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How to Kill Your Church Plant
If
you want to grow something to last a season
- plant flowers.
If you want to grow something to last
a lifetime - plant trees.
If you want to grow something to last
through eternity - plant churches.
Anonymous
The
gospel imperative demands that we plant
churches in His honor. Its purpose is
rooted in the Great Commission and a passion
for the gospel of Jesus Christ that invites
people into a relationship with Him.
We know from research that it is much
easier for people to join a new church
plant than it is to become a member of
an existing congregation. Research also
indicates that there are a lot of people
who don't know Christup to 40 % of the
American population remains unchurched.
We believe from Scripture that every person
created by God matters greatly to God.
He calls us through Christ to go and find
the ones we can reach and walk with them
long enough so they can introduce Christ
to others. We also know that in fishing,
the initiative is with the fisherman,
not the fish!
But church planting requires wisdom. Jesus
said, "Still other seed fell on good
soil, where it produced a cropa hundred,
sixty or thirty times what was sown. He
who has ears, let him hear"Matthew
13 8, 9 NIV. In other words, there must
be intentional planning, lots of preparation
and nurturing of the soil, and lots of
prayer. Only then will the plant of God's
household of faith multiply.
Indeed, the church growth experts tell
us that there are some ways you can kill
your church plant, sometimes even before
it takes root in the soil. The following
are some ways to kill a church plant.
Take note.
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Don't
waste time assessing for character
in choosing church planters. Anybody
will do. |
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Fail
to remind planters to major in the
majors. |
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Pressure
the planter to start too soon. |
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Start
without a rehearsed, committed team
that doesn't know one another, who
aren't prepared to welcome others
nor do any task together. |
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Forget
your Adventist culture, i.e. people
see something from another NonAdventist
venue and try to implant it into the
local scene. This can stop future
church planting as well. |
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Planter
prefers publicity instead of doing
personal recruiting. |
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Forget
that Evangelism is always based in
relationships. |
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Leave
land selection worry to the planter.
Spend lots of time chasing land rather
than developing the community. |
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Determine
the type of church being planted without
checking out the reality of vision
to demographics and vision of God. |
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Allow
planter be so busy with church meetings
and fellowship, and fail to work with
the local conference to gain support. |
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Allow
planter to remain a one-person band |
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Bend
the vision to please others: Don't
stand up for and with your planter. |
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No
planning or comprehensive vision by
the pastor, staff and church officers. |
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Underfund
the strategy and don't appreciate
financial realities. |
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Understaff
the plan. |
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Call
a planter who is not gifted in church
planting. |
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No
one in particular is responsible. |
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Think
church planting is simple and a no-brainer. |
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Hold
unrealistic, unstated or conflicting
expectations of what this Adventist
church will look like. |
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Insist
that the church planter doesn't have
to live in the community. |
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Locate
a new plant in a low visible site
because of cheap land. |
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No
need to nurture the new congregants. |
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OK
to be invisible during the week and
incomprehensible in the pulpit on
Sabbaths. |
Prayer:
Dear Father, for those planning or
in the process of planting a new church
for your witness, bless their efforts
at nurturing in order that good soil might
be found in which to grow and multiply
your plant, in Jesus' name and for His
honor we pray. Amen.
Donald
G. King is president of the Atlantic Union
Conference and
chairman of the Atlantic Union College
Board of Trustees.
Atlantic Union GLEANER
March 2004
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