As I was finishing my graduate degree at Liberty University, I enrolled in several church planting classes. Those classes required me to read church planting books, attend church planting workshops, visit church plants, and communicate with church planters.
At first it was interesting . . . then very interesting. After awhile I began to sense that God was challenging me to consider this type of adventure. Me? Heck no. I was at a great church serving with great people. But the "holy discontent" wouldn't go away.
I began to sense this was something that Ginger and I should really talk and prayer through. So we did. At first I thought, "This makes no sense God! I've got great friends, a good ministry . . . I'm comfortable." Even though I know God doesn't like it when I cling to comfort.
After a ton of prayer, Ginger and I really began to sense that God was calling us to plant a church about a year and a half ago. Why? We decided that someday we wanted to stand before God and be able to at least say, "we took a huge leap of faith for You, we took risks for You, we sacrificed for You, we tried for You."
So for me this all began by reading a few text books. Here are just a few of those statistics that I found interesting.
From Aubrey Malphurs book Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century:
- 80-85% of all churches in America are either plateaued or in decline.
- 3,500-4,000 churches close their doors every year.
Malphurs shares Pollster George Barna's research revealing that each generation has a higher percentage of unchurched people:
Generation % Attending Church
Builders (born prior to 1946) 51%
Boomers (1946-64) 41%
Busters (1965-76) 34%
Bridgers (1977-94) 29%
The unchurched population is growing while the church population is in decline. In fact, Malphurs discovered "that one-half of all congregants predate World War II". He adds, "The culture is changing and many churches are dying."
Thom Rainer said, "America is clearly becoming less Christian, less evangelized, and less churched. Yet too many of those in our churches seem oblivious to this reality."
Malphurs research shows that new church plants usually have a higher ratio of people trusting Christ:
- Churches under 3 years of age will win 10 people to Christ per year for every 100 members.
- Churches 3-15 years old win will win 5 people to Christ per year for every 100 members.
- Churches over 15 years old will win 3 people to Christ per year for every 100 members.
"The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches." - C. Peter Wagner
After spending the last few years researching American church plants, I have prayerfully committed to plant a church and then continue to be part of church planting for the rest of my life.
More to come . . .
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