Introduction

Christian churches line the streets, yet the community surrounding the four walls often

looks nothing like the faces within. A meager twenty-nine percent of this generation attends

church and only “one [lost] person is reached for Christ for every eighty-five church members in

America.”1 Where has the body of Christ gone? Where are the saints, the royal priesthood?

Where are the Christians that vow to uphold God’s Word and adhere to its commands?

Something is amiss in the body of Christ in America if this is the result of a life “dedicated” to

the gospel. It is apparent that the Great Commission has become a slogan to the complacent

Christian instead of a battle cry for the soldier in God’s army.

One does not have to go far to find disturbing statistics and signs of a dying church here

in the west. In 2002, George Barna’s research indicated that “95 to 100 million Americans of all

ages were unchurched”2 and that America is the 4th largest unchurched nation in the world.

How is that statement even possible? It is because the established church in America has

become efficient with church practices and no longer relies on work of the Spirit. John Mark

Terry explains that “we have the best materials, media, and methods, but we lack spiritual

power.”3 Christians in the early church had none of the advantages that Christians do today; they

1
Thom S. Rainer, Surprising Insights From the Unchurched: and Proven Ways to
Reach Them (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 36
2
George Barna, Grow Your Church from the Outside In (Ventura, CA: Regal Books
from Gospel Light, 2002), 23
3
John Mark Terry, Church Evangelism (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers,
1997), 16.

1
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did not even have the New Testament. So what exactly did the early church practice that

produced believers willing to die for their King? It’s quite simple, they understood that having a

church was not the ultimate goal but rather was a means to an end. The end is to embrace the

Great Commission and do that by planting churches.

Penetrating an unchurched culture with the gospel of Christ is very difficult. Alvin Reid,

an evangelism professor at Southeastern Seminary “argues that most conventional churches will

have a difficult time making the necessary shifts to do what it takes to reach large numbers of the

unchurched, especially in the cities.”4 Are established churches broken? Are they useful at all?

Church planting could be the key that inaugurates the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but where

does this leave the established church? Many beloved Southern Baptists are members of

churches that have been around for hundreds of years. Is it being said that they now serve no

role in the Great Commission? The goal of this research paper is to interact with key resources

and personal interviews to analyze the current position of many established churches, how

church planting is warranted in Scripture, and how it is effective both for the sending church and

the unchurched.

Biblical Defense of Church Planting

The amount of attention church planting has received over the past two decades is a recent

phenomenon, and one would be wrong to engage in church planting just because it is “in” right

now. Instead, one must turn to the Scriptures and analyze their motivations and seek its counsel

when it comes to planting churches. It is imperative that church planters “start with the Bible to

understand and build on the clear New Testament patters of church planting”5 for to miss this

step would be to engage in activity that is counterproductive to the work of the gospel.

4
Alvin Reid, Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional
(Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2009), 374.
 3

What the early church seemed to grasp that has gotten lost through time is that having an

established church was not the end goal. The end goal was to see the lost come to know and

accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was never intended that once a group of people

acquired a meeting place to hold their business meetings and social gatherings that the church

had arrived. The biblical model shows that church planting and having an established church

(people) and facilities were mere tools used to engage in the Great Commission, and this can be

clearly seen in the great sending passages of the New Testament.

The New Testament offers key commissioning passages and while they do not implicitly

say “go plant churches” they do say “go, disciple, baptize, and teach” which can be done

effectively and efficiently by planting churches. The first of these great commissioning passages

is found in John 20:21 and here Jesus proclaims “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Here Jesus was speaking to His disciples but also to Christians today. Jesus is man’s perfect

example and just has He was sent by God the Father to save a lost and dying world, Christians

today are being sent to seek and to save the lost through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The next great sending passage is “Jesus’ best-known word of sending, and it clearly

explains that the task of world evangelization is given to his disciples-then and now.”6 Matthew

28:18-20 are the verses that should be before every believer as they live their Christian life.

Evangelism does not occur in a single setting at a certain time, but in every context and every

place. In these verses, Jesus is speaking of reaching every context, people group, and culture

with the good news of the gospel and this is the whole idea of church planting. Church planting

is intended to be used as a tool to impact hard to reach places that either have never heard the

5
Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers,
2006), 37.
6
Ibid., 39
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gospel or have turned a deaf ear. The good news of Christ is a timeless message that never needs

changing but it can be packaged in different ways in order to reach the 6.7 billion people that live

on the planet. Through contextualization, church planters can carry the gospel “to reach people

where they are and to take them where they need to go.”7

Finally, the book of Acts offers another great sending passage and presents great insight

and defense for church planting. It is no longer required that foreign missions must occur over

seas, for now the nations have come to America. In Acts 1:8 Jesus is sending His disciples to

impact this lost world with the gospel and like the rest, the command is meant for modern day

believers as well. The early believers were sent just as Christ was sent; in order to disciple all

people and seek and save the lost. Church planting can play a critical role in accomplishing this

task, for no longer is a church bound so to only plant churches in their own town but now, can be

planted overseas.

What an amazing thought! There is now nothing that holds the church back from planting

churches all over this world in every culture, language, and context but are established churches

willing? Is church planting seen as a tool that epitomizes the Great Commission? What is the

current status of established churches in America and what effects does church planting have on

the established church?

Effects of Church Planting on the Established Church

The church in America in most cases is hardly the church that is demonstrated in the New

Testament. More times than not “most churches plateau, and most eventually decline. [These

churches] start strong or experience periods of growth, but then they stagnate. Churches that

were once outwardly focused eventually become worried about the wrong things. They become

7
Ibid., 40
 5

more concerned about a well-used policy manual than a well-used baptistery.”8 Why is this the

case? Why is this not a random singularity instead of the norm in hundreds of denominations

and thousands of churches in America?

Personal interviews with Tina, Page, Michael, Diane, and Cynthia all from different

cultural backgrounds that live around a given church who are lost, speak to the current tragedy

that is occurring in the local church in America. When asked “why do you think most people do

not attend church” Michael, Page, and Cynthia gave responses that pointed to the people in the

church. Instead of experiencing the body of Christ that seeks to save the lost of this world, the

churches they visited judged them and looked down on them. They said they could tell that this

particular church cared more about buildings and looking a certain way, more than the people so

they never returned to that church or any other. To them, they gave church a shot and it did not

work out.

The other two, Tina and Diane who responded to the same question both said the exact

same thing. They said that “church has nothing to offer me” and usually this remark is expected

of those who are lost and have no desire to know God but both of these individuals were

different. Yes, they were lost but they wanted to know more about God and Jesus but it was

church tradition and preference that got in the way. After attending several Sundays, each

individual could feel that the members of the church were forcing their own church culture on

them telling them “you need to listen to this kind of music if you are going to worship here” and

“you need to wear these kinds of clothes if you are going to come” and both of them turned from

church and ultimately from God declaring “church has nothing for me.”

8
Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned
Around and Yours Too (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2007), 17.
 6

How tragic were these interviews. It is a sad day when lost people can attend a church and

leave without feeling the love of Christ through the body of Christ. Tradition and personal

preference has stripped many churches from their calling of being administers of the gospel of

love and grace. According to statistics and these interviews, the established church is failing to

be the church, but there is hope. Just as a fire can be rekindled and stoked back to life, so can a

church rediscover their role in the Great Commission and be rejuvenated through church

planting.

Church plants can serve as the catalyst for their sponsoring church. It is a common

misconception that only healthy churches can and should plant churches, for planting a church

could be a great way to regain the fervor and vigor the sponsoring church once had. It is

common that once the sponsoring church sees their church plant “grow, the sponsoring church

gains a new enthusiasm and enlarge their vision of fulfilling the Great Commission. The

ministries of the daughter churches have stimulated this established church to evangelize with

more zeal and have reminded them of their priorities regarding discipleship.”9 It is because of

the established church that the plant exists and it is because of the plant that the established

church returns to its roots of evangelism and discipleship. So much happens over time that

sometimes, churches need something radical that forces them to disregard mere traditions and

personal preferences and uphold the Great Commission.

Church plants can refocus the sponsoring church in order to ascertain what is important

and what must be set aside. C.S. Lewis is certainly known for his thoughts and contributions to

the fields of apologetics and philosophy but he also offers a valuable insight into the realm of

church planting. C.S. Lewis sounds an alarm to church planters saying “there exists in every

9
Daniel R. Sanchez, Ebbie Smith, Curtis Wake Starting Reproducing Congregations: A
Guidebook for Contextual New Church Development (Dention: Moonlight Studios, 2001), 17
 7

church something sooner or later that work against the very purpose for which it came to

existence…so we must strive very hard, by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the

mission that Christ originally gave to it.”10 When giving birth, a couple usually analyzes their

life so as to provide the perfect environment for their growing child and the same thing happens

in church planting. Birthing a new church can refocus a mother church but the good news does

not stop there! It is beneficial for the established church to plant churches but how about those

that are lost? Are new churches with little budgets and no buildings really more effective than

established churches when it comes to reaching lost people?

Effects of Church Planting on Unchurched Culture

Statistic after statistic points to the effectiveness of new churches in a given location. With

renewed vigor and desire to embody the early church, church planters are able to start fresh in

carrying out the Great Commission without being bogged down with baggage of an established

church. From the very beginning “new churches have the opportunity to demonstrate the

kingdom of God, even though imperfectly, as a genuine counter culture to the pagan culture

around them.”11Quite simply, church plants instill discipleship in new believers and practice

evangelism wholeheartedly in order to survive, already giving them an edge on established

churches that often times, no longer incarnate the kingdom of God by their words and deeds.

Also, because of their fresh status as a new body of Christ whose single desire it is to reach

lost people, church plants are flexible and adaptable and this allows them to be more effective

when reaching the lost. A church plant is not settled in their ways when it comes to worship

10
C.S. Lewis cited in A. Hirsch, Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
(Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2006), 55,
11
Daniel R. Sanchez, Ebbie Smith, Curtis Wake Starting Reproducing Congregations:
A Guidebook for Contextual New Church Development (Dention: Moonlight Studios, 2001), 10
 8

style, education, evangelism, or leadership which leaves options open when looking for the

unchurched. This is a strong weakness for the established church and it hinders the groups of

people they are able to reach, because they are not willing to sacrifice mere preferences to reach

the masses.

When it comes to numbers, church plants win more. When it comes to baptisms, church

plants baptize more. If the question were asked “which church looks more like the early church,

a small church plant or a large established church with no desire to reach lost and dying world”

then Scripture would side with the small church plant.

Church planting is important but only because of the goal it helps achieve, which is

reaching a lost and dying world with the gospel. The Bible speaks of a God that is willing to

send who ever at whatever the cost in order to reach the lost of this world and this can be

achieved effectively through church planting. If church planting were only supported by

Scripture that would be enough, but church planting also serves the sponsoring church by

rekindling a fire that burns hot to see lost souls won to Christ.

Church planting is a worthwhile goal, because it works! May the body of Christ

establish a whatever it takes mentality to see the nations come to Christ and embrace church

planting as a means to an end, to glorify God the Father.

 Bibliography

Barna, George. Grow Your Church from the Outside In. Ventura, CA: Regal Books from Gospel
Light, 2002

Lewis, C.S. cited in A. Hirsch, Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Grand
Rapids: Brazos Press, 2006

Rainer, Thom S.. Surprising Insights From the Unchurched: and Proven Ways to Reach Them.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001

Reid, Alvin. Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional. Nashville:

Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2009

Sanchez, Daniel, Ebbie Smith, and Curtis Wake. Starting Reproducing Congregations: A
Guidebook for Contextual New Church Development. Denton: Moonlight Studios, 2001

Stetzer, Ed. Planting Missional Churches. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006

Stetzer, Ed, and Mike Dodson. Comeback Churches:How 300 Churches Turned Around and
Yours Can Too. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2007

Terry, John. M. Church Evangelism Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997

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CHURCH PLANTING & THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH

A Term Paper

Presented to

Dr. Mike Dodson

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

MIS 6580 Methodology for North American Church Planting

John Sanders

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

June 25, 2010