Church Planting

“In a modern church-planting culture that invites creativity and welcomes pastors that are younger, hipper, and more entertaining, we must remember the basics.” - TGC

“Desiring to be a church-planting church, Saylorville began the Engage Network in 2005 to identify and equip people for ministry and send them out to serve, especially to plant churches.” - GARBC

What’s in a Name?

“We launched the church with 1 Timothy. And I would encourage any pastor, whether planting or replanting, to start by preaching through the Pastoral Epistles” - TGC

“Church planting is evangelistically effective only to the degree that it is evangelistically focused from the beginning.” - CToday

On a Sunday afternoon in January, 2009, about 80 people gathered in Asheboro, NC, to officially constitute Providence Baptist Church. The culmination of more than four years of labor and prayer, the time had come, and a host of attenders and friends joined to celebrate the joyous occasion.

Church buildings are a polarizing possibility. Some people love buildings. Other people hate them. Having been mobile now for 13 years, most of Coram Deo’s congregation is bullish about the potential of permanent space. But in earlier years, our church had a strong “anti-building” sentiment. And both points of view are always present within any congregation.

“Baptisms are at a 70-year low, while Sunday worshipers are at a 20-year low.” CT

In a rather “accidental series,” I’ve written an evaluation of the church planting movement, followed by my thoughts on why your church won’t be able to find a pastor, and then gave some instructions on how to start a home church. Each of these articles had the common thread of the dismay over the condition of the church in our day. Now I’d like to complete these thoughts with a further word about church planting. I am convinced that the church planting movement, with all its failures, has been responsible for much of the sickness of the church today, and those who care about the health of the church should avoid the funding of church planting efforts, especially through networks and denominational agencies.

How Did We Get Here?

Randy White: My region needs new churches, and yours probably does too. But I’m convinced that if we think we are going to reach our nation by funding denominational agencies or church planting networks, that we have simply “drank the kool-aid.”

Church Planting

In Praise of Gloriously Basic Churches

Enagage Network Establishes Fifth Church

“I told my students to use 'Baptist' if it was an advantage and to not use it if it was a disadvantage.”

What Biblical Book Should I Begin Preaching in a Church Plant?

How Evangelistically Effective is Church Planting?

A Church Is Born

How to Cast Vision for a Church Building

Hundreds of New Churches Not Enough to Satisfy Southern Baptists

Why Church Planting Should Not Be Funded

How Did We Get Here?

Evaluating the Church Planting Movement: The Failure Nobody Wants to Talk About

Since 2005