Revitalizing Through Church Planting (Part 2)
Last week I published an article titled Can Church Planting Revitalize the Advent Christian Church? Its central premise was “although church planting sometimes seems at odds with church revitalization, it can be a means to revitalize churches because it puts the mission of being Christ’s witnesses to the world front and center.”
I received some excellent feedback from friends and brothers in the faith that I believe need clarification.
Would a declining church make itself healthier by trying to plant?
I’ve not yet found a book, article, research, podcast, or expert who suggests that an unhealthy church will plant a healthy church. Though it could be possible and, under the right circumstances, plausible, it seems unlikely that an unhealthy church would have the tools, resources, and culture to plant a healthy missional church.
But what do we use to identify health? From the outside, a church might look healthy due to its budget and attendance numbers, but what if there is great tension among the body? Many church planting experts suggest that if a church doesn’t plant within 2-5 years of existence, it will never plant a daughter church.
For the sake of argument, let’s suggest that there is a church of 35 people who struggle to pay the bills, and once was a church of 75. They have a pastor who preaches expositionally, understands the Gospel rightly, genuinely loves one another, and serves their community by delivering groceries for the elderly. Some might suggest this church is unhealthy because its attendance has declined by 40, and they don’t have a robust budget. Why did those people leave? Let’s assume two families moved away, one family left the church due to doctrinal differences, ten people died over the last three years due to old age, and the rest went because they didn’t like the shift in focus to serving the community.
Could this church plant a daughter church or help sponsor another? Certainly! Here are some ideas:
(1) They could pray for a new church plant and/or church planter in their area.
(2) Look to sponsor a new church plant. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money but whatever they can afford.
(3) What if this church fostered a church planter, accepting him and his family into membership while they prepare to launch the new church?
(4) Could this church send 3-5 of their most mature people to help form a core team for a new church plant? What if they sent 1 Elder and 1 Deacon? Maybe after 6-12 months, those people come back to the original church.
The lessons learned from this experience in the new church plant could help this small church of 35 people. If they sent people who came back, they’d return with many new ideas and zeal to reach the community.
Does a church planting movement among a group of declining churches benefit everyone?
Yes! I cited an article from Tim Keller in my last post. That article had three significant benefits to new churches. First, on average, new churches produce leaders at a higher rate than more established churches because leadership experiences are more accessible. Secondly, people come to faith at a higher rate in new churches than they do in more established churches because these new churches have an easier time reaching new demographics. Lastly, newer churches often serve as a laboratory for new ideas. Older churches are notorious for sticking to the old tried and true methods even when those methods no longer work. A new church has the room to experiment with all kinds of ways and ministries to reach the unreached and encourage and equip disciples.
How does this help the declining churches in the same network? Sometimes these declining churches need an infusion of excitement and zeal. Over time they’ve lost confidence in the power of God to save sinners. A new church might partner with a church within its network to help revitalize the declining church and, in part, send over leaders and people. These declining churches get an infusion of zeal, people, and money and new ideas on how to contextualize the Gospel and reach new people.
If I’m pastoring a dying church, I’m unsure how caring about church planting will help us out.
Go and make disciples. If you’re pastoring a dying church and don’t care about church planting, then you’ve probably lost sight of your missional call to be Christ’s witness to the world. I’d encourage such a brother to remember the grace of God given to him through Christ and the call to make disciples of all nations. Meet with recently planted churches in your area and see how they reach new believers. Consider learning from them just as they can learn from you to shepherd God’s people well. We need to spur one another on in our walk with Christ and the collective mission to see God glorified.
We don’t have enough pastors as is. Is this the best use of our limited supply when we have plenty of open pastorates and a lot of declining churches?
This is incredibly short-sighted. If someone is called to plant churches, they will find a network to help facilitate that calling. Our churches can form such a network, and I believe it’s in our near future. As previously mentioned, new churches provide ample leadership opportunities that aren’t as readily accessible in an established church. Paul’s first missionary journey, they appointed elders within two years of those churches being established. When’s the last time your church welcomed a new elder? If it’s less than three years, ask why that might be. You might have good reasons. You might find that you’re not raising new leaders because you’re not providing opportunities for people to lead.
To learn more about missional church planting I highly recommend Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im’s book Planting Missional Churches. Additionally, I’ve found Church Planting Thresholds by Clint Clifton to be immensely valuable.
