also creates opportunities for established pastors and churches to find relationships, encouragement, and practical resources.
Events bring ministry leaders together.
Training helps churches navigate leadership and ministry challenges.
Resource partnerships connect pastors with tools that can strengthen their congregations.
An established church can also become part of the church-planting mission itself.
It can give.
It can encourage.
It can share what it has learned.
And the church that once needed help can become the church helping someone else.
A Thriving Church in Every Community
Since ARC began, the scale of that original dream has grown considerably.
More than 1,200 churches have now been planted through ARC, while global networks are extending the church-planting model beyond the United States.
But the basic idea hasn't changed much.
Someone feels called to plant.
ARC comes alongside them.
Experienced leaders help prepare them.
Churches generously provide resources.
A team forms.
The doors eventually open.
And a new local church begins reaching its community with the Gospel.
Then the cycle starts again.
