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Read the articles online:

• A relational, unstructured experience: There is no church planting “master plan”
  –Mauricio Chenlo
• What I wish established churches knew: Gleanings from the ups and downs of church planting-
  Rev. Dr. Dennis R. Edwards
• Tools & Events for Growth
• Seeds in the wind: Church Planting in the Twilight of Christendom –
  Mark Van Steenwyk
• Creating new space: Established churches creatively extend their walls
  -Jessica Walter
• Book Review

View/download the printable PDF

Mauricio Chenlo, Mennonite Mission Network, raleighumd@nc.rr.com
Director of Hispanic Church Planting Academy and Church Planting Coach

In my role as a church planting resource person and director for the Hispanic Church Planting Academy run by Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) in partnership with the Iglesia Menonita Hispana, I meet with church planters and church planting teams all across Mennonite Church USA. My assignment is to empower leaders to grow in their call to expand God’s kingdom through different church planting and leadership development efforts.

As far as I know, neither the denomination nor any of the conferences within the United States has a programmatic master plan for church planting. Church planting within the U.S. has naturally emerged among Racial/Ethnic groups (e.g., Hispanics, Asians). My focus has been to get to know a variety of ordinary believers in different parts of the country who are planting churches or who want to start thinking about planting churches.

I have learned that church planting is less of a programmatic, intentional process and more of a relational, unstructured experience. In our seminars we look at the church planting process and how Jesus developed a group of believers challenged to be apostolic. It reminds me that efforts to plant churches are normally grounded in how ordinary Christians respond to the call to spread the good news.

Church and mission agencies often seem to think that experts who design master plans and deliver the latest strategies are the ones who create ministries. The opposite seems to be true for us. Church planters normally do not receive their sense of call from a highly structured denominational master plan. They get their call from seeing the harvest and receiving a clear call from God. This is precisely what we seek to cultivate.

Instead of attempting to deliver the latest resources created by “experts,” we strive to nurture the call to church planting among people sensing that call by looking at key components of the church planting process: Growing faith where life is happening; the Apostolic dimension; how Jesus developed a group of leaders that responded to the call; the New Testament church planting method; different people; and different models.

I believe transformation begins with the smallest of seeds and grows by the power of God’s Spirit and the work of believers who respond to God’s call.

People need to be reminded that God wants to use them for Kingdom purposes. When we communicate that you need expertise and formal theological education before you can serve God, the learning process can get complicated and mission can be stifled. But people are empowered when they understand that God’s work is not limited to experts, that it is open to all believers who are willing to serve. They get excited when they dwell in the Scripture and allow God’s Spirit to open their eyes to the surrounding realities.

I am becoming more of a cultural broker and mediator for God’s reconciling purposes as I bring people together from different cultures and backgrounds. My desire is to nurture two key activities among God’s people: Listen carefully to what God is calling you to do and serve the people God sends you to and the people God sends to you.

I am often asked what it will take to get a new generation of believers to discover the need to begin churches. Instead of large scale strategies, we simply need to disciple new converts with the notion that there is nothing more exciting for a new believer than to tell someone else how the good news of Jesus Christ has become real in his or her own life.

In a healthy church plant, passion always precedes structure. As a result, church planting will look different in different age groups, in different ethnic groups, and in different regions of the country. What it will not change are the Lord’s purposes for the church and for our world.

Church planting is not the work of “experts.” It is about believers who have a passion to see people come to Christ. Church planting is about leaving your comfort zone and engaging in divine conversations and opportunities to serve the world. It is about understanding that we are not called to fix the world but to model a new society. Truth and justice are possible. Church planting is about a life-style that expresses God’s love for the world!

Rev. Dr. Dennis R. Edwards, revdrdre@yahoo.com
Pastor, Peace Fellowship Church, Washington, DC

Dennis Edwards is the pastor of Franconia Conference “Partner In Mission” Peace Fellowship. He is an experienced church planter and has served with congregations in New York City and Washington, DC. He is currently in the credentialing process with Franconia Conference.

The “Dog” Years
You know how dogs age more rapidly than humans, so that one year is like seven to a dog? Well church planting (especially in urban and rural contexts) can sometimes multiply the aging process for planters in terms of experience. That is to say that in a few years of church planting, the planter can learn many lessons that the leaders of established churches might take longer to learn, simply because the planter has to wear many different hats and make do with very few resources. I think church planters should be respected for that experience even if their churches are relatively small even after several years of labor.

One Man’s Trash…
They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. In the first church I planted, a well-meaning established church gave us their very old hymnals with the name of that congregation embossed on the cover. It was clear that we had secondhand hymnals. Now, we weren’t too proud to take free stuff, but it was hard to explain that in being a new church we wanted to communicate “newness” to our visitors and that is hard to do with someone else’s old stuff. I think it is great when established churches offer practical resources, like tables, chairs, projectors, etc. I just want them to understand and not feel slighted if the new church says “no thank you” to some things.

Money Matters
In the early days of church planting the planter is likely not drawing much of a salary from the congregation and will possibly be bi-vocational. Some churches are willing to put the planter on their budget, which is great, but they will likely want that planter to come and minister at their church to justify their financial decision. I faced this problem. I felt beholden to take speaking engagements so that churches could help finance our work, but I was exhausted, being bi-vocational, trying to help a church to grow while working a “secular” job. It might be a fantasy, but it would be nice if churches were willing to give money to get a church planter salaried sooner, without tying up too much of the planter’s time at the established church.

New Wineskins
New church plants have proven to be more effective and deliberate in evangelism, generally speaking, than many established churches. Those congregations should not feel threatened, therefore, when new churches creatively test new ideas and do things in non-traditional ways. In fact, I would argue that many church planters have a strong appreciation for established churches and want to build churches that are also strong and effective in ministry, even if they don’t copy the methods of those established churches.

It’s Not About Stealing Sheep!
New churches want to help develop new believers, not “recycled” ones (i.e., those coming from other churches). But new churches need people! For a new church to “take off,” there needs to be a critical mass of people who understand the raison d’être (reason for being) of the new church, trusts the leadership and are willing to put their gifts to work. Many times those people will come from the same established church, possibly having a relationship with the church planter already. Established churches need to be willing to let some of the most energetic people go, like the church in Antioch (see Acts 13:2-3). Can you imagine letting your Pauls and Barnabases leave? But when the Lord moves those people to a new ministry, he will provide others to take their places. Or perhaps the established church can “loan” some people to a new church plant to help build a solid foundation.

We Need Each Other
Having been a student of church planting for a few years, I’ve seen new churches thumb their noses, so to speak, at established churches. They seem smug, or self-righteous in being new. I’ve also seen established churches, even within the same denomination, appear to be angry over the presence of a new church.

The new churches and the older churches need each other. Established churches can be stimulated and motivated to try new ideas when they see younger congregations trying new things. And younger churches still have things to learn from more established congregations and do well to hear how they dealt with issues along the way. Church planters have much to learn from established pastors, even with regard to pastoral duties, budgeting, planning, etc.

Some people seeking a church home will not be drawn to the newness that many church plants exhibit, so new churches should feel good about referring those people to certain established churches. Similarly, established churches should feel good about referring people to new churches in the area. There is certainly enough of a harvest field to accommodate all workers!

(click) to view photo album of Peace Fellowship

BOOKS

The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and
Mission for the 21 Century Church
Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003.
A highly recommended book for those looking to rethink outreach and mission.

Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians
Jim Henderson, Matt Casper. BarnaBooks, 2007.
Henderson invites Casper, a known atheist, to join him on a tour of churches and to comment honestly about his experiences in each congregation.

Church Planting: Laying Foundations
Stuart Murray. Herald Press, 2001.
Murray offers an approach to church planting that is both practical and based in solid ecclesiology.

Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church that’s Biblically Sound and Reaching People in Culture
Ed Stetzer. Broadman & Holman, 2006.
Stetzer’s “how to” and “why” guide to planting “biblically faithful and culturally relevant” churches is practical and relevant for approaching church planting in the 21st century.

Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community
Ed Stetzer, David Putnam. Broadman & Holman, 2006.
Because the “one size fits all” model of missional outreach and church planting no longer applies to our various communities and neighborhoods, Stetzer and Putman have put together this guide to understanding the specific culture of your congregation’s community.

EVENTS

October 7: 2008 Orlando E. Costas Lecture – Eldin Villafañe, Ph.D., professor of Christian Social Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Palmer Theological Seminary
(www.palmerseminary.edu)

October 10: Missional Christianity…Church Beyond Boundaries
Biblical Theological Seminary
(www.missio.edu)

October 24-25: Breaking Through Urban Concrete: How agents of Good News can infiltrate hierarchies of power
Manhattan Country School, New York City, NY
(www.mennonitemission.net)

November 11: 2008 Swartley Lectureship on Preaching- Ron Allen, professor of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary
Palmer Theological Seminary
(www.palmerseminary.edu)

January 19-22: School for Leadership Training– Christians Engaging Cultural Change
Eastern Mennonite Seminary
(www.emu.edu/seminary/slt)

January 26-29: Pastors Week– Imagining a New Old Church
Associated Mennonite Seminary
(www.ambs.edu)

Mark Van Steenwyk, mark@missio-dei.com
Pastor, Missio Dei, Minneapolis, Mn.

In an age where people like to shop around for religious affiliations, church planting methods have changed. The dominant church planting models in the United States assume that a church planter can show up in an area, and within a year, have a largely self-sufficient congregation of at least 150 people. This sort of method works in developing suburban contexts with a high number of loosely affiliated Christian residents already looking for some sort of Christian community. However, what has worked for so many church planters in growing suburban contexts (and in some other growing areas of the city) is losing effectiveness. Celebrity megachurches are maximizing their resources to keep from declining. The days of quick salvations—where a life decision about Jesus Christ is made after a short speech—are coming to an end.

We are experiencing the twilight of Christendom. Christianity is losing its place of honor in our culture. We are entering a time where church planters have to be missionaries. Methods aren’t as predictable. Our contexts are increasingly less homogeneous. We live in a society where the nations gather and where fewer people make assumptions about Christianity.

Such a time is filled with opportunities. We can begin to foster new communities of deep discipleship that aren’t as fettered by the historic missteps of Western Christianity.

However, if we are going to engage in this emerging missionary context that is 21st Century America, we need to take bigger risks. We need to engage our contexts with greater creativity and with a deeper attention to disciple making and less attention to building congregations that only attract unaffiliated Christians.
Unfortunately, most denominational church planting systems are insecure. Faced with declining budgets and the desire for results, they would rather compete for crowds of nominal Christians rather than engaging in the task of homeland missions.

When I planted Missio Dei (a congregation afilliated with the Baptist General Conference and Mennonite Church USA) five years ago, I felt alone. Most existing church planting systems avoided urban contexts and those that didn’t wanted quick results. Every major method out there assumed the planter should build a congregation of tithing commuters. In my urban context, which is diverse and lower-income, having a church of primarily tithing commuters (in other words people who do not live in the church’s neighborhood) would be counter productive to mission.

In the past five years, I’ve met remarkably talented church planters who are trying to chart a different course. They are pioneers. Refusing to plant churches in the usual ways, they are exploring new models in challenging contexts. And, for many of these men and women, they are doing this without support. Meanwhile, denominations still pursue “tried and true” methods that are quickly becoming irrelevant.

We’re entering a time in our history where one-size-fits-all methods will no longer work. What we need are new ways of approaching church planting. In light of this new opportunity, here are five suggestions/observations:

This is a time of high risk and high creativity. Instead of trying to do a few church plants “right” we should find ways of equipping, empowering and sending a higher number of leaders to imagine new ways of planting churches.

2) Church planters need relationships more than they need money. With enough key relationships, a church planter can have an ample supply of emotional, spiritual and financial support. A well equipped church planter can raise their support if they have the right people endorsing them, and that doesn’t need to diminish any church or denominational budgets.

3) Church plants need permission to fail. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing wrong. Spending too much energy keeping ourselves from failing stifles creativity.

4) Deep is more important than wide. One of the most common indicators people use in determining the success of a church is its size. Planters feel huge pressure to grow their churches numerically. Do we really believe that the biggest problem facing the church in America is that it is too small? Or is the problem more qualitative than quantitative? Church planters need to know that it is OK to spend time and energy going deep (as Jesus did with the Twelve).

5) Church plants are poor. Their pastors often have to work a second job or are underpaid. Most churches take things like office supplies, hymnals and annual retreats for granted. Established churches can help a lot by offering the little things like leftover office supplies or by inviting new churches to join them for their retreats.

We are in a time of transition. Many researches believe that the Church in the US is in decline. And because of this, denominations have gone into survival mode. Are we going to hold tightly to what we’ve done before as we vainly hope that things will turn out well for us if we play it safe? Or are we willing to embrace the risk of engaging in our changing context in new ways?

Jessica Walter, Associate for Communication and Leadership Cultivation, Franconia Mennonite Conference with John Tyson and Emily Graber, Ministry Inquiry Participants

Church planting is not only a task for individuals who have felt God leading them to establish a congregation in a certain neighborhood. The task of creating a new space of worship, fellowship and accountability can come from within a long established congregation seeking to creatively respond to a need expressed among their neighbors and friends. In Franconia Conference there are several examples of established congregations reaching out beyond their church walls to meet needs, create new church space and help brothers and sisters in Christ come together. These examples include the Spanish Speaking Ministry at Franconia Mennonite Church, Nations Worship Center’s church plant in the Washington, DC area and Whitehall Mennonite Church’s outreach to neighbors, Ripple Effects.

John Tyson, Emily Graber and I have interviewed these three established congregations asking them about the inspiration behind these new growths; their learnings, both good and bad, and where God has clearly been at work in these initiatives.

Spanish Speaking Ministry at Franconia Mennonite Church
Responding to the needs of our local communities often leads to relationships and ministry opportunities. Franconia Mennonite Pastor Arnold Derstine discovered this when a Spanish speaking community member phoned the church seeking a place for her children to worship. According to Derstine, “This contact grew into a relationship and led some of us to ask a few questions. We realized that within our congregation we have a handful of bilingual speakers who could potentially reach out and welcome those around us who feel most comfortable speaking Spanish. In 2006 we decided to begin a Sunday School class in Spanish and we’ve had a small group meeting regularly since then.”

Prior to their arrival at Franconia, Arnold and his wife Marlene served for eight years in Puebla, Mexico with a sister church, and have remained in conversation with that community. “It’s encouraging and inspiring when looking back because one can see so clearly how God prompts, prepares and sets things in motion long before we fully understand what God is up to.”

Forging this new ministry, however, has not been without challenge. “We know,” explained Arnold, “it can be intimidating for people to come to a worship service at church when it hasn’t been their pattern or their practice to do so. This is true even for guests that speak the same language, grew up in the same community and share a similar ethnic identity, so when reaching out to our Spanish speaking friends we realize that the intimidation factor of coming to church is exponentially increased. Therefore we plan activities and events in addition to Sunday morning as a way of cultivating relationships and building rapport and trust.” Despite this challenge, the connections and relationships being built are creating hope. “While the number of Spanish speaking people is growing slowly within the congregation the number of Spanish speaking people we are connected to in the community is growing extensively.”

God’s movement became evident when the group was struggling to discern whether or not to purchase translating equipment and received an anonymous donation towards the fund. “The timing seemed so clearly to be a sign of God’s leading,” recalls Derstine. “We purchased our translating equipment this past spring leading up to a baptism service which included Reynaldo and Jaslyn Ramos, a young couple actively participating in our Spanish group. We see this translating equipment as a way of using the opportunities God gives us to share the message of Jesus.”

As this new ministry has taken off, things are changing, growing. “I sense God working in growing us as people who embrace diversity. As demographics and culture in our surrounding community continue to change we too, as a faith community, need to open ourselves and grow in our understanding of and outreach to folks who are different than us,” said Arnold. “Many Spanish speaking people have come to this country to escape violence and poverty and to make a better life for their families. Our ultimate desire is that this ministry would provide a setting where people meet Jesus and come to know him as their protector, provider and the Rock on which they can stand.”

A “Ripple” from Whitehall Mennonite Church
Commissioned by Whitehall Mennonite Church, Ripple began with breakfast and discussion at Tom and Carolyn Albright’s home. “God was nudging us to reach out to those we knew from work and the community who had questions about God but did not want to enter a church, or thought the church was not a place to ask their questions,” recalls Carolyn. “We also had a conviction that the current church needed to be different for our postmodern culture.”

The inspiration behind Ripple came from “the leadership of the Albrights and their ability to see that the present form of practicing ‘churchliness’ is not connecting with the general population in our communities,” states Whitehall’s congregational chair, Urbane Byler. “They began asking, ‘What do we need to change to become involved with our neighbors?’ They made suggestions to leadership but no one bought into it. When the Conference called for some radical experiments in reaching out, they were just waiting to give it a try. We were inspired to support a family so dedicated to reaching out to their neighbors.”

“I truly believe that we are missionaries from Whitehall,” adds Tom, “sent to go out into the community.”

Ripple has given people the opportunity to think outside the church box. “It’s been really refreshing to look at faith from the perspective of people who are sort of outside the church,” reflects Tom. “The first couple months made me look at my faith in a completely new way. There were people questioning everything, asking me, ‘Who is God’ and ‘Why do you believe this?’”

Though he admits that he was scared during the first few meetings, Tom realized that this process was important and life giving to those around him. “Watching other people come to see the Bible and faith in a new way and finding some really great people [has also been life giving]. Christians lives become focused on Christian friends, and I realized how out of touch I was with my community. People are honest and have honest questions; Ripple has given them space to question.”

The group, which now meets twice a month in various locations, not only provides space to ask questions of faith, but also to challenge how each attendee can do more in their community. “We encourage participants to ‘do a ripple’ and then share about it at each meeting.” notes Carolyn. “One woman paid for the groceries of the elderly man behind her at the grocery store and talked about how good she felt about helping someone with no strings attached. Another woman gave her favorite designer purse to a co-worker who had cancer and had always admired this purse. She said that she felt, distinctly, God telling her to empty her purse and take it to this co-worker on that particular day.”

Ripple also has a goal of spending their designated donation money before the next meeting. Members of the group often suggest where the donation should be made and this money has been given to individuals in need, local community organizations and global missions. “We have seen God move through this ministry in our letting go of being in control and waiting for participants and God to let us know what is needed,” says Carolyn. “Our own family has grown closer as we partner together to make Ripple and ripples happen.”

Alongside what has been life-giving there have also been challenges in mindsets, expectations and planning along this journey.

“We are learning to listen carefully and attentively to others needs and that no question is too hard for God,” shares Carolyn. “We don´t have to have the answers, as we stay centered on Jesus. I am also learning to trust that Jesus is at work in each person´s life, and it is a privilege to hear them share their stories of recognizing him in their lives.”

“People do respond to good neighbors,” said Urbane Byler. “Building relationships is worthwhile and table time with neighbors can be spiritual even though there is not a lot of ‘God Talk.’”

Nations Worship Center plants in Washington DC
Nations Worship Pastor Beny Krisbianto has been connecting with a group of Indonesian immigrants in the Washington, DC, area over the past year, helping to plant a church there. “The Indonesian immigrants in the DC area need a community where they can feel love and encouragement and are able to help each other,” states Beny. “Some of them feel lonely as they face the challenges of adopting the American culture. The Indonesian people in DC need the church as a community of Christ where they can be united and help each other as fellow immigrants. We want them to feel that our ministry is their home or family. As the church, we will stand with them in every situation.”

Nations Worship Center, DC spends a lot of time with its attendees, listening to struggles, praying for needs and helping people find practical ways to work through their problems. “We are there to help and not for our own business,” adds Beny. “We need to die from our will and really listen to what God wants us to do.”

Like all church plants, Nations Worship Center, DC, has had its ups and downs. Beny noted that there is a struggle to raise up committed leaders and ministers among the attendees of the new congregation. But they have also had their blessings. Last year Nations Worship Center was invited to the Indonesian Embassy. The Ambassador, a Muslim man, was so impressed with Nations Worship’s ministry that he invited them to dinner and asked them to pray for him. Since then the DC church has an open invitation to use the embassy for meetings.

“Ministry, including the church planting, is not ours. It belongs to God. We need to make sure that the churches we plant are in God’s will and not our own ambition.”

Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World
Bob Roberts Jr.. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.
Owen E. Burkholder, Conference Minister
Virginia Mennonite Conference

Bob Roberts is pastor of NorthWood Church in Texas and founder of GlocalNet (www.glocal.net). He says God reshaped his initial vision to build a megachurch into a vision to multiply churches. Now, instead of seeking to attract 20,000 people to one campus, Northwood sees more than 20,000 people attend churches they have helped start.

In Transformation, Roberts tells his story and presents his three part vision of the transformed life which includes 1) maintaining an interactive relationship with God, 2) developing transparent connections with each other, and 3) having a glocal (combining local and global) impact. He argues that evangelism without discipleship misses the central purpose of the gospel, which is to call together a community of people living out transformed lives.
Transformed lives form the basis of a transformed world which includes community development, church multiplication, and nation building. According to the author, every caste, every nation, every tribe, every culture should matter to us, because they all matter to God.

Roberts’ passion is refreshing. He is not satisfied with status quo. He writes, “I have no interest in helping start a church—it’s a waste of time and money. I have much interest in starting church-starting churches.” The good news is that most new churches come from established churches that are over ten years old. The bad news is that most of those established churches have never started a church. He calls for us to simultaneously recalibrate established churches for regular church planting while new churches they plant are infused with a whole new DNA so that they will be church-planting churches from the beginning.
Appendix 1 is a helpful “Profile Qualities for Church Planters” that focuses on essential qualities, starting skills and sustaining skills.

Finally, Roberts challenges us to engage the souls of all our people to use their vocations for church multiplication (through their transformed lives) both locally and globally (leading to a transformed world) as the way to participate in the kingdom of God.