Renewal Through Church Planting

 I grew up in a fairly typical mainline denomination.  As I recall, the goal of the Christian faith was for us to be nice people.  Yes, there was some debate on what it meant to be nice (typically divided along political lines), but all tacitly agreed that Christian people should be nice.

The problem with this definition of the Christian faith was that my family, in particular my mother and grandmother, were very involved in church politics.  I heard about and most importantly felt the tension between these "nice" people.  I also witnessed many things in the church that was far from nice.

When I became a believer in Christ, I was amazed to hear that the purpose of the church, indeed of my life, was not to be nice, but to proclaim Christ as my only hope.  I was so encouraged to hear that the Church is the only institution in the universe that exists for others.  The purpose of the Church is to live out and proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord!

This does not mean that we are not to be good and honest folks.  What it does mean is that we don't need to pretend that we are always nice people who have it all together.  In fact, when we are honest we can confess our need for Jesus, find His mercy afresh and anew, and grow in holiness through heart transformation.  What an inversion of the message I grew up hearing!

Moreover, the purpose the Church is to die to itself so that it might proclaim Jesus is Lord to those who have not heard or known God's grace.  Instead of fighting over ministry "turf" or personal preference, the uniting factor was seeing Christ proclaimed and the Kingdom growing.  

How is the best way to do this?  How do we proclaim Christ and see the Kingdom advance the quickest in a city, country, or region?  Since this is our goal given to us by Jesus, how do we reach it?

I think the follow quote by Tim Keller captures how the Spirit is moving through the entire world today.  The Spirit is on the move!  He is propelling believers out of their personal preference, their comfort zones, and their quest for personal piety above all else.  He is calling us to die to self so that we might live for others.  

How?  Through church planting.  These new churches breathe new life into the body of Christ.  They provide new ideas.  They also are powerfully effective at reaching new, unchurched people.  As Keller states,

“Numerous new churches are the only way to really expand the number of Christians in a city. New churches reach the non-churched far more effectively than longer-existing churches. Dozens of studies confirm that the average new church gains most of its new members from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshipping body, while churches over 10-15 years of age gain 80-90% of new members by transfer from other congregations. This means that the average new congregation will bring new people into the life of the Body of Christ at 6-8 times the rate of an older congregation of the same size. …

Planting lots of new churches is one of the best ways to renew existing churches. New churches bring new ideas to the whole Body. It is the new churches that have freedom to be innovative and they become the ‘Research and Development’ department for the whole Body in the city. …

We firmly believe that the vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for reaching a city. Nothing else–not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, mega-churches, consulting, nor church renewal processes–will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study of the subject, it is not even controversial.”

Tim Keller, “Being the Church in our Culture”

So, what do you think?  Is this true?  What does this mean for churches that are 10, 15, 20, 50, and 100 years old?  What does this mean for you?