5 Reasons to Plant Churches
a mosaic of motivations
Although the topic requires continual qualification, I am still absolutely sold on church planting. I believe starting new worshiping communities is still vital and can contribute to church growth and vitality. Sometimes evangelism emerges as the primary (and even sole) reason for starting new churches. I believe new churches can significantly help in sharing the Gospel; however, I also want to share five additional reasons that have been born out of my experience.
1. Reaching Underserved and Marginalized Communities
Church Planting focuses on strategically embedding the Gospel in unreached communities, specifically targeting parts of a city that are underreached – marginalized, the poor, ethnic, and immigrant groups, etc.
With a commitment to this missional principle, I find myself actually telling people or planting teams not to plant in our city. Many people who choose to come to Spokane to plant a church often seek me out for advice, mainly because of my many years in the city. I genuinely strive to be welcoming and kind, but unfortunately, most people seem to be looking to reach the same individuals. I told a group coming to Spokane a bit ago, bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom to our location (finally, the hundreds of other missional leaders have been waiting for just such a group). When I find out their target, I usually say something like, “If that’s your plan, please don’t come.”
"If that's your plan, please don’t come.”
There have been 12 others who have come with the exact same plan. When they inform me that their approach will be different, my response is often something like, “No, it won’t. That is exactly what the last dozen groups told me.” I usually conclude by saying, “If you want to move into one of our underserved, under-resourced neighborhoods, then I encourage you to come, and we will even support you. I just see little reason to pile up churches trying to reach the same beautiful, affluent, or college-aged people.” I walk away wondering if the God of the Universe, who informed them of this venture, is actually aware of this logjam. Did he really tell them to target the same group when there are thousands of people living outside the people group they hope to reach?
Ok, I am sorry for being so snarky, but this stuff is so important and somewhat annoying.
Implication: If we accept my first point as true, though you might not, then we probably need to be more strategic about where we choose to plant our efforts. We should avoid duplicating efforts in the same area and targeting the same people. Additionally, we must consider how much we are willing to invest in these unique initiatives focused on underserved communities. Some settings may never become fully self-sufficient – while the ROI might not be immediate, the work remains crucial.
2. Church Replacement: Why New Plants Are Essential for Western Christianity
The organization I help lead has a stated goal of planting 400 missionary leaders who will, in turn, plant missional churches throughout our region. Can you say, BHAG? That all said, our numbers may need to be rethought in light of the current rate of church closures. I will not state the statistics here, but with a simple Google search, you can ascertain the cold reality that without new churches being planted in every region, based on closure rates, the church's future in the West is obsolescence.
Implication: Planting new missional/justice churches is non-negotiable because we'd need a sizable number of new churches just to maintain the current level.
3. New Churches are able to Missionally Adapt
There is a nimbleness or agility component in starting new worshiping communities.
A truism that emerged from the “Church Growth Movement” is that churches that are 10 years old or more tend to have accumulated enough historical ruts to hinder their ability to quickly mobilize for a mission when needed. While that idea is dated and may require reevaluation, I believe it still holds some validity.
In other words, the more a church focuses on serving and organizing for already churched individuals, the less capable it becomes of addressing the specific mission challenges unique to its context.
In other words, the older a church becomes, the more concretized its need to be in order to organize to meet the needs of the people who are already there.
Implication: Although there are perhaps other real limiting factors, Church plants do not have the natural massive ruts that calcify their ability to mobilize for mission.
4. Creates Disequilibrium - Church Planting Revitalizes Existing Churches
Every organization or system requires a certain amount of disruption to stay dynamic. At the same time, each system strives to preserve stability. It actively works to sustain a state of homeostasis, as described in some organizational systems theories.
Releasing a group (large or small) of people from your church to go plant a missional and justice-oriented church provides a crisis-free and mission-based opportunity for renewal. It also provides people who want to leave with a guilt-free way to do so. 😎
Implication: Here is a secret. If an existing church plants new churches, it can extend that 10-year axiom way, way beyond the 10-year mark. Perhaps indefinitely.
5. Emerging Leaders - Church Planting as Leadership Pipeline
Finally, and I'm sure you can think of more examples, planting creates open spaces where emerging leaders can develop into their calling. There has to be more room for new leaders. While being a Youth Pastor (or, fill in the blank for other roles) is a valuable calling, if it is not the calling of the young person in your community, asking them to be fulfilled doing something that is not theirs to do is simply not productive and will hinder them from owning a God-sized dream for their life.
Implication: If young leaders in a community are never given the chance to spread their own wings, they will eventually leave. Guaranteed. And if you tell them to wait 5-10 years until you phase out, and they do, they probably aren’t the kind of leader your church needs.
Church Planting Still Matters
While evangelism continues to be an important motivator for starting new churches, many other inspiring reasons also motivate the effort to create a new worshipping community.
Invitation:
Maybe you've been quietly wondering if there's something more — a calling you haven't quite named yet, a community you can't stop thinking about, a dream that keeps resurfacing.
We'd love to have a conversation. Immanuel and the PNW Movement walk alongside planters who are serious about going where the Gospel hasn't taken root — and we don't think you should have to figure it out alone.
And if this isn't your story, it might be someone else's. Think about the leaders in your life who seem made for something they haven't yet stepped into. Forward this to them. Sometimes all it takes is someone saying, I thought of you.
Let's explore it together.