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The CommentaryAgainst church plantsAgainst church plantsI thought that headline might be intriguingly provocative! There are large areas of our land where there is no witness at all for the biblical gospel of Christ. Vast areas of rural Britain, enormous run-down housing estates and many new developments on ‘greenfield’ sites have no gospel church holding out the word of life to them. Here, for certain, we should be doing our best to plant new churches. But often I am finding that various Christian groups are making efforts to set up a church in towns which already have strong gospel churches. Why are they doing this? Of course, it can be said that there are more than enough non-Christians to fill lots more churches. And if the group is successful we should rejoice. It could also, no doubt, be said that the existing churches could be doing more to reach out. But is church-planting in such places as high a priority as seeking to plant where at present there are none? Small churchesThat brings me to another set of circumstances. New groups come to an area where there already exists a gospel church which is in decline. Often no attempt is made to get alongside that struggling church and help that witness. The new group simply ignores them, with the rationale that it is easier to start something fresh and new than to try to restore, repair and rebuild (Isaiah 58.12) what is old and perhaps set in its ways. I have to hold up my hands and admit that this is often the situation. Some small churches can be touchy and intransigent. But there is a case to be made that reviving small churches ought to be our priority and that church planting in such circumstances should be a last resort. * Witness. To start another church where there is one already is to undermine even further the unity of the church in the eyes of the watching world. ‘Why should we believe what you are preaching? You Christians can’t even agree yourselves to worship together.’ * Message. When we church plant while ignoring an existing small church, the message being given is not that Christ is the answer, but that our particular brand of church is the answer. This smacks more of our own empire-building than God’s kingdom. * Discouragement. When a new group of Christians moves in with no respect or hand of friendship for an existing church the obvious implication is that the existing church is not worth bothering with. ‘Encourage one another’ (Hebrews 10.25)? * Finance. When a small church closes, its building is sold off. Even apart from the shame of it now becoming a carpet warehouse or a temple of another religion, we must ask what happens to the money? Often it seems to get lost in the central coffers of a failing denomination and is never seen again, while the new church plant is either spending money on hiring a school or trying to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy a building. What a waste of kingdom resources. * Sheep-stealing. Though church plants are meant to grow by conversions, often they don’t. They often grow by taking Christians from other gospel churches. Holding the fortSo how about a rethink? God does love small churches. There are a group of 34 churches in East Anglia with a total membership of about 1,300. That makes an average of about 40 or so, but some are much smaller. Last year they grew overall by 11 members. Praise God they are not shrinking. They are holding the line. But many churches like these need help. John Benton© Evangelicals Now - November 2007 |