Since its founding in 1779, Nashville has been a strategic place of opportunity and influence. Although Nashville initially was known for its important river port and railroad center, it has become a major center for several industries. Perhaps the Nashville metro area—an area consisting of over 1.6 million people— is most popularly known as “Music City,” since it is a hub for pop, rock, bluegrass, Americana, jazz, classical, contemporary Christian, blues, and soul music. But it is also known as the “Athens of the South,” since over 24 colleges and universities call it home. Of course, the metro area is also a hub for book publishing houses, and the healthcare, finance, and transportation industries. These realities make the Nashville metro area a place of great influence and diversity, attracting people from all over the globe to its opportunities. Thankfully, the Nashville metro area has a wide range of churches. As such, it is fair to ask if the Nashville metro area is in need of another church. I certainly asked this. In short, the answer is. “Yes.”

There are at least three key reasons why the Nashville metro area needs another church. First, about 70-75% of people do not attend an evangelical church at all.[1] This means 1.2 million people out of the 1.6 million people in the Nashville metro area stay home each Sunday, without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While we’re grateful that this is a higher percentage than other places in the world, the work is far from finished. Secondly, the percentage of unchurched people in the Nashville metro area is growing. In the targeted area, population growth rate is 3.5%, which is well above the national population growth rate. Unfortunately, it is also well above the rate of growth for the church in the area. This means the percentage of the population attending a local church is shrinking every year. Thirdly, church plants typically reach the unchurched faster, 6-8 times faster than established churches.[2] While established churches must become more evangelistic, they must also plant new churches. This reality led Peter Wagner, a leading thinker of church practices, to say, “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches.”[3] These three key reasons lead us to believe that the Nashville metro area needs new churches. We plan to plant Redemption City on the southside of the city in Franklin, TN.