Church Planting and Denominations
Answering our second church planting question: What role should denominational structures play in the church planting process? How can they help or hinder the process? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, see here.)
I am ambivalent here. I was rejected as a church planter by our state denomination, but that same group has helped us plant one of our Spanish speaking churches.
There are some advantages to working with a denomination:
- They have money.
- They have expertise and experience in church planting.
- They may have name recognition that gives you credibility in the community (people will know that you're not a cult).
- They can provide training, accountability, and encouragement.
- Depending on the denomination, you may find that they are experts in planting the wrong kind of church. Our local denomination tends to be very pragmatic.
- They may run out of money.
- There are often rules, pressures, meetings, paperwork, and expectations that unnecessarily constrict and harass the planter. Denominations usually need tangible results so that they can defend their investment to the member churches.
- There may be theological and methodological conflicts.
The problem is, most denominations don't approach it that way. When we planted our first church for Spanish speakers, the denomination kept thanking us for all of our help with their church plant. They saw the "sponsoring church" as a source of money and some accountability, but not much else.
As far as we were concerned, we were planting the church and they were helping us. Our church was contributing most of the planter's salary, providing office space and meeting space, our members were assisting him with practical needs, we were praying for him and rejoicing in seeing people come to Christ.
So I am not opposed to working with denominations, but it needs to be done advisedly.
I'm a prospective church planter and have had a very difficult finding churches in my town (Ann Arbor, MI) that have a commitment to church planting. The church where I am serving as a Church Planting Resident is different than what I would plant ecclesiologcally, but working together for planting Gospel-centered churches is definitely a common goal.
I have enjoyed meeting the local and state denominational reps for church planting. The talks have been encouraging and illuminating. For anyone who feels called to plant, even if you're not going to plant through a denom, it is always helpful to talk to others who are focused on church planting almost completely. I created a list of the reps for each state for 5 denoms here http://intersected.org/denom-contacts-church-planting/
Posted by: Chris Blackstone | Aug 27, 2009 9:09:51 AM
Are there any denominations better/worse at this?
Posted by: J | Aug 27, 2009 3:53:25 PM