If you are committed to seeing your church plant new churches but are not sure how you will ever reach that point when you can/will plant, then it’s helpful to know that there is more than one way to church plant.
The conventional approach requires a sending/mother church to commission a substantial proportion of its congregation to begin an autonomous church in a new locality. It is this approach that often sounds daunting. A church of less than 150 will struggle to send out enough people to make the plant viable and even if only a small number leave, it will feel that it is struggling itself. We may then believe that church planting is only for those with large, resource rich congregations.
However, there are other ways to approach things, For example, you could begin to multiply congregations that remain part of the same church and share resources including leadership and finance. They may share a building or may move multi-site but this enables you to provide the infrastructure to support the whole church. Eventually as these congregations grow, one or more may choose to move out and become a church in their own right. In fact, autnonomy may be something that evolves over time as they grow and develop their own leaders and establish gifting within the church.
Another approach is to encourage community groups to be mission minded rather than just gathering for prayer and Bible study. They may begin to identify opportunities to serve in a local community in different ways, picking litter, organising a barbecue for the community, inviting neighbours to Christianity Explored or Alpha. Gradual engagement with a community where church members are already involved may eventually lead to the group evolving into a church for that community.
Thirdly, a church may wish to see an area reached for the Gospel and realise that they cannot do this by themselves. However, partnership with several other churches may enable them to bring together a small team from the different churches to plant a church. This may particularly suit a situation where an existing church requires revitalisation and the small team of new people will be joined by half a dozen existing members of the legacy church.
Fourthly, reaching an area may require a pioneer work, just one or two families committed to reaching the area and opening up their own home. This may involve setting aside just one or two families from the church but it may also give an opportunity for someone from outside of the church to join you. The pioneers are then members of your church, usually joining you for Sunday worship but their gifts and ministry are used not to make up rotas for the existing church but rather, they are freed up to serve in the community they are seeking to reach.
Which approach would be best for you?
Faithroots 