Why Plant Churches?

I heard a number of startling facts and figures last week at the meeting of the EPC Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic - my regional accountability structure and "church planting support group."  For instance: There is an annual net loss of churches in the United States of about 2000.  Click here for more.

Let's put aside for a moment all the issues related to making statements like these: the challenge of counting churches, determining what are the churches you want to count, etc. etc. etc.  Even as difficult as it is to ascertain the particulars of the data, the conclusion is one that most people would affirm, even intuitively.  Fewer people in the United States today have a meaningful relationship with Jesus and His community than in years not too far past.


This is even more true if you look at our communities a bit closer along the spectrum of ethnicity and age.  In the past few decades there has been a marked increase in the number of immigrants joining our society from backgrounds that are not even culturally Christian.  Arab, Indian and Asian populations are examples - even as each has exceptions to the general truth.

In addition, the younger one is among the population of adults in the United States today, the less likely one is to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus and His community.  Here is George Barna on the topic:  

One of the most instructive findings was that the younger a person was, the less likely they were to claim to have an active and influential bond with Jesus. Specifically, while 72% of adults 65 or older and 70% of Boomers (i.e., ages 46 to 64) had such a relationship in place, 65% of Busters (i.e., ages 27 to 45) and only 52% of Mosaics (ages 18 to 26) did, as well. Click here for the entire article.

Before we go any further, let me say that I am not in a panic over what is happening around us.  Part of what is falling away is an institutional or cultural form of Christianity that I have never been too fond of anyway.  All of these changes come to us, at least in my frame of reference, from a gracious and loving God who ultimately is at work to redeem His people from every tribe and  tongue and nation on earth.  People at Christ Covenant have heard me say that the next decades may be very difficult for institutional Christendom, but I believe they will be filled with promise and hope for Gospel Christianity.

So here I am in Fredericksburg, VA planting a church that I pray will soon plant other churches.  That is not because I want to advance a particular cultural/political agenda, restore the United States to some mostly-mythical vision of a bygone era or recruit warriors for the culture wars.  It is because I believe that Gospel-centered churches are communities of grace, mercy, justice, reconciliation and redemption that will improve the quality of life for everyone in the larger community.  As Christ Covenant matures, I believe that is what God will do in and through us.  We may feel like Israel carried off to Babylon, but our Father told them, and is telling us, to "seek the shalom and prosperity of the city where God has placed us."  Read Jeremiah 29:1-23 and meditate on what it says.

So let's think about church planting.  To do that, I'm recommending and making available two presentations by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.  They are perfect to listen to in the car while commuting, on the ipod while exercising or during your devotional time.  Whatever fits you best.


Why Plant Churches? - 32 minutes - click here to listen (r-click and "save target as" to download)
How could you not be interested to hear this one when his thesis is:

The vigorous continual planting of new congregations is the single, most crucial strategy for the numerical growth of the body of Christ in any city, and the continual corporate renewal and revival of all the existing churches in the body of Christ in the city.  Nothing else - not crusades, not outreach programs, not parachurch programs, not growing big old-fashioned megachurches, not congregational consulting, not church renewal processes - none of those things have the consistent impact on the body of Christ in the city of dynamic extensive church planting.

Click here to download a .pdf of notes from this presentation.

Gospel Ecosystems - 24 minutes - click here to listen (r-click and "save target as" to download)
This is a church planting vision for an entire community.  If we think of Christ Covenant as a healthy plant, we ought also to envision, support and work for a healthy farm that can help feed the world.  So much of my life and effort is focused on week-to-week survival, that I needed the balance of this one.


They are both public domain so you are free to get them, listen to them and pass them along.  Click here if you would like downloadable MP3's.  Click here if you would like a CD of his two presentations - nothing fancy, I'll give you a CD at church.