SBC Voices has published several posts recently on church planting. I thought it might be helpful to our readers to explain why church planting is important. In the following post, I’ll list a number of reasons. After the first reason (It is biblical), the reasons are not listed in order of importance. So, why should we emphasize church planting?
Church planting is biblical. I could just stop with this reason. If church planting is biblical, then believers and churches should do it. In His Great Commission, Jesus commanded His followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). The book of Acts explains how they obeyed the Lord’s command—they planted churches. Much of Acts narrates Paul’s missionary journeys. He planted a church in every city where he spent significant time. If we truly mean to be New Testament churches, then we should strive to plant churches.
New churches win more people to Christ. Church growth research has demonstrated that new churches consistently win more to Christ than older churches. I tell my seminary classes—Young couples have more babies than old folks (thank God for that). A study done by the Research Department at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) found that new Anglo (English-speaking) churches baptized 13 persons per 100 members, while older churches baptized 3 persons per 100 members. Peter Wagner, the church growth guru of my generation, declared that church planting is “the single most effective evangelistic method under heaven.” Ed Stetzer, the church growth guru of this generation, states, “We must conclude that the most effective method of evangelism is church planting.”
New churches grow more rapidly than older churches. Again, there is a considerable body of research that proves this. Why do newer churches grow faster? New churches are striving to add enough members to at first survive and then later to achieve the vision of the founders. When a church planter or a group of Christians start a new church, they have a vision of what that church will be like, what it will become. Those charter members work hard to enlist new members in order to fulfill their vision. They seek and welcome new members. Sadly, many older churches become closed social groups. They might not admit or even realize that they are closed to new members, but they like their fellowship the way it is. They do not welcome new members. Oh, you don’t believe me. Well, I was the supply preacher at a country church in Kentucky. When I arrived at the church, the chairman of the deacons informed me the church would have a business meeting after the service. He said they would vote on whether to fire their pastor or keep him. I stayed for the business meeting and learned that the chief complaint against the pastor was that he was bringing too many new people into the church. That church was over 100 years old.
New churches are needed to replace dying churches. According to a Baptist Press article, 715 SBC churches closed their doors in 2024. Perhaps, not all of those churches need to be replaced, but many of them do. (Note to Readers: My next post will deal with dying churches.)
New churches are needed in unserved communities. People raised in the South often say, “There’s a church on every corner.” That may be true in some regions, but that is not true throughout North America, much less the world. Joe Radosevich has recently posted on SBC Voices about church planting in the North. He mentioned that there are lots of communities without an evangelical church of any kind. That fact should trouble us.
New churches are needed to reach new generations. It is difficult for a church to reach multiple generations. The worship style that appeals to young adults may not appeal to older folks. I knew a large church that utilized a traditional worship style. A group of young adult members approached the pastor and asked that the church switch to a contemporary style. A group of wealthy laymen heard about their conversation with the pastor. They warned the pastor that if the church changed its worship, they would withhold their giving. The church did not change its worship, and a large group of young adults transferred to a church with contemporary worship. What’s my point? It’s hard for one church to be all things to all people.
New churches are needed for new communities. I live in far north Fort Worth, Texas. The population in this area is growing rapidly. Developers are building new subdivisions and apartment complexes at an amazing rate. We need new churches for these new communities. Years ago, I drove from Kentucky to Florida. I stopped for gas in Florida and realized I had stopped in a new, planned community. The gas station on the interstate highway was one of the first things built. The developers had posted a diagram and map of the new community. On the map were designated spaces for schools and churches.
New churches are needed to reach language/ethnic groups. People need to hear the gospel in their heart language. Beyond that, they desire to worship in ways that are culturally appropriate for them. We need lots of new churches that proclaim the gospel in Spanish and Korean and Chinese, and other languages as well.
New churches are essential to the health of the Southern Baptist Convention. The late Lyle Schaller was a noted church growth/health researcher. He wrote, “From a denominational perspective, one road to numerical growth is to organize more new missions. A reasonable goal is a number equal to at least 2 to 3 percent of the current number of congregations.” For the SBC, this means we need to plant about 1,500 new churches each year. We’re planting about half that many. One might say, “What does it matter whether the SBC is healthy or not?” Remember that the SBC was founded in order to engage in foreign missions and home missions. The first motion of the SBC in 1845 was to establish the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board). In order to maintain and expand our missionary efforts at home and abroad, we need a healthy base of supporting churches.
Note: Much of the material in this post comes from the last chapter in my book, Church Evangelism (Broadman & Holman).
