For years CPC has desired to spread the gospel through the planting of a church in the area surrounding Clarkesville. In Spring of 2024 we called Rev. Brandon Hawkes to lead this effort. Our hope is to plant and grow a new PCA church that shares the DNA of CPC in the heart of Toccoa over the next few years.

If you are interested in learning more please contact Brandon Hawkes at brandon.hawkes@cpcclarkesville.org

Why Plant churches?

With so many churches in Stephens County, why start another one? In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” We believe God is expanding his kingdom and is pleased to do that through the planting of churches that make and mature disciples of Christ through the proclamation of His word. We believe that as we plant churches, we are being faithful to Christ’s great commission to “go therefore and makes disciples…” We have the instruction of the apostle Paul who told Titus to organize local churches saying, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” Statistically, in the last 25 years the number of churches in North America has decreased at an unprecedented rate and we would like to see that reversed by the development of healthy, thriving churches in every town in NE GA.

The Process

Here are the steps to becoming a fully established and self-governing church in the PCA.

  1. Approval – On August 15, 2024, Georgia Foothills Presbytery approved the Toccoa Church plant with Rev. Brandon Hawkes as the pastor and Philip Smith, Kyle Bellamy, and Rev. Hobie Wood as the temporary session.
  2. Support Raising – Beginning in Spring Brandon will be raising support from individuals and churches who want to help this fledgling congregation get started.
  3. Gathering core group – After raising funds we will gather a core group from CPC to share the mission of the church plant and begin to grow together as a church body.
  4. Worship – After months of gathering with the core group we will begin public worship together in Toccoa on the Lord’s day.
  5. Particularization – After worshiping together for a time we will nominate, train, and ordain elders from within our own congregation to become a “particular” church.