The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
المؤلف: Cody C. Lorance
التاريخ: 05.01.2012
Category: تشكيل القادة, الشهادة الشخصية, العمل المرسلي في الحضر
Recently, I’ve noticed a couple interesting posts related to church planting along the lines of “here is why you shouldn’t try to plant a church”. As a church planter and supervisor/mentor of church planters it seems appropriate for me to offer some commentary related to those posts. So, I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I thought it might be worthwhile to share with you my own thoughts on the larger subject of why you shouldn’t do church planting.
Perverted Church Planting That is, during the past several years as I have been engaged in the church planting world, I have become aware of the fact that often aspiring church planters have rather perverted or underdeveloped motives for seeking to plant a church. During our local assessment and training events (“First Steps Weekend”), I usually try to lay out some of what I think are the most common of these. Let me share three top reasons why you should NOT plant a church:
1. Church-Splitting – Let’s say that you find yourself as something of a de facto leader of a group in an existing church that is for one reason or another antagonistic towards another group (perhaps even the majority) in that same church. Your group wants to “plant a church” essentially in order to get out from under the thumb or away from the conflict with the others. This is called church-splitting and should not be confused with church planting. Not that I am saying that there is never a legitimate cause for a split. But if church planting is akin to giving birth, church-splitting is rather like divorce. Church planting efforts should have as a central motivation the desire to make disciples among a people or in an area where there is some kind of deficiency in effective gospel witness.
2. Christian-Clubbing – In this situation, you put forth a vision for starting a certain kind of church (i.e. house church, mega church, postmodern church, cowboy church, or whatever) simply for the sake of having such a church. This however is not really church planting but rather a kind of Christian club-making that is motivated more by the self-interest, curiosity, or angst of the aspiring church planter rather than by Kingdom growth. In church planting however, the contextual realities of a given mission field should inform and determine the methodology or church planting models undertaken. Particular models or approaches should be readily and eagerly discarded should the demands or bringing Christ to bear on a given mission field require it. I direct your attention to one of my favorite passages, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Paul’s “all things to all people” is no game. It is not curiosity or the novelty of certain “cutting edge” models or methods that drives him to make himself a slave to all. It is a passion for the lost. It is this question, “How must I pour myself out so that the people of this mission field might be saved?”
3. “Just Get Busy for Jesus” – There are, of course, a number of people who end up at our church planting assessments who just feel hungry to do something for Jesus. This is not a bad thing, by the way. But we must know that a passion to serve the Kingdom of Christ is not the same thing as a call to church planting. Church planting, particularly in North America, has become something of a trendy thing. There is a sense in which it has become the default avenue of Christian service for young, North American Christian leaders. Want to do something for Jesus? Why not plant a church? Lest you think I’m joking, that’s exactly the pitch I received when I first got involved in ministry here in Chicagoland. Fortunately, it was a good fit for me. It isn’t for everyone, and we need to embrace that truth. To be sure there are many people ready to just do something for Jesus who should indeed plant a church. But the majority should not. Discernment is essential.
The Kiwi’s “9 Reasons NOT to plant a church in 2012” Now, on to a couple interesting posts that I’ve come across on the web. First, I direct your attention to Andrew Jones’ (a.k.a “Tall Skinny Kiwi”) post entitled “9 Reasons NOT to plant a church in 2012”. Andrew highlights a number of very, very important points that should be carefully considered. Top of the list, in my view, is the concern for Kingdom transformation. Writes Andrew,
“But now it’s 2012 and while some young, enthusiastic people are out there planting churches like its 1997, others are focusing on launching more sustainable, more holistic, more measurably transformational Kingdom solutions. . . . The measurement criteria of the church planting project, focusing on numbers of attenders and momentum of new church launch, is too narrow, too shallow, unholistic and ignores more vital measurable signs of a transformed society in its various spheres (economic, environmental, social, impact outside the church environment, etc).”
In light of my own mission board’s (the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention) recent restructuring and re-budgeting to elevate church planting as essentially our exclusive focus in the United States and Canada this point cannot be passed by lightly. I fear that in our zeal to plant lots of churches we may inadvertently leave off the part where we intentionally aim to plant the kind of churches that truly bring the Kingdom of God to bear on communities, peoples, and cities.
Anglican 1000’s “10 Ways Not to Plant a Church” Next we have Aaron Burt writing for the church planting initiative called Anglican 1000 that has been giving us his top “10 Ways Not to Plant a Church” (pt. 1,2, 3). Burt’s list is a bit more of a mixed bag of usefulness, in my opinion. There are certain points that I strongly resonate with. For example, his number 10 may need to be upgraded to number one. Burt reminds us that church planting is not a Disney movie, you really can’t do it regardless of how much you “believe in yourself”. I like that emphasis. We do a disservice to aspiring planters if we fail to tell them bluntly that this will be very, very hard. On the flip side, I feel very uneasy with Burt’s suggestion that we “accept the failure rate” (#3) and avoid “putting all our eggs in one basket”. Writes Burt,
“What about exploring several potential church plants simultaneously and running with the one that looks most likely to take root? How about not putting all our eggs in one basket from the get-go? And if your plant fizzles, did you reserve some hope and energy to make another attempt? …Or are you emotionally bankrupt? You’ll never see a professional poker player go all in when the odds are against him four to one. Perhaps we church planters should ponder that.”
Well, I’m for pondering all sorts of things. However, I think this statement reveals are rather different perspective on the “why” of church planting from my own. For me, a church planting effort begins as the Spirit of God awakens our spirit to the needs of a particular place or people. God puts the people of his heart on our heart and one thing sort of leads to another. Church planting should not be driven by a desire to “get something off the ground”, but rather to bring the Incarnate Word to bear on the mission field to which God has called us. Such a motivation will always require an “all in” mentality. Failure in such an endeavor should break us.
I’m not sure what is meant by being “emotionally bankrupt” nor what it means to “reserve hope”. But if failure means to walk away from a lost people who are still lost after faithfully serving in that field for an extended period of time (I’d argue that this isn’t really failure at all), then, well, why shouldn’t that be painful? Truth is, church planting is extraordinarily painful when people are coming to know the Lord right and left. How much more, when after years of service a faithful missionary is unable to point to any lasting fruit? From my perspective, I don’t even want to begin to work with an aspiring planter that isn’t ready to give everything.
What are your thoughts? What points would you want to add to any of the lists?
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We are struggling in church planting because we are not taking into consideration that we have not been called to plant churches. That’s not what Jesus said. He said " Go..and make disciples to all the nations"..This is a different ball game. And of course once we start making disciples we start seeing churches flourishing. In order to make disciples you really have to spent time with people and that’s precisely what planters can’t do, because they have so many administrative duties. .
31.01.2012
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@ tonydebarrio:
Excellent points!
31.01.2012
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@ tonydebarrio:
These are great points. The fact that Christ did not call us to plant churches but simply to "be the church" and multiply...make disciples means that ultimately, church planting should flow out of a desire to create more disciples and the structure of the church should point to that. We need to go to a mentorship model where people can be poured into so that they can in turn pour into others.
08.05.2013
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Christian Clubbing is a real issue in the American church right now. I think that you are exactly right to suggest that church planting has become a fad. This is extremely scarry when i think about unqualified and uncalled people going out to "plant churches" when in reality there is very little oversight and accountability. I know that some church planting networks require a sending church (which i love) and some require a board of oversight to be made, but the vast majority of new church plants are done by someone who got ordained and who simply wants to start a church. While it’s extremely noble, its also extremely sad when the people who help the plant get burned and the church falls apart in 3 years.
07.05.2013
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Church Planting is hard work. It seems to take a certain kind of leader, called by God, to plant and sustain a healthy church from scratch. I’m not suggesting that only those with one personality type can be called by God to plant a church. I realize there are a variety of planting strategies and a variety of planting stories. But as the article asserts, not everyone who wants to plant a church should plant a church. I am in my 5th year as a church planter. Honestly, a I’ve reflected on the genesis of our church plant, I would admit it was a mixed bag of motives (the pure, mixed with some impure) that launched our family to plant. On top of that, I did not have enough training to plant and pastor a church. God has been so gracious, in spite of me. I have learned a lot of lessons along the way and I can see so many ways that God has grown me in the midst of growing this church. What I’m advocating for is to consider the ideal – planting churches out of motives that are completely pure – and acknowledge that I’m not sure if there are completely pure motivations for church planting. God has a way of using our weaknesses. That’s why the parable of the farmer who scatters seeds (some fell on hard ground, thorny/rocky soil and some fell on good soil) is so appropriate. Faithfully scattering the Gospel seeds is my calling. More than planting a church, I see us planting the Gospel in our community. Just sustaining our church is not the ultimate mission. Making sure every man, woman and child in our community gets repeated opportunities to hear and respond to the Good News of Jesus is our calling.
05.05.2013
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@ moviepastor:
And if your church loses its evangelistic edge and shifts to more of a club mentality, what will you be willing to do?
07.05.2013
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My pastor has been praying about beginning a church plant in our community. The church has been in prayer for about a year in hopes to discern God’s direction. I am not sure what our church will do. I know that our pastor is seeking God and has such a heart for people without Christ. I am excited about the future and what God has planned for our church. There are so many churches in my community and I see some begin then fail. I do think that some church plants begin without the leadership of the Spirit. This article brings up important issues that a person planning on beginning a church plant should consider.
21.04.2013
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@ ajlt34:
It makes me really happy to hear that your pastor is seriously praying about whether or not to church plant. I love hearing that people are looking to be led by the Spirit!
30.04.2013
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@ ajlt34:
It sounds like your pastor is taking the necessary steps to ensure that the church plant, if and when it happens, will be a successful one that effectively delivers the Gospel to those in need. So many times, as this article has indicated, people seek to begin new churches with the wrong motivations and then they become churches that are not effectively delivering the message of the Gospel to the community. With the leading of the Holy Spirit, I think your pastor will be able to plant a church that really is a good part of your community.
01.05.2013
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@ skh718:
I am blessed to have a pastor who really desires to follow God’s leading. We are voting this Sunday on purchasing a plot of land behind our church. It is exciting to see how our church will vote. We will not have to finance the property which is very exciting. I know that the church is good stewards of God’s finances! I am curious to see what God has in store for our future.
01.05.2013
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@ wjw88:
I was a member of a different church a few years back. The pastor pushed the congregation into building a family life center. The church did have the money to build so they borrowed money. Within a year, the pastor left and half the church followed. The building was built but the church could not pay for it. Ten years later the church is struggling to keep its doors open. They can barely pay the pastor much less the payment on the building. It is sad when pastor’s lead a church without consulting the Holy Spirit.
01.05.2013
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I really appreciated your article. In my area I have seen lots of church planting going on, some with great motives, some with not so great motives. It does seem very trendy and it makes me sad when I see people treat it like going on a personal adventure rather than being obedient to a calling.
17.04.2013
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@ skh718:
It makes me sad as well! A person hoping to plant a church needs to be in a prayer and seek the Spirit’s guidance.
21.04.2013
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@ ajlt34:
Amen
26.04.2013
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i really liked your article. profound. besides of that you are not against planting churches. But, you are wise when you write about all those points to be avoided in order to have a church planted in a right way. I have read some commentaries about your article and i think that planting church and making disciples can be very well done together. Just because, when we look the new testament we see Paul preaching the gospel, planting churches and others sisters taking care of teaching the church.
12.11.2012
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@ brother_edward:
Thanks for your encouragement! Blessings to you.
20.11.2012
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WOW! Very insightful. We must remember that it is all about Jesus.
09.07.2012
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@ Gardner-Webb_University:
Thanks for the feedback!
10.07.2012
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Thank you for this article! It is very rare when you hear about reasons why one should not plant a church. There is a lot of hype about planting more and more churches. I think oftentimes we evaluate our success by numbers of not only people who come to church on Sunday morning, but also the number of churches in a certain area. I live in the Bible Belt so churches are everywhere! There are godly people here, but there are also a lot of people who just go to a building on Sunday morning.
I feel that sometimes we place everything, our calling as Christians and God’s purpose in spreading His Good News, etc. and oversimplify it into the idea of planting a church. We are called to so much more and the world needs so much more than another church building. Lost people do not need another building because honestly, I don’t think many of them are going. Reasons for this are many, and it will take too much time to go into some of those reasons. However, I think it is more vital for the church (ie a group of believers) to go to the lost since many are not going the church (buildings) that are there. Do not get me wrong, I love church and there is always room for more, but what I see and get frustrated with is that people are not being reached and people try to solve it by building another church. Planting churches is a tool and should become a place for discipleship and for believers to mature spiritually. In my opinion, church planting should be used (with discernment) but not in that it becomes synonymous with evangelization and mission which is much more complex.
31.05.2012
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@ harek:
Thank you, Harek. Of course, church planting advocates are talking less and less about buildings. Still the underlying priciple of focusing on reaching the lost rather than comforting the already too comfortable Christians is well taken. Agree with you.
11.06.2012
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I believe that those are very insightful comments regarding some of the questionable, if not inadequate rationale that people use for planting churches. I would likely also add the notion of ’ego’, the desire to somehow be in charge of something.
09.03.2012
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@ akarnett:
Good addition, thanks!
09.03.2012
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Great post, Cody. Those reading my provocative "9 Reasons NOT to plant a church" might want to read the follow up article on one particular movement that is now close to a thousand new communities but still has no worship service. I posted it here
15.01.2012
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@ tallskinnykiwi:
Andrew, I appreciate the encouragement and the link to my article. What you’ve written is really helpful stuff. Pray for me as I seek to incroporate these ideas in my context.
19.01.2012
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Cody,
Thanks for your perspectives which are solidly biblical and extremely practical. I especially related to your emphasis on church planting being hard work . . . which should tell any church planter on WHOM he/she should rely. Church planting is not like a "church job" with a definite salary, a set work schedule, days off, etc, etc . . . it is a constant (and blessed) ministry that the Lord directs at His pleasure, not ours. Plus, your emphasis on trusting the Lord, not ourselves, in church planting is something we need to remember in every area of life and ministry.
Keep your understandable, biblical insights coming, brother!!
06.01.2012
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@ WordTruth:
Thank you for the encouraging comments! Blessings to you.
06.01.2012
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