Simon Cox Blog: Three Church-Planting Practices That Need To Die

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Three Church-Planting Practices That Need To Die

Humility in community for the glory of God

Over the years, I’ve seen lots of great church-planting practices, and many not-so-great ones. Too many churches open and then close too often because instead of looking to God, they were looking to themselves. Even more unfortunate is the fact that many church plants continue to exist but are like an enclave for the small community of people who attend. It’s like the community could care less that the church exists.

We must always ask ourselves: What difference does my church plant make in this community and in the world?

It’s a significant question that will take lots of prayer and a good plan. As you consider this, let me share three church-planting practices that need to die if we are to begin and sustain church plants that glorify God and keep us on mission with Him.

First, we need to stop the sort of messaging that communicates (implicitly or explicitly) that all other churches are really bad and ours is the best.

I have seen this a lot over the years. For example, a mailer may go out and the messaging says something like: “The top 10 reasons church is boring, but ours is awesome!” When we devalue other members of the Body of Christ to lift up the uniqueness of our congregation, it’s a net loss for the kingdom.

We must aim for a spirit of humility that allows other churches to thrive while God grows ours at His own pace.

The end never justifies the means.

Second, we should stop offering a completely weekend-centric ministry (if that is what we currently do).

There’s a well-known pastor who says it’s all about the weekend. My belief is that if it’s all about the weekend, then it’s probably all about the pastor. And if it’s all about the pastor, then it’s ...