I frequently hear pastors say, “Our church is a church plant.” These days I have to ask what “church plant” means.
The best I can discern is that being a church plant possibility has something to do with the age of the church. However, even with duration of existence there is no agreed upon definition. I hear from church planters, “Our church is 6 months old. We’re a church plant.” Then I hear from others, “We’re a church plant. We are three years old.”
Or, maybe being a church plant has something to do with the amount of structure and organization in place. Sometimes the words “church plant” are used apologetically, such as when I (a former mega church pastor) am talking to a pastor who has been serving a church of 20 people for the past year. “We’re a church plant,” he says with a sense of embarrassment because his church is not as large and with all the cool stuff like my faith family.
Just the opposite, sometimes “church plant” is worn like a badge of honor. Such as, “We don’t have all that traditional stuff to weigh us down like the rest of you. We’re a church plant.”
Then there is the financial piece with some using the church plant label because of limited resources for pastoral salaries. Note: In the distant history of my denomination, churches unable to support a pastor with a full-time salary were referred to as “half-time churches.”
What do we mean when we say our church is a church plant? The reality is every church is a church plant. That means:
My church nearing 30 years of age, with great complexity, is a church plant.
The first church I pastored was 10 years old with 50 people. She was a church plant.
The church that started last week in a home with 7 people is a church plant.
Every church is a church plant. No contemporary church came into existence ex nihilo. All churches had starting points–planting points. Whether they began with 100 long term Kingdom citizens, or birthed from the harvest, all churches were planted in the context of cultures.
The words “church plant” are not bad or incorrect. Keep using them. But what do you mean when you say your church is a church plant?
What are you teaching and modeling before others about biblical ecclesiology when you use “plant” to describe your local expression of the Body of Christ?
Is that group of people a local church or not a local church? If they are, then describe them in biblical terms and do not be so caught up with all of the adjectives, modifiers, and apologies.
Just call her “church.” Then tell the wonderful story of how the Father, Son, and Spirit brought her into existence!
I think of a church plant as a church “planted” by another church or supporting body. the Church Plant is still receiving financial, and perhaps other, aid and is not yet “Self Supporting”
Just another way of slicing the definition.
Thank you, Bruce, for sharing.
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Thanks for the insights JD. As a church planter myself, I have always wondered why we call it a church plant. Here’s my thoughts, we use the word plant to describe “placement.” Whether you’re planting a tree in your yard, some new flowers or seeds, you are placing these items in specific locations with an intended outcome. We can also plant animals in new locations as well as factories or establishments (such as power plants). We can also do things like heart transplants or implants of other organs and the like. The word plant can also bring the idea of something new. New vegetation, a new heart or a new establishment planted (or placed) in a specific area brings new growth, new life and a new outcome. So when speaking of a church plant, we have the idea of the beginning of a new church establishment in a specific location (or placement) with an intended outcome of bringing new life, new communities and ultimately an entirely new culture.
Thanks for sharing, Stephen. The language goes back to old missionary terminology of “indigenous.” Churches were to come from the indigenous harvest fields and take root in them.