Recent church planting articles
Scott Thomas’ Thoughts About Missional Church Planting
I am simply illustrating how we are prone to over-emphasis and am calling us to follow God’s mission instead of our own notion of cultural contextualization or missional living.
- Connecting with culture is over-rated. Connecting with God is under-rated.
- Building a congregation is over-rated. Building the Kingdom is under-rated.
- Serving the church is over-rated. Serving the community is under-rated.
- Personal evangelism is over-rated. Communities on mission together is under-rated.
- Church strategic goals are over-rated. Holy Spirit guidance is under-rated.
The argument is often over whether a church is either relating to its culture or rejecting its culture (missional or non-missional). I think there is a third way. A missional church connects with culture and connects with God. It builds the Kingdom while building the local church. It serves the community where it resides while its congregants are served. Its focus is on engaging evangelism personally and in community with others and it fervently follows the Holy Spirit as it makes plans for the glory of God.
Ed Stetzer’s announcement of a new State of Church Planting report .
The study revealed four interesting current realities.
We’re Starting More Churches Than Ever
Though tracking the number of new churches is difficult because so many new churches are connected to and claimed by multiple partnering entities, Leadership Network says we are planting about 4,000 new churches a year. This is an all time high.
We Are Cooperating More Broadly
A second discovery from Leadership Network’s research shows that this generation’s church planting organizations display a heart of cooperation and resource. Free on-line tools abound–denominational training manuals, research papers, how-to articles, as well as audio and video training. This cooperation indicates an obvious “kingdom mentality” in the church planting community that expands beyond denomination or regional allegiances.
We Are Less Denominationally Governed and More Networked
At this point the most “successful church planting seems to be moving quickly from denominational structures to hands-on local churches and networks.” This does not mean Denominations are uninvolved. In fact church planting is on the rise within denominations. But the majority of successful church plants are plugged into networks, and even denominations are partnering with networks as they seek to establish new churches.
We Are Learning to Be More Evangelistically Effective
Today there is an increasing emphasis on systems that will produce better and more consistent results in church planting. These systems include recruitment, assessment, training, coaching, prayer, and funding.
All of this is good news, and as I said in the report, “I believe the intelligence and creativity exists within this generation of leaders to make a significant impact on reaching the unchurched in the U.S.” And yet, we are still waiting for a true church planting movement to rise up in North America.
The state of church planting in the U.S. is diverse, sophisticated, and yet by many measures stronger than ever. Yet, we have still not witnessed a true church planting movement to this date.