Most North American Church Planting Strategies are Inadequate for the Task
I am beginning a series of posts on the topic of missionary strategy, particularly related to North American church planting strategies. The matter of missionary strategy is regularly on my mind. Recently, however, I have been thinking, writing, and speaking about it more frequently.
My former professor and friend, Dr. Mark Terry and I are co-authoring a book on missionary strategy for the Baker Academic, Encountering Mission series. I am also working on another book with Biblica addressing, among other matters, strategy for reaching and sending international migrants to unreached peoples around the world. Lord willing, these books should be out in 2012. I recently completed a chapter on a strategic matter for a forthcoming book on rural missiology from the North American Mission Board, edited by Dr. George Garner. Also, over the past year I have been in numerous cities and meetings speaking on the topic of urban strategy. This past July, I taught my annual course on church multiplication strategies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. On top of these personal experiences, I have noticed that the conference circuit and blogosphere have their fair share of discussions on or related to strategy. Because of these and a several other related matters, I thought it was time to launch this series.
The next three posts in this series will contain three shifts that are necessary for healthy strategy, as related to church multiplication. These shifts reveal reasons why I believe most North American strategies are inadequate for the awesome task before the Church. Please note: I wrote most in the previous sentence.
These posts provide a general observation. General, yes, but an observation based on fourteen years of ministry experience and the past decade of research regarding mission in North America.
Just as a foundation for a building must be designed properly, missionary strategy must also have a healthy foundation. I hope to provide some assistance in developing the foundation.
But until we get to these three, a few more comments are necessary.
Instant Gratification Causes Us to Run Sprints
As you well know, we live in an instant society. We want results, and we want them now. This unhealthy philosophy has been in the Church for the longest time. And our church planting strategies are not immune to this plague. The result? Our strategies are designed to bring instant gratification, thus allowing us to win the sprint of planting more churches, while failing in the marathon of making disciples.
And we all know that a sprint is about the instant.
The Bible Does Not Tell Us to Plant Churches
We plant churches, but the Bible does not tell us to plant churches. We start worship services and believe we have accomplished the task. We begin events and tell our supporters we have accomplished something tangible, but are these events healthy when it comes to multiplication?
On Strategy, the Kingdom, and Multiplication
Our strategies will produce results such as crowds (both small and large). While I am all for the right crowds, do we ever stop and ask how many in these gatherings have recently come into the Kingdom? How many are transfers from other churches?
Our strategies will produce complex results from the start. Results that generally manifest themselves in churches that are 10, 20, and 50 years old. Have we stopped and thought about the possibilities for multiplication when we begin church planting with such complexity that few of the new believers could ever reproduce what was modeled before them--if God saved them today and called them out to plant churches within a year? Or, maybe God does not work this way? Or, maybe our church multiplication minds can't even fathom this possibility for strategy? If so, maybe, our church multiplication strategies are not strategies for multiplication at all?
Multiplication is an Act of the Sovereign Lord
Now, I must begin by writing that no multiplication (movement) will happen apart from the sovereignty of God. The Church cannot create movement. It is an act of the Spirit. We cannot program it. It is not achieved in four or five easy steps. However, we can hoist the sails on our boats so that if the Spirit does decide to move, He would be able to guide us in the direction of His will for the moment. An Old Testament story should give us reason to pause: The Lord desired His people to enter the Promised Land, and enter they did--forty years later. Our Father's will will be done in North America, but will our generation be the means by which His Spirit may move to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches?
I can't say with certainty that we will be the means. I can say that I do not believe the majority of North American church planting strategies are positioning us for possible movement. And so, I write this series.
Next post in series: Shift #3--The Philosophical Shift