Following Our Visionary Shepherd to Plant 1,000 Churches and Establish 1,000 Businesses in Three Years
(Pictured above l to r: All Nations team in Uganda visiting a house church and our All Nations Persian Church ministry launched in 2025 out of our Hamburg Hub's ministry and team members.)
Dear Friends,
As we anticipate 2026, we believe that Jesus is calling us to plant 1,000 churches and 1,000 businesses for local church planters among the least reached by December 2028. He is calling us to “put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4). The “deep” represents the places that are the unexplored, uncharted, and unreached by the Gospel. But so often after many years, we feel like Simon Peter—weary, worn, and wasted. Simon had complained to Jesus, “We’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything” (v.5). But reluctantly, Simon in his depleted state let down the nets again. Why? Just because Jesus said so.
Is Jesus a visionary or a shepherd? Visionaries who don’t shepherd often steamroll the people they lead. Shepherds without vision often keep their sheep within the fold. But Jesus is the visionary shepherd. He is the shepherding visionary. Jesus’ end goal is visionary but his journey there is shepherding. Jesus expanded these fishermen’s paradigm from catching fish to “from now on you will fish for people” (v.10). He enlarged their focus from livelihood (catching fish) to neighborhood (winning people). In response, Simon and his partners “left everything and followed him” (v.11).
When Jesus called Simon Peter to leave everything to follow him, Jesus first addressed Simon’s deep heart issues. Jesus not only calls us to fish in the deep, He also heals our deep. He dived into Simon’s heart issues of (v.8):
· Feeling like a burned-out failure.
· Feeling distant from Jesus.
· Feeling condemned of sin.
· Feeling afraid.
Jesus healed Simon by declaring, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people” (v.10). Jesus heals our deep even as He calls us to the deep. Today, as we transition from 2025 to 2026, He is asking us to leave behind in His hands our past failure, weariness, spiritual distance, sins, and fears.
Planting 1,000 churches seems like a daunting task. He calls us to haul in the big catch without its weight breaking or sinking us. It says that as the nets were about to break, Simon and probably his brother Andrew “signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them” (v.6-7). We can only haul in the miraculous catch by linking arms.
Jesus does not call just individuals. He calls groups of friends, family, and co-laborers. He did not just call Simon Peter. He may have climbed into Simon’s boat but when he called, he also called Simon’s close friends and partners, including James and John. That day, these fishermen friends together left everything and followed Jesus.
How are we going to plant 1,000 churches and establish 1,000 businesses among the least reached in the next three years? We do so by sailing our boats close together and helping each other. We do so by Jesus working deeply in our hearts, renewing our vision, redeeming our hard work, forgiving our sins, refreshing our weariness, drawing us close, and alleviating our fears. We do so fortified with the fellowship of other fishermen to sail with Him. And our nets do not break and our boats do not sink. And we can truly say that we’ve left everything to follow him. May we bring in a God-sized catch!
Click the above photo and see a special video of one of our churches in Malawi. Our All Nations "house" churches meet in a variety of places. Will you be a part of helping the unreached know and follow Jesus and be a part of a church community? Your special year-end gift this year will go towards this assignment to see one thousand churches and businesses created.
Blessings,
Mary
About the Author: Mary Ho is the All Nations International Executive Leader
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