Continuing to countdown the five most critical issues in North American church planting (see HERE and HERE if you have not caught the other posts in this series), we now come to #3.
Church planters in the study noted that Critical Issue #3 involved the reality of turfish and/or apathetic churches (and church leaders) in their contexts.
Turfish churches are those who believe the community (always undefined) is their “turf,” and they are going to reach everyone in the community with the gospel (though they are not really reaching many people at the moment), and will fight against anyone who wants to come into their community to tell others about Jesus.
Apathetic churches are those who are so busy with their labors they really do not care about the work of any church planters. They are not opposed to such missionary efforts, just apathetic.
The church planters in my study were very surprised at the responses they received from other churches, responses that ranged from anger to apathy. They were also very surprised at the number of churches with large amounts of resources (e.g., people, money) who had no desire to partner with anyone entering into their communities.
Few churches in the U.S. and Canada are presently involved in church planting. While there has been a growing interest in church planting in the past five years, the numbers are still very low.
At a recent presentation, Ed Stetzer shared that only 28% of all Protestant churches are involved in church planting in some way, with that stat dropping to 3% when we only look at churches who are the primary sponsoring churches.
There are a few reasons why I believe this critical issue is the present reality. Keep in mind some of these reasons are brought on by church planters themselves.
Some churches are ignorant as to what is biblical church planting. They believe church planters are coming into their communities to “compete” against them. Granted, some church planters have done (and are doing) this ungodly practice. Some churches believe church planting is about intentional sheep-stealing. Granted, many church planters have done (and are doing) this ungodly practice. Other churches lack a Kingdom vision, and fail to have a theology and missiology that includes church planting. Some churches are in a maintenance mode and are so inwardly focused they are concerned with their survival alone. Other churches are already so involved in reaching their communities that partnering with another ministry would result in a loss of focus and a lack of effectiveness.
Practical Matters to Keep in Mind
1) Do not be surprised if established churches in the community do not welcome you and your team with open arms. If they do, that is wonderful!
2) Do not act inappropriately toward the turfish and apathetic churches. Remember, such churches make up the Bride of Christ. The Groom does not appreciate it when others do not act appropriately toward the Bride. Remain Christ-like. Remember the words of Paul, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10, ESV).
3) Do what the Lord has called you to do, remembering the biblical expression of church planting is evangelism that results in new churches, not sheep-stealing.
4) Attempt to befriend and work with evangelical churches in the area, and let them know your Ethical Guidelines.
5) Be thankful for the churches who will partner with you. If you have a great partnering church, know that a large number of church planters would love to have that support.
6) If you are leading an established church, don’t be turfish or apathetic. While you may not be able to participate, please be encouraging to the church planters.
7) If you are considering leading your church to be involved in church planting, you may want to read a couple of articles that I’ve written HERE and HERE.
Good word J. D. I know in our context that the history of successful church plants started from our congregation had been disappointing. Church planting is needed. For our church, fear of failure looms over the desire to plant. We have launched new endeavors, gone on mission trips and our finances have struggled. So we fear making a commitment that we know we cannot keep or would obligate us into deficit. With the current economy and being a church that does not have a high per capita giving, we find it difficult to overcome the fear of failure.
Thank you, Jim.