"The reason that we’re so active in evangelism is because we’re a church plant.” “I suppose we do Sunday services this way because we’re a church plant.” I heard many of these sorts of sentiments expressed when I came to pastor Izumi Church, Japan (which started in 2009) in 2016.
Talking to the believers who thought like this, I discovered a mistaken ecclesiology and a large set of unbiblical assumptions about the difference between having a missionary leader and local pastor. Working through these issues led me to reassess the church and church plant distinction.
My conclusion was that the distinction between church plants and churches is mistaken and unhelpful.
When your church plant is failing...
We don’t often say it out loud, but church planting is deeply vulnerable. We go in with dreams, hopes, vision …