This post is part of an ongoing series looking at church planting.
Obviously, church planting is not all fun-and-games. There are plenty of challenges inherent in starting a new church, including those of: Continue reading
Congregation
Does Church Planting Overly Innovate?
This post is part of an ongoing series looking at church planting.
As commonly framed, Christianity often has problems with new things. Whether it’s new ways of thinking about Jesus (as during those pesky Christological controversies in the early Church), framing theology (like during the Reformation), using academic scholarship to inform faith (as in the modernist-fundamentalist debates), or thinking about human sexuality (like in many contemporary churches), Christianity and newness don’t always get along. Continue reading
How Does Church Planting Help?
This post is part of an ongoing series looking at church planting.
There are numerous benefits to planting churches.
Church plants advance the Kingdom of God.9 When more and more believers gather together, proclaiming the gospel, preaching the Scriptures, celebrating the sacraments, and living in community, the Kingdom of God tangibly advances in our world. Continue reading
Why Plant a Church?
This post is part of an ongoing series looking at church planting.
Of course, there are already a lot of established churches. So why do people plant new churches?
First, church planting represents a tangible way for Christians to fulfill the Great Commission, to “make disciples of every nation” (Matthew 28:19-20). No place on earth is 100% churched. While there are plenty of locales with lots of churches, in no area does every belong to a church (let alone attend one on a regular basis). For example, St. Louis is a traditionally Christian city, with large numbers of Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Pentecostal churches. Yet something like 80% of people living in St. Louis did not attend any sort of church last weekend.5 Continue reading
What Is Church Planting?
You’ve seen them in your community. They’re popping up in old buildings, fields, and other empty spaces. They show up with catchy names and make lots of loud noise, often attracting quite a crowd in the process. But what are they? Where do they come from? And why are they here?
I’m talking, of course, about church plants—when a new local church begins where none had previously existed. Continue reading
