7 Reasons to Plant Churches
There are 12 churches in the suburb in which I live. They represent just about every major denominational group and theological strand. There are immersion Baptists and sprinkling Paedo-Baptists; those who speak in tongues and cessationists; there are Arminians and Calvinists; Sunday Sabbaths and Saturday Sabbaths; high church and low church; priests and congregatationalists. The question is why would we (and even should we) plant new churches in a suburb like this. I think there are 7 reasons why we should.
1. New churches do more evangelism
Older churches build extensive ministries, they start choirs and soup kitchens, they run preaching programmes and publish Bible Study material. As churches develop they slowly and subtly move resources away from the outsider towards the maintenance, development and growth of the insider. New churches are different they are forced to do evangelism to survive. We need to plant new churches to aid in the reaching of outsiders.
2. New churches are different
God is God who loves variety. He creates people to be different . They like different music, wear different clothes, watch different movies, speak different languages. New churches develop a different culture from the mother church. Different leaders, do different things and appeal to different people. We should plant churches to reach people different to ourselves.
3. New churches force individuals to grow
People in larger churches become lazy. They don’t serve because they don’t have to serve. As new churches are planted people are recruited into ministries and given opportunities to serve and lead that they would not get in a larger church. New church plants give individuals opportunities to grow.
4. New churches are better at relationships
As churches get larger they become less relational and more organisational. People in older established churches are often less relationally connected. It is easy in a large church to become a spectator, disconnected from people. God calls us to love him and to love each other. Because new churches are smaller they are more relational.
5. A church planted in a community can exist for a long period of time
Churches go through cycles. At times they are vibrant and happening. At others they struggle and strain but over a period of time a church planted in a community can hold the gospel light in that community for generations. A new church plant may take years even decades to grow but it is worth doing because it places a gospel community in a place for decades.
6. New churches start new ministries
As new churches are planted they begin new ministries, sometimes ministries that cannot be attempted in the mother church. New leaders have new ideas and do works of service in a different way to the mother church. Church planting begins ministries to the world that would not happen without the plant.
7. Church planting is God’s plan to reach the world
Wherever the gospel goes, as people are converted, churches are started. Christianity is a team sport not an individual exercise. God places Christians together into a church and uses them to reach their community of relationships. We must plan to plant churches as a part of God’s kingdom advancing.