Church planting
Church planting is the process of establishing new Christian churches, often initiated by relocating members from existing congregations to create a new community of worship. This practice has deep roots in Christian history, tracing back to the early followers of Jesus who spread his teachings, eventually leading to the establishment of church buildings and communities as Christianity grew across the globe. In contemporary settings, church planting can involve various strategies, including the recruitment of local leaders and the establishment of self-sustaining churches that can multiply independently.
A significant aspect of church planting is the focus on indigenous leadership and support, aiming to foster local ownership of these new congregations. This approach has evolved over time, with models ranging from mother/daughter church relationships to cell group formations that grow organically from small gatherings. The concept has also been adapted in response to the needs of declining congregations, as seen in efforts within the Anglican Church in London to revitalize worship communities. Ultimately, church planting movements strive to create a network of churches that can sustain and replicate themselves, contributing to the broader goal of expanding Christian outreach.
Subject Terms
Church planting
Church planting is a process of establishing new Christian churches. It is often accomplished by recruiting members of a parent or sister church to move to another area and launch a new church—as missionaries have done for centuries. A concerted effort to rapidly grow a denomination through these tactics is known as a church planting movement. Many of the strategies of these movements have also been adapted to revive dwindling congregations.
Development of Mission
Church planting has been around since Christianity was established, and the first Christians followed the command of their teacher Jesus Christ to share his message with the world. Early Christians took the message to homes at first, but in time, Christian communities erected buildings for worship. The Roman Empire adopted Christianity, and it became established across Europe, eventually spreading around the world. Church planting evolved on all continents.
For centuries, early Christian missionaries focused primarily on spreading their message. During the nineteenth century, missions began by building a compound, or station, which was a secure area that included a church, housing for missionaries and workers, and possibly a school, clinic, or other needed facilities. These missions, which were financed, created, and staffed by foreign missionaries, often were in conflict with native, or Indigenous, people. The outsiders, who provided needed services (medical care, literacy, care for orphans), generally held the power in such relationships.
Missionaries Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson realized that foreign-built missions were unlikely to gain permanence in countries when loyalty depended upon who was best providing for local people. They decided churches needed three qualities: the ability to govern, support themselves, and multiply. These qualities became necessary as many countries expelled foreigners in the wake of World War II. China expelled all American missionaries from 1948 to 1949, and only Christian churches that could stand on their own survived.
Mission groups reevaluated their approach and gradually stopped subsidizing their ministries. The responsibility for supporting and growing local, or native churches, was shifted to Indigenous populations. One description compares foreign mission to scaffolding: It is important during building, but once construction is complete, it is removed and the building must stand on its own.
Strategy
Working in Northeast India during the early 1990s, missionaries David and Jan Watson created a new strategy that involved finding a local person with peaceful potential, educating the individual in Christianity, and making the person a pastor of a new church. The strategy also involved identifying and training other potential leaders and simultaneously educating many local people to continue the cycle. The number of local churches in the region grew quickly. Over seven years, an estimated fifty-five thousand local people had converted to Christianity. By 2000 the Watsons estimated more than three thousand churches had been planted in Northeast India. Other missionaries took note of their success and adopted the practice. Soon David Watson was working as a consultant for the newfound church planting movement. The International Mission Board explains that church planting movements are meant to rapidly increase local or indigenous churches through multiplication.
A congregation or an organization may choose to plant a church based on many factors, such as the success of other denominations or the demographics of an area. The basic model of church planting involves a church planter (CP) and family moving to a chosen place to start a church, much like a pioneer moving to the frontier where little support is available. An established mother church or mission agency provides some support for the daughter church. The defining characteristic of church planting is that the momentum for creating churches comes from within the planted churches—rather than from outside influences—and is part of the identity of each church. The CP provides religious instruction and guidance, but local people choose to create a church and plant more.
Church planting becomes a movement when the goal expands beyond establishing one or a few churches to converting a nation to Christianity—figuratively planting a field of churches that continue to multiply. The mother/daughter church is one of the earliest models, but several other models have also emerged. A parachute drop model is one in which the CP moves to an area with no contacts or sponsoring church nearby; this has the reported lowest success rate, estimated at about 15 percent. A house or cell church is a small group that may initially gather to address a particular need, such as financial challenges. The leader develops a trusting relationship with this small group and begins inviting members to pilot cell group meetings, where the leader shares the religious message. The leader continually trains members to become leaders themselves, helping them teach others what they have learned. More cell groups of a dozen or so people each are created from the first cell groups. Eventually, the network may be large enough to transition to a more traditional worship service and church model, if desired.
Adapting the Model
Over time, the idea of church planting has been adapted to foster growth. In London, for example, Anglican (Church of England) leaders have enthusiastically embraced church planters as missionaries to aid dwindling or dormant congregations. In 2009, about thirty-two church planters moved to St. Peter's in Brighton. The congregation at St. Peter's included slightly more than a dozen people when the church planters arrived, but the congregation grew to include about one thousand members.
Bibliography
Burgess, Taylor. "How to Survive the First Five Years of Church Planting." The Gospel Coalition, 22 Jan. 2022, www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/navigate-minefield-conversations/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
Fanning, Don. "Church Planting Movements." Trends and Issues in Missions. Center for Global Ministries, Liberty University. 2009, digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=cgm‗missions. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
Garrison, David. "Church Planting Movements." Office of Overseas Operations. International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 2009, www.simplechurchathome.com/PDF&PowerPoint/ChurchPlantingMovements.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.
"Go Forth and Multiply." Economist. Economist Newspaper Limited. 17 Jan. 2015, economist.com/news/britain/21639520-london-supplies-england-wealth-cultureand-increasingly-christians-go-forth-and-multiply. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.