Changing the Chip About Church Planting

There is no disagreement that America needs more churches. Statistically, new churches reap a greater harvest than older established churches, meaning that new churches reach new people quicker than older churches. These facts ring true in NNE. So, the question is not will we plant more churches. We will! The questions are where, what model will we employ, who will be the planters, and what will the new church look like?

In the past, we in NNE have followed a similar pattern as seen throughout the US, a model that is still popular yet failing to reach the scope of the harvest. It is a model dependent upon religious professionals (credentialed ministers). Often church plants are not strategic and give no thought to a community’s particular needs or culture. Hence, contributing to the fact that 68% of new churches fail within the first four years. Because of our unique culture, harsh winters, and few credentialed ministers, we in NNE need a fresh look at planting life-giving churches. We need to change our Chip!

Changing the Chip for us means being creative with our model, redefining goals, and even adjusting our terminology. For one, we are not going to be dependent on credentialed ministers to get the job done (We will not turn them down if they desire to be church planters). However, we are looking at laity, people with callings and gifting who sit in church pews week in and week out. We embrace men and women who want to stay in the workplace while serving in ministry opportunities. We believe church planting is the call of every believer who will embrace it. No formal training is required. Next, our goal is not necessarily to create a few large monolithic churches with all the trimmings of modern church success. We believe in simple church and will embrace church at its purest form. This requires only three things, (1) A group of people willing to bind together in Christian Community. The size of the community doesn’t determine if it’s a church or not. (2) Common worship where you regularly meet together for the study of scripture, prayer, sacrament and loving and caring for one another. Time, space, and location are not important. (3) Commitment to the Lord’s mission to reach and teach the lost and seek to replicate your church in another place. There are many things that can be added to a church that makes it more complex and we embrace larger more complex churches, but we believe the harvest cannot be won without the proliferation of small churches on the margins that embrace a simple and pure form of church. Finally, our objective needs to be seen more in the mindset of church multiplication and planters as multipliers. This allows us to envision not a single majestic oak that we will call a church, but we see the church as a vine spreading from small gathering to small gathering. This process is sustainable because it practices the priesthood of all believers and doesn’t require a budget.

I am encouraging every pastor to search your congregation for people with gifting and calling to reap a harvest. Don’t let their calling be wasted. Bring these individuals to our upcoming Church Multipliers Gathering, March 27-28 in Scarborough. Let’s take aim on the harvest and send forth laborers.

God bless!
Bishop White