Scott’s Blog

Don’t we Already Have Enough Churches?

Whenever the topic of planting churches comes up, someone raises this objection: We already have plenty of churches with lots of room in them, shouldn’t we just help them survive rather than planting more “competition?”

Great question. Short answer: No.

Here’s why. Research indicates that 60% – 80% of new church attendees are un-churched. Churches over ten years old gain 80% – 90% of their new attendees as church transfers. That means that churches under ten years old are six to eight times more successful at reaching un-churched people than churches over ten years old.

Why is that? Because as churches age, organizational comfort and survival become the primary concern. Older churches spend a great deal of time trying to keep the people inside happy. Conversely, new churches need new people to survive.

Consider as an example three towns with identical populations and 100 churches each. Each church has 100 attendees.

If in town A, all the churches are over 15 years old, the overall number of active Christians in that town will be shrinking even if some of the churches get hot and double in size.

If in town B, five of the churches are under 15 years old and a couple of the older churches are winning new people to Christ, the number of active Christians in that town will stay about the same.

However, if 30 of the churches in town C are under 15 years old, the number of active Christians in the town will grow 50% in one generation.

No kidding. Let’s get multiplying.  

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One of the most exciting aspects of our plan for continued vitality at ebc is to become a church that multiplies itself.  There are a lot of good reasons to plant churches, but the main reason is because the vigorous continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for the growth and renewal of the church. Nothing else has the constant extensive impact of church planting. I realize that is a big statement, but anyone that has done the research will agree with it.

There are four reasons why church planting is so effective:

1.       It is true to the biblical mandate. Jesus did it, Paul did it, and all the great evangelistic challenges of the New Testament are calls to plant churches. In fact, the very call to baptize in the New Testament is actually a call to be immersed into a community with accountability, teaching and worship. Most of our evangelism aims to get decisions, but the fact is most of those decisions are never heard from again. That’s why noted missiologist Peter Wagner has written: “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven.”

2.       It is true to the Great Commission. Every church ought to be doing it. Every church should be teaching and preaching and worshiping and planting. New churches are by far the best way to reach a new generation, a new group of residents or a new people group in any community. The church has always sought to adapt to its culture, but it has adapted very slowly. New churches can be effective immediately.

3.        Church planting is the most effective way to renew existing churches. When an existing church sends a group of people to plant a new work, it is forced to replace those people, both as volunteers and those who attend services. New churches bring new ideas to the table.  They are great incubators to reveal new leaders, and new churches are great at making older churches examine themselves. New churches are evangelistic feeders for the whole community.

4.       Planting new churches is an exercise in Kingdom mindedness. There is a constant struggle in churches to maintain a Kingdom perspective. The inertia of the group will always push the congregation to be self-focused. Intentional church planting combats that inertia.

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When a church is in transition it can start to feel like everything is changing. It’s worth asking the question; what really is changing and what is staying the same.

We arechanging some of the methods we use to do ministry. Adding a service with a classic style, having an additional contemporary service and looking to begin planting churches in the Susquehanna Valley are all changes in method. And, the truth is these will certainly not be the last methodological changes we make. We will continually do all we can to use methods that are effective in the culture and generation in which we find ourselves.

The longer list however is what is not changing. Our values haven’t changed, and won’t. Our statement of belief and our commitment to the Bible as the inerrant source of truth and life has not changed. Our worship philosophy or our commitment to teaching the Bible and doing all we can to create a counter culture where people grow to full surrender to Jesus have not and will not change.  

I suppose the key point is the philosophy behind the methodological changes we make. We don’t start with the culture and try to tailor ourselves to attract people to us. We don’t change what our beliefs are so that peole will feel more comfortable and come to our services. We start with the Bible and a strong, solid theology and then try to find ways to carry that message to the culture that we serve in a way that makes sense.

Some things are changing at ebc and those things are getting all the attention right now. But the truth is more is staying the same than is changing. Our commitment to the Bible and it’s message is the driving motivator of all that we do. 

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