Church Planting Success
For decades the percentage of church plants that survived for 5 year or more was only between 15-20% As a result, there were more churches closing in the USA than opening, All of that has changed. New data by Ed Stetzer shows that there is an average of 68% survival rates for church plants in the first 4 years. This is huge even though the average church plant attendance is less than 80 people at the 4 year mark.
With huge numbers of Americans staying away from church on Sunday it easy to find someone who needs Christ and His Church. Barna reports that nearly 60% of Americans avoid the church building each week. (http://www.gallup.com/poll/113452/evidence-bad-times-boosting-church-attendance.aspx)
How can we increase the growth rate of these churches is the big question these days. I believe that are answers for us to consider. First of all we need to believe that God wants to reach more souls and that we should always be focused on the people for whom Christ died… especially the ones that are not in the church. There are millions of souls that need to come to Christ and let’s face it, we are the only ones that can make that happen. It is our task to bring the Gospel to the lost and hurting world.
We need 1000’s of new successful churches to reach the un-churched in America. Churches that are life-giving, evangelistic and disciple-making at their core. This means there needs to be a whole new breed of pastors that are true shepherds that are interested in the lost sheep. True shepherds would have the following characteristics.
1. Authentic – Give people the real person, not just a “persona.”
2. Compassionate – Love the people more than just the work that he does.
3. Accepting – Loving and accepting people where they are. (This does imply that you approve of their lifestyle)
4. Gospel oriented – He must know that the Gospel of Christ is the only way salvation and freedom.
5. Relevant – He would preach messages that are grace-filled and applicable to everyday life.
6. Equipper – Pastors need to equip the members to “do” the work of the ministry, not possess the ministry.
7. Pray – Pastors must lead their congregation in prayer and fasting.
The hope of the world is the Church… and the hope of the Church is Christ and His under-shepherds. Let’s pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send laborers into the harvest.
Q. How can we get more leaders to plant life-giving churches in the USA?
Billy
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Comments
Cammie Novara
“This is huge even though the average church plant attendance is less than 80 people at the 4 year mark.” I completely agree with that.
Trevor from Excellerate church membership software
I agree as well. It’s easy to be discouraged if you’re a church of 80 after four years of hard work, but we can never forget that growth is an exponential thing, so a slow beginning doesn’t mean failure. How many kids are still pretty tiny after 4 years of hard work at growth and maturity? (All of them). But, if they keep growing, they’ll eventually get to the point where 4 years is ample time to take them from freshmen in high school who think flatulence and voice cracking is the pinnacle of comic achievement, all the way to college freshmen who can debate whether Plato’s cave is an accurate analogy for the world.
Church growth is much the same way. It starts slow. After four years of work there’s a good chance there is still room for growth, but once there’s traction and the foundation is laid, you’ll be getting more new members in one month than you used to have per year.
Andrew Fortner
Wow, this is good stuff, Billy! Very Encouraging! Thanks!!!
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