While the response to baptisms was greater than expected, such a response is not unusual for the multisite church. Evangelism has long been at the forefront of the church’s mission.
According to Baptist Press, each person who was baptized is invited to engage in a discipleship program designed by a Spiritual Formation Team that includes four pastors. The program is designed to provide information and an invitation to next steps on the spiritual journey.
Upstate Church Has Experienced Great Growth in Recent Years
Bray shared, “God has certainly been doing something special these past few years. We’ve baptized 400 new believers since the beginning of 2022.”
According to Baptist Press and the Annual Church Profile, Upstate Church has been growing exponentially over the last several years: “Membership at the six-site church has grown by more than 57 percent in the past decade, according to the Annual Church Profile, growing from 4,503 members in 2014 to 7,091 in 2023.”
The church now has six sites (three in Simpsonville, with other locations in Anderson, Greenville, and Mauldin). Upstate Church continues to grow and has plans to merge with Hillcrest Baptist Church and to open one more location in Laurens.
Bray explained to Fox News Digital, “Part of the beauty of our church’s multisite strategy is a desire to bring dying churches back to life. We have merged with 5 different churches since 2018 that have become campuses of Upstate Church. These churches most often were down to 20-30 attendees, but they longed to see their church brought back to life.”
“We’ve been saying this often. We don’t just want to be a church that makes disciples. We want to be a church full of disciple makers,” he said. “That is our heart, and we believe that is what God is doing at Upstate Church. God’s timing is always perfect, but sometimes it’s more obvious to us. This is one of those times when it’s easy to see his hand at work.”
“Our church has never been more prepared to disciple these new believers,” he added.
 of Simpsonville, South Carolina, experienced an "overwhelming" response with 141 baptisms across six church campuses.){kind=link}