Church Planting | The Journeyman Project: Blog

29Dec/110

Failing at the Way We “Do” Church

Something that constantly rests on my mind is the major trend in the most churched countries in our world. The nations that have led the way in Christian movement for the past century are diminishing. Some of it is inevitable, as people reject Christianity they begin to learn how to run it out of their families, towns, and states. Some of it is due to the way God chooses to work, and is evidence of the fact that He is doing something different in those places. But from my perspective, a significant part of it has to do with the fact that we are simply doing church poorly. We have added so much baggage to what it really is, that the Christian life and the Christian message are muffled.

I hate statistics, especially all the ridiculous stats that I hear from the Barna group week after week. But this one from Willow Creek is pretty challenging, and fairly true.

In the United States, with more than 162 million self-professed Christians, the news is sobering. Each year, between three to five thousand churches in the United States hold their last service, close their doors, and put up the “for sale” sign. Statistics indicate that from 1999 to 2009 the combined membership of the major Protestant denominations declined 6 percent, while the national population has increased 12 percent. The proportion of Americans who claim to have “no religion” has increased to 15 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 1990.

We need to do church differently...very differently. And although I have some ideas, I want to spark your thoughts more than I want to hand you answers. My main exhortations to you are these...

1. Evaluate the church based on the need of the world, not on what feels good. Ask, how can my church preach to and disciple 1 million people? Not 10, not 100, 1 million. Use a big goal, not a simple one. The world is a big place, it needs churches with BIG goals.

2. Look at the churches that are growing rapidly outside the U.S. and ask yourself, should church look more like that? Why is that working?

3. Make sure your church model can be reproduced. Church is about multiplication. Can my church model be used to start 100 other churches? Why or why not?

Tagged as: church growth, church planting, statistics No Comments

24Feb/110

A Life-Changing, Paradigm-Shifting Book

It is not often that I read a book that radically changes my perception of my future career, my concept of what a church is, and my perception of the education I am receiving now. But I find myself a changed man—and I find myself in possession of a book that I MUST READ AGAIN in order to understand its implications for my life.

The book is called Church Planting Movements by David Garrison.

David is a long-term missionary who has coordinated the efforts of fellow missionaries through the largest mission board in the U.S. – the International Mission Board.

He writes this book to share the information they have collected about the churches that are multiplying and reaching entire people groups with the gospel. This is NOT a book about planting a church: it is a book about planting churches that plant other churches, that plant other churches, and plant other churches…until they reach everyone in their culture…and that’s REALLY EXCITING to me. If I help plant a church in the future, I certainly want it to reach more and more and more people until it can say that everyone in its culture has heard the gospel.

Beyond that premise, this book has taught me a lot about the proper and improper way to do church. Theologians, missionaries and missions agencies are often the greatest hindrance to churches that multiply—and even if I don’t work to plant a church, I certainly don’t want to hinder the evangelistic growth of one with my work as part of it. Importantly in this respect, it reminds me that the leaders of the church are typically the people who are willing to accept the largest commitment to discipleship, not the seminary students I am in class with. They are not any more prepared to lead than small group leaders when they begin—they are simply willing to grow through mentorship with an existing pastor and grow into leadership.

It has also taught me that the New Testament style church still exists today: casting out demons, healing people, seeing visions, meeting in homes, sharing all their possessions together, etc.

If you want to know what missions is really all about, please, please read this book. Nothing could better shape your perception of what needs to be done across the world today.

Buy it at the IMB website here.