Church plants, Church starts, mission churches, these are terms you might hear in many churches across America. The typical congregation may come to a point where it has the means to attempt to start a new church in an area where that particular denomination, or the gospel itself, is absent. Generally, an associate pastor, or some elders may volunteer to relocate their worship. It can often be a huge sacrifice. At one moment you are part of a congregation that has finally reached maturity, the pews are filled, the preaching and teaching are sound, your Christian brothers and sisters are there, and you willingly move, the sole reason being to help others find Christ and be nurtured.
There may be a lot of enthusiasm as you initially canvas the community. You may have a very small core to begin with and you are probably meeting in a school auditorium. As you knock on doors, you might begin with something like "Hello, I'm so-and-so and would like to welcome you to, Grace Church, for example. We meet at the old Andre's Restaurant on Sunday mornings at 11 am. We use the Bible as our guide. I'm sure that you won't find it intimidating in any way. We have a very nice nursery for the children. May I leave a flyer with you?"
Now I'm sure that this opening varies. Some may begin with the gospel itself. It may be an invitation to join a Bible study or an invite to a picnic with free hot dogs and hamburgers. The methods may differ substantially but the intention is the same and that is to bring them in to hear the gospel. They put a lot of effort and tears in for this goal and are often successful but it is not without problems. If a department store, at Christmastime, has a sign outside that says "Santa Claus is here!" it probably would be a good idea to actually have a jolly old man in a red suit on the premises. It you offer hot dogs, you might want to make sure that you do not run out.
Whatever you advertise, you have to continue with! If you advertise a friendly church with a nursery then the people that come will come because of that. If you advertise Bible Study, then that is what they want. If you intend to have "love" as your calling card, then they may only want their definition of it. Unfortunately, many of the mega-churches today have been very innovative. One church, that at one time was the biggest church in America, sent out questionieres that asked what it was the people "did not like" about the churches they had been to, the intention being to eliminate what turned people away. I would go about church planting a different way.
I live in Western Pennsylvania. I believe that I know the area for I have lived here since I was 12 years old. I read the same papers, watch and listen to the same television and radio personalities. We are proud to be Pittsburghers, quite frankly. We speak the same language so to speak . R. C. Sproul is perhaps the most effective teacher of Reformed Theology in the world and he is a Pittsburgher, although now located in Orlando, Florida. I know the people I work with and have worked with for 30 years, and they are the same everyday people who populate this tri-state (Pa., Ohio, W. Va.) area.
It is my belief that there are large numbers of people here who are craving a Christian church that might engage their mind. They want to enter this world of theology for they know that the very thoughts that animate their belief are theological in nature. They are tired of the user friendly church and theology lite. They are itching for the chance to learn more than the necessary basics that have been presented to them in Sunday School after Sunday School, year after year. This same thing happened to me although in a much shorter order. I heard Don Kistler formerly of Soli Deo Gloria Ministries and now associated with R. C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries, on Christian radio and know that there was something here that I needed to know more about. I heard John MacArthur of Grace To You and heard the same type of doctrine that excited my mind as my heart had been excited
. I began to find books that spoke the same way, mostly from Banner Of Truth from Carlisle Pa.. In my case, I kept at this quest, reading and making phone calls. I set out to find what was missing. Whether it is a church plant of church growth, we have to find these people for they are out there. We don't have to beg or cajole them to come to someplace they have been praying for. We have to be very clear up front with them that this is not a Lets pool all of our thought processes and try to find answers type of invitation. Rather, we graciously let them know that this church of today is the product of something that only partially resembles 2000 years of church history and 6000 years of Biblical history. We will lay the history of the church out before you and you can decide for yourself is more the tact to take.
In a church plant you will be adding to your church with core members with sound Biblical doctrine and an awareness of how the current church formed and the plethora of doctrinal errors and temptations that are out there. They will be far better equipped to reach out themselves. We have created an intellectual void in the church, gradually, over the past 150 or so years. I write this because I am concerned for those out there looking for a sound church, others do it primarily to grow and evangelize, and we certainly need to pursue this course for the sake of the this nation that needs a strong biblical Christianity!
There may be a lot of enthusiasm as you initially canvas the community. You may have a very small core to begin with and you are probably meeting in a school auditorium. As you knock on doors, you might begin with something like "Hello, I'm so-and-so and would like to welcome you to, Grace Church, for example. We meet at the old Andre's Restaurant on Sunday mornings at 11 am. We use the Bible as our guide. I'm sure that you won't find it intimidating in any way. We have a very nice nursery for the children. May I leave a flyer with you?"
Now I'm sure that this opening varies. Some may begin with the gospel itself. It may be an invitation to join a Bible study or an invite to a picnic with free hot dogs and hamburgers. The methods may differ substantially but the intention is the same and that is to bring them in to hear the gospel. They put a lot of effort and tears in for this goal and are often successful but it is not without problems. If a department store, at Christmastime, has a sign outside that says "Santa Claus is here!" it probably would be a good idea to actually have a jolly old man in a red suit on the premises. It you offer hot dogs, you might want to make sure that you do not run out.
Whatever you advertise, you have to continue with! If you advertise a friendly church with a nursery then the people that come will come because of that. If you advertise Bible Study, then that is what they want. If you intend to have "love" as your calling card, then they may only want their definition of it. Unfortunately, many of the mega-churches today have been very innovative. One church, that at one time was the biggest church in America, sent out questionieres that asked what it was the people "did not like" about the churches they had been to, the intention being to eliminate what turned people away. I would go about church planting a different way.
I live in Western Pennsylvania. I believe that I know the area for I have lived here since I was 12 years old. I read the same papers, watch and listen to the same television and radio personalities. We are proud to be Pittsburghers, quite frankly. We speak the same language so to speak . R. C. Sproul is perhaps the most effective teacher of Reformed Theology in the world and he is a Pittsburgher, although now located in Orlando, Florida. I know the people I work with and have worked with for 30 years, and they are the same everyday people who populate this tri-state (Pa., Ohio, W. Va.) area.
It is my belief that there are large numbers of people here who are craving a Christian church that might engage their mind. They want to enter this world of theology for they know that the very thoughts that animate their belief are theological in nature. They are tired of the user friendly church and theology lite. They are itching for the chance to learn more than the necessary basics that have been presented to them in Sunday School after Sunday School, year after year. This same thing happened to me although in a much shorter order. I heard Don Kistler formerly of Soli Deo Gloria Ministries and now associated with R. C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries, on Christian radio and know that there was something here that I needed to know more about. I heard John MacArthur of Grace To You and heard the same type of doctrine that excited my mind as my heart had been excited
. I began to find books that spoke the same way, mostly from Banner Of Truth from Carlisle Pa.. In my case, I kept at this quest, reading and making phone calls. I set out to find what was missing. Whether it is a church plant of church growth, we have to find these people for they are out there. We don't have to beg or cajole them to come to someplace they have been praying for. We have to be very clear up front with them that this is not a Lets pool all of our thought processes and try to find answers type of invitation. Rather, we graciously let them know that this church of today is the product of something that only partially resembles 2000 years of church history and 6000 years of Biblical history. We will lay the history of the church out before you and you can decide for yourself is more the tact to take.
In a church plant you will be adding to your church with core members with sound Biblical doctrine and an awareness of how the current church formed and the plethora of doctrinal errors and temptations that are out there. They will be far better equipped to reach out themselves. We have created an intellectual void in the church, gradually, over the past 150 or so years. I write this because I am concerned for those out there looking for a sound church, others do it primarily to grow and evangelize, and we certainly need to pursue this course for the sake of the this nation that needs a strong biblical Christianity!
