Church Plant Among the Churches
(Month – 7)
One thing the church planting literature doesn’t deal with is how to helpfully engage with churches in the area of the new plant. How should we approach this?
As a church plant we want to be a blessing to other people. In the first place, to the not yet Christians who we are seeking to reach, but also to other Christians we know who are labouring to the same end.
Firstly, Church plants should seek to good to the Christians and churches around them. In Galatians chapter 6, Paul says:
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Christians want to do good to those around them, especially to ‘the family of believers’. There are many ways that we can do good including praying for people, serving them, partnering together. The church plant can seek to do good toward the churches around it by specifically communicating clearly with people what is happening; sending people we meet who might be more helped by an older more established church; and by saying ‘no’ to Christians in the are who may be interested in joining the church plant, but who would be better served by staying where they are.
Secondly, church plants will seek to do good ‘according to opportunity’. Paul delineates the doing good to all people by saying ‘as we have opportunity’. Life is such that all of us are limited to the extent and way in which we can do good. A church plant team throwing their time and energy into reaching out to not yet Christians will have limited time and energy to be serving the existing churches. Which is not to say that there might be specific ways that we can – only that we need to be realistic (as Paul was) about what is possible.
Thirdly, church plants will seek to partner with Christians in their network as the opportunity for gospel partnership arises. In 3 John the apostle commends Gaius for having shown welcome and partnership to the itinerant gospel workers. John says that we should ’show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth’ (v8). Where possible, it makes sense to partner with other Christians working together for the truth. It really doesn’t matter whose ‘church’ individual ventures comes under. What matters is serving God for his glory. So if there are other Christian parents in the primary school class of your child, it makes sense to work together for the truth. We want to do what is good for the kingdom, not just what is good for our ‘turf’ (as if there is such a thing!).
Yes, though you must look at the “statement of faith” of the church you would like to partner with.
Hi Nigel
Great work: as you say, and from what I can see, how to work with local churches seems to be under-addressed in thinking about church-planting.
I like your first point about communicating clearly, sending people to more established churches where appropriate, and saying ‘no’ to Christians where necessary.
A practical question related to the ’saying no’ sub-point: what about saying ‘yes’ to disillusioned, disenfranchised Christians who haven’t been attending mainstream churches because they feel they don’t fit in them (for whatever reason)? Though these aren’t the main target of church plants, they may be one group of Christians who could be helped by the smaller, less-traditional, no-nonsense approach of church plants. I have one friend who has slipped through the gaps of mainstream churches and I’d love to send to him to a church plant.
Your second point: “church plants will seek to do good ‘as we have opportunity’”. Do you think Paul was using this ‘opportunity’ phrase in a limiting way?; i.e., saying, “We’re all human; there’s only so much we can do.” Or, could his thrust might have been more positive; i.e., “Get out there and take every opportunity.” Moises Silva puts it like this: “At every opportunity, we must make the effort to do what is good, and we should be particularly alert to meeting the needs of the Christian community” (NBC, p.
1220).
Your point about human limitations stands; I just want to make sure this is what Paul was getting at.
(An exegetical aside: Lightfoot reckons the reading “while we have time” — i.e. while there is still light, cf. Jn 12:35 — also makes good sense of this phrase. See his Epistle to the Galatians, p. 220.)
Finally, “church plants will seek to partner with Christians … as the opportunity for gospel partnership arises”. I think this is excellent! To consider another practical example: what if someone from a local church knew of a gospel-proclaiming event a church plant was holding and wanted to invite a not-yet Christian friend to this event — would it be suitable for them to do so?
I hope I’m not quibbling; I’m just trying to understand and stimulate thinking about how church plants and local churches coexist and work together.
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your good post.
I wonder if living in a city (whether its 50000 or 5 million people) always raises these kinds of complications. Because of the overlapping networks of the city there will always be people around the place that you know about (eg another christian parent at schoool). The city opens the door to possible partnerships.
But I still think that life is still such that we are limited finite beings unable to do everything. I take your point re Gal 6 exegesis, but opportunities might be unlimited, but my capacity to run with them clearly is. I guess I’m just wanting people not to have unrealisitic expectations.
We’ll keep talking. N