I’m a late fan of church planting—not because I didn’t believe in it years ago but more because I wasn’t exposed much to planting in my early years of ministry. Now years later, I’m a member of a church plant and a strong proponent of church planting. In fact, I think every church ought to be involved in church planting in some way. Here’s why:
1. All the established churches in North America still aren’t reaching our continent. Some are doing well, but most are plateaued or declining. The status quo just won’t work if we want to reach North America.
RELATED: The “Barnabas Factor”
2. Thousands of churches will close this year. The estimates vary, but as many as 10,000 churches will close their doors this year. New, effective churches will be needed to replace them.
3. New churches tend to grow more evangelistically. When comparing membership to conversion ratios, new churches usually have a better evangelistic ratio. Both the newness of their work and the passion of their vision tend to drive these congregations outward.
