"The worst thing that every happened to this church was other church plants."
I remember hearing this sentence uttered by a staff member at a church. I could not believe it. How could one believe this to be true?
Well, their church had decreased in attendance and vitality. It was not as strong as it used to be. It was showing signs of plateau and decline. This staff member assumed that the reason was that so many people from the church had left to plant other churches. A little investigation proved this idea to be untrue. It ended up that in the past ten years, only one family, from a church that had averaged over 300 in attendance, had left to help "plant a church."
The truth is that Church Planting is the best and most effective way to advance the Kingdom of God. It renews established churches. It reaches new people. It unleashes a whole new group of people for leadership and ministry.
I propose that the Spirit of God is on the move. The Spirit is propelling believers out of their personal preference, their comfort zones, and their quest for personal piety above all else. He is calling us to die to self so that we might live for others.
Well, their church had decreased in attendance and vitality. It was not as strong as it used to be. It was showing signs of plateau and decline. This staff member assumed that the reason was that so many people from the church had left to plant other churches. A little investigation proved this idea to be untrue. It ended up that in the past ten years, only one family, from a church that had averaged over 300 in attendance, had left to help "plant a church."
The truth is that Church Planting is the best and most effective way to advance the Kingdom of God. It renews established churches. It reaches new people. It unleashes a whole new group of people for leadership and ministry.
I propose that the Spirit of God is on the move. The Spirit is propelling believers out of their personal preference, their comfort zones, and their quest for personal piety above all else. He is calling us to die to self so that we might live for others.
How?
Through church planting. These new churches breathe new life into the body of Christ. They provide new ideas. They also are powerfully effective at reaching new, unchurched people. As Tim Keller states,
Through church planting. These new churches breathe new life into the body of Christ. They provide new ideas. They also are powerfully effective at reaching new, unchurched people. As Tim Keller states,
“Numerous new churches are the only way to really expand the number of Christians in a city. New churches reach the non-churched far more effectively than longer-existing churches. Dozens of studies confirm that the average new church gains most of its new members from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshipping body, while churches over 10-15 years of age gain 80-90% of new members by transfer from other congregations. This means that the average new congregation will bring new people into the life of the Body of Christ at 6-8 times the rate of an older congregation of the same size. …
Planting lots of new churches is one of the best ways to renew existing churches. New churches bring new ideas to the whole Body. It is the new churches that have freedom to be innovative and they become the ‘Research and Development’ department for the whole Body in the city. …
We firmly believe that the vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for reaching a city. Nothing else–not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, mega-churches, consulting, nor church renewal processes–will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study of the subject, it is not even controversial.”
Tim Keller, “Being the Church in our Culture”
So, what do you think? Is this true? What does this mean for churches that are 10, 15, 20, 50, and 100 years old? What does this mean for you?
