As the population grows and the number of Christians decreases we are continually confronted by the sight of church buildings converted to climbing centres, dwelling houses, office blocks and even mosques. Facing this crisis, more churches are turning to church planting as a way of revitalising and growing the Church.

Some established denominations are grasping the opportunity of church planting. The Free Church of Scotland is implementing its 30 by 30 programme, which plans to see the denomination plant thirty new congregations by 2030. The aim is to see a healthy gospel church in every community in Scotland.

• Church planting is biblical

Church planting is not a new fad, the latest ‘in thing’ which is going to revolutionise mission. The church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas throughout Asia Minor with the purpose of evangelistic church planting. When the missionaries reached a new city, they told people about Jesus and people would respond to the gospel (Acts 14:21). Two verses later we then find them appointing pastors over the new church to guide the spiritual growth of the people. They then moved on in their pursuit of fulfilling the Great Commission ‘to make disciples of all nations’ (Mat 28:19).

Now there are large swathes of the country, urban and rural, where there is no gospel witness at all and where people are sunk in just as much darkness as the pagans to whom Paul and Barnabas went.

We could say that that was then, a time when there were no churches anywhere and they had to be planted: we live in a different age, an age where there are churches everywhere. This is to ignore the actual situation in the UK today. Churches have been closing down all over the country for decades. Now there are large swathes of the country, urban and rural, where there is no gospel witness at all and where people are sunk in just as much darkness as the pagans to whom Paul and Barnabas went.

• Church plants are sensitive to their area

As new culturally-aware churches are planted in a variety of communities, they tend to reach those who won't come to an existing church. Not everyone will come to an established church. What may be familiar and comforting to us may be intimidating or even threatening to someone who has never been inside a church building for a normal service. Those unfamiliar with the church often don’t know what’s expected of them or even what is going on during a service.

The church plant is able to be responsive to the cultural situation of those it wants to reach with the good news of Christ. The message must always remain the same, but unless it is delivered in a way that it is actually heard by those who need to hear it, there will be no impact. The settled congregation which knows what it likes and likes what it knows can find it difficult to adapt. The church plant is able to be much more flexible and even adventurous in how it presents and lives out the gospel.

Mission is no longer something on a map but becomes something immediate, an enterprise with which the congregation is intimately connected.

• Existing churches benefit

By participating in church planting, the mother congregation becomes more focussed on mission and is energised about its own faith. Mission becomes a priority in the life of the mother church, it is not something done far away with intermittent news sheets and the occasional visit by a missionary on furlough. Mission is no longer something on a map but becomes something immediate, an enterprise with which the congregation is intimately connected.

Dangers

There are dangers in planting churches. New churches must reach new people or they will die – a traumatic experience for those involved. This can lead to a temptation to over-emphasise the importance of numbers. Where numbers become a goal and measure of ‘success’, spiritual growth and discipleship can get lost.

Tensions can also develop between the leadership of the mother church and the planted church. The congregations involved can have very different environments in which to work. The mother church could be a long-established congregation in a middle-class neighbourhood, whilst the church plant could be in the midst of an area of multiple deprivation. The gospel message in each is the same but the method of transmitting that message might have to be very different. The leadership in both congregations must be sensitive to the situation the other congregation encounters.

Where numbers become a goal and measure of ‘success’, spiritual growth and discipleship can get lost.

Church planting makes significant demands on the pioneer leaders, and these must be chosen very carefully. A willingness to do the work is no guarantee that a person is suited to bear the stresses and disappointments of church planting.

New Tools for an old task

We are attached to our church buildings and our ways of doing things. They carry memories which are dear to us. They are the places where we both found and grew in faith, were married, witnessed the baptisms and also the funerals of loved ones. But we have to ask if the ways we have always done things and the buildings we have always used are the best tools for furthering the spread of the gospel amongst those who want nothing to do with what they imagine ‘church’ to be.

Church plants can open eyes to what the Church is and in doing so open hearts to the gospel. Just as Hudson Taylor, despite the opposition of the establishment, immersed himself in Chinese culture and language in order to bring the gospel to China, today’s Church must get into the dark areas of our country in order to bring the glorious light of the gospel to our desperately needy nation.