"Church Planting...What's The Rush?" Three Church Planting Myths "Church planting...what's the rush?" "We live in the most Christian nation in the world...so what's the big deal about starting new churches?" "We already have too many churches in the United States...why do we need more?" "Why start new churches when so many existing churches need help?" Even though those "myths" are still in many people's minds, there a growing sense of spiritual urgency across the Body of Christ in our nation to begin new churches. Why? It is because we are getting past some church planting myths, looking at our nation through the lenses of spiritual reality, and finding we have a church planting mandate from God! Seven Church Planting Mandates "Church planting...it's a must!" Cultural researchers like Gallop and Barna have been tracking the spiritual reality in our nation, and their findings are startling. Here are some that should be of great interest and concern to us: 1. The "80/80" reality. In our nation, 80% of people are unchurched and 80% of churches are plateaued or declining. While there are more "mega" churches in our nation, the reality is that they often grow at the expense of smaller churches. We are seeing "church growth" but not much "Kingdom growth" that results in unchurched people being soundly converted and brought to Christ. 2. Church attendance has declined in our nation from 50% in 1958 to 37% (some say 20% or less) in 1996. In some sections of the nation, regular church attendance less than 10%. 3. North America is the only continent where Christianity is not growing. 4. Churches are closing in our nation three times faster than they are being planting. Between 3,500-4,000 churches close each year while only 1,100-1,500 are planted each year. As our population shifts from rural to metropolitan, we are not locating churches strategically to address these population trends. 5. We are less "churched" now than ever before. In 1900, there were 27 churches per 10,000 people. In 1997, there are only 10 churches per 10,000 people in the USA. In fact, we could start 50,000 new churches tomorrow and still not have enough churches in our nation! 6. God is bringing many more people groups to our nation, presenting many new opportunities to evangelize and start new churches. Our opportunities to plant churches among different ethnic groups have never been greater! 7. There are 195 million unchurched people in our nation...the US is the 3rd largest mission field in the world! "North America is now the largest mission field in the English speaking world, and the third largest after China and India...we are in a mission situation in our own country." (Leighton Ford) Many of these people will live, die and go to hell without new, creative, passionate, Biblical ministries to reach them. The hard reality is that we're not getting the job done when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission in our own country. We must "see" our own nation as a mission field...George Gallop says there is a tremendous spiritual hunger in our land..."a mile wide and an inch deep." Reaching spiritually hungry people who are approaching life with a post-Biblical mindset means we have to be willing to adapt new ministry methods without compromising our Biblical message. Doing "church" the way we've always done things before will not reach the 195 million unchurched people in our nation...and they are our friends, neighbors, co-workers and family. What is the best way for us to do this? As C. Peter Wagner has wisely said, "Church planting is the most effective method of reaching lost people under heaven." One church planter I know who has begun a very effective church told me the reason he started a new church was, "I came to realize that the church that won my grandparents to Jesus was not able to win my children." That kind of insight, coupled with the cultural realities we find in our nation, provide us with the motivation to be urgent about starting and restarting as many churches as possible. So...let's "rush" to be a part of God's great harvest...and begin new churches! --Tim Roehl