MULTIPLY HHPC

Transformed lives always multiply. Just as healthy families grow and send their children into the world with purpose, we’re called to send our brothers and sisters to establish new gospel outposts in the Lowcountry. Our goal is to see the Lord establish a network of 3-5 healthy congregations by 2035 who are united around a common mission to multiply the worship, renewal, and community of Jesus to the growing population of the Lowcountry.

Our first step is to send a group of men and women to establish a new congregation in Bluffton that will launch on February 1st, 2026, and to strengthen the ministry of HHPC to have a more outward-focused and island-centric ministry.

Joining in this work will require us all to be kingdom-minded, open-handed, and prayerfully dependent on the Lord together.

This page is your online hub for the road ahead as we multiply congregations. We know you’ll have more questions along the way.
Check this page regularly for more information pertaining to the work of multiplying congregations.

PRAYER

As a church, we want to pray about everything before we do anything.

If we know anything about the Gospel, we know that things do not happen through our own strength. There are many ways we’ll pray together during this season, and we’ll continually update you with opportunities.

To get going now, click here.

 

THE ROAD AHEAD

  • A NETWORK OF 3-5 CONGREGATIONS BY 2035

    The HHPC Network of Churches exists to send, start, and strengthen a movement of healthy congregations united around a common mission to multiply the worship, renewal, and community of Jesus to the growing population of the Lowcountry. The overall goal is to have three to five PCA congregations in our Network by 2035 in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, beginning with the strengthening of our existing congregation on the Island (HHPC) and the sending of a new congregation in Bluffton that will begin weekly public Worship Gatherings in February 2026. Possible areas for future congregations include Bluffton, Hardeeville, Beaufort, Ridgeland, and the south end of Hilton Head Island. 

  • TRANSFORMED LIVES ALWAYS MULTIPLY

    As we see in Scripture, transformed lives always multiply. The work of transformation in an individual heart is multiplied as we share and live out the gospel with our families,friends, neighbors, and coworkers. In this way the worship, renewal, and community of Jesus is multiplied both in us and through us. Likewise, God’s strategy for multiplying the gospel to new people and places is to send His people to share the gospel, makes disciples, and establish local congregations in each community to more effectively reach that community with the gospel (Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:18-20). As we said at our Vision Night in 2024, the sprawling growth and gospel needs of the Lowcountry present a kingdom challenge that no one church can meet on its own, and we believe God is calling us to start a network of congregations to help meet that need!

  • GOD-GIVEN UNITY ESSENTIAL FOR THIS MISSION

    The idea of multiplying our gospel impact by starting a new congregation is not recent. This is something we have been prayerfully exploring for many years. However, in reflecting on previous discussions and efforts to accomplish that work, the Lord has graciously slowed us down to allow us to be more aligned and equipped for this work in every way. Over the last few years, there has been much that the Lord has taught us. God has been aligning us around a shared vision and mission. He has been cultivating a Gospel-rooted culture among our staff and leadership that we are thankful to share. And, He has graciously equipped us with a team of staff, elders, deacons, and ministry leaders that we believe is capable and excited to pursue this work. 

  • ONE CHURCH, MULTIPLE CONGREGATIONS

    Our initial plan for the congregations in our network is that they will be structured as one church with multiple congregations. This means both congregations will have a common leadership and shared resources. We will share the same Vision, Mission, and shared culture. Each congregation will have a handful of “localized” staff who will provide a dedicated focus to that congregation. This includes having both a dedicated Congregational Pastor and Worship Director. However, the vast majority of our ministries and staff will be “centralized” ministries that will operate across all congregations, allowing all congregations to accomplish more together than we could ever do on our own. One Church. Multiple Congregations. Over time, it is possible that this composition of the Network of Churches could expand to include multiple congregations with common leadership and shared resources, as well as independent congregations, and/or congregations that particularize over time. However, we envision that all our congregations, regardless of type, will retain connectivity within the HHPC Network of Churches and will remain congregations engaged in a common mission: to multiply the worship, renewal, and community of Jesus to the people and places of the Lowcountry, and through it, to the world. 

  • INFORM OUR MINDS, ENLIST OUR HEARTS, & EQUIP OUR HANDS 

    The state of unity, mutual commitment, trust, excitement, and common mission we share is something God has been cultivating over the last few years. God has graciously aligned the minds, hearts, and hands of our staff and leadership through multiple opportunities for prayer and dialogue. As shepherds, we desire to come alongside you as we trust God to foster the same level of commitment throughout our congregation through a similar process. It has taken us time to develop the plans for what we are doing, and we expect you’ll need time to wrap your mind and heart around what we’re doing and how it will work. We’ll all need to raise our hands, get on our knees in prayer, and roll up our sleeves as we engage in this mission together! To this end, the road ahead of strengthening the Island Congregation and sending a new congregation to Bluffton will be composed of four phases through which we plan to shepherd our church in this mission. 

    Phase 1 ///DEVELOP / [COMPLETE] / GOAL | Determining our plans for what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. 

    Phase 2 ///INFORM / MAY — JUNE / GOAL | Unifying our minds and hearts around our mission (i.e., what we’re doing & why we’re doing it). HOW | Opportunities, both big and small, to learn, process, and pray together. This includes whole-church presentations, large group Parish gatherings, ministry-specific gatherings (e.g., Kids, Students, and Women), and individual follow-up as requested (coffees, dinners, etc.). Print and digital resources will provide ongoing support, with our website serving as a central information hub. 

    Phase 3 ///ENLIST / JUNE — AUGUST 31 /GOAL | Identify by August 31 all team leaders & volunteers who will serve at both congregations. Team Leaders serving at the Bluffton Congregation will compose the Bluffton “Launch” Team. HOW | Team gatherings, targeted recruiting, church-wide promotion, and clear calls to action. 

    Phase 4 /// EQUIP / SEPTEMBER — DECEMBER / GOAL | Equipping us to accomplish our mission across two congregations. HOW | Generalized equipping for everyone at both congregations in the mindset required to multiply congregations through our Worship Gatherings and Equip Classes. Specialized equipping for the Bluffton Launch Team and specialized team-specific equipping for all ministry teams and volunteers. 

    Phase 5 ///SEND / JANUARY — FEBRUARY 1 /GOAL | Multiplying Congregations through the sending of the Bluffton Congregation HOW | We’ll pray for, commission, and celebrate God’s work in and through us. We’ll have a church-wide daily prayer campaign; the Bluffton Launch Team will host “preview services”; and we will have a commissioning service for the Bluffton Congregation (Jan. 25) before the Bluffton Congregation launches weekly public Worship Gatherings on February 1st. 

  • BEING OPEN-HANDED, KINGDOM-MINDED, AND PRAYERFULLY DEPENDENT

    Multiplying congregations will require three key things from us: being kingdom-minded, open-handed, and prayerfully dependent. To be kingdom-minded means that our primary priority will be to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33) rather than seeking to further or preserve our preferences or desires. This means we would be driven by the same mindset that drove Jesus (see Phil. 2:1-8). Secondly, being kingdom-minded will require us to be open-handed and to leave ourselves open to the possibility that the Lord may call each of us to serve in ways that we don’t currently anticipate (see Prov. 16:9). Those who currently envision themselves aligning with the work of Bluffton Congregation may end up being called to serve with the Island Congregation, and vice versa. Thirdly, each attribute will ultimately be fostered at a heart level as we collectively and individually seek God through prayer. In each phase of the road ahead, we will have specific ways to call our congregation to pray as we pursue God’s mission together. 

 

FAQs

  • It certainly seems that there are a lot of churches in Bluffton because we see them as we travelfrom one place to another. However, fewer than 7,500 people attend a gospel-preaching, mission-minded church in Bluffton on any given Sunday. The current population of the Bluffton area is over 85,000 and growing rapidly. That’s a lot of people without a church home.

  • Helping to start new congregations can be an exciting spiritual journey with a lasting impact. Much joy and excitement comes from seeing God bring something out of nothing and sharing the experience of being there when it happened. A handful of families came together in 1982 and trusted God to raise up Hilton Head Presbyterian Church. We are thankful for their faith, sacrifice, and endurance. Continuing that legacy through the multiplication of the congregations will require three things from us all:

    PRAY CONTINUALLY. We should all continually seek the Lord’s will in how He would use us to advance His mission during a particular season. For some, it is discipling kids, for others, it is local outreach, and for others, it is helping launch a new church. Each endeavor will require a step of faith on our part. Let’s commit to praying individually and together as we pursue God’s calling.

    BE KINGDOM-MINDED. Remember that we are all called to sacrifice for Christ. Jesus said to His disciples: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) All of us can become very comfortable consumers in an established church. Whether being part of the “sending” congregation on the Island or being part of the new congregation sent to Bluffton, multiplying congregations will require all of us to sacrifice time, energy, and effort to advance the mission and multiply congregations.

    BE OPEN-HANDED. Multiplying Congregations is an exciting endeavor that offers us a tremendous opportunity to grow in our faith and dependence on God. However, it’s not easy or straightforward. Mountaintops and valleys are on the road to becoming established, yet God promises never to leave or forsake us. Likewise, God will likely call each of us to serve in unexpected ways. 

  • The overall vision of our ministries will remain the same, while the logistics of some ministries will necessarily change to maximize the effectiveness of each congregation. With the start of our new network and the sending of the Bluffton Congregation, our ministries are being restructured as either localized or centralized. Centralized ministries are shared across both congregations. Examples of centralized ministries include Governance (Session & Governing Commission), Shepherding, Groups, Administration, Communications, Leadership Development, Finance & Accounting. Other ministries will continue as “localized ministries”, meaning they are congregation-specific ministries with dedicated staff or lay leaders. Examples of localized ministries include Worship, preaching, nursery, and Kids Ministry. 

  • Our Ministry Leadership Team has been actively exploring potential locations for the new congregation. We have looked at schools where we can rent a gathering space on Sunday mornings, visited commercial buildings for lease that would allow for ministry 24/7/365, and explored community facilities available for Sunday morning rental. We recognize the need to secure a space as soon as possible to provide enough lead time to launch on schedule while allowing for other necessities related to the space, such as purchasing equipment, completing renovations, or renting storage facilities. We are prioritizing spaces with plenty of room for growth in locations where many people “do life” in their communities.