Some of the local pastors may become insecure and unsupportive, regardless of whether you are planting or pirating. Love and respect them anyway. God will bless that.
3. Is My Church Too Close to a Church I Have Served In?
Regardless of what you hope will happen, if you plant a church close to the campus of a church you have served in, several members from your old church will come to your new church for various reasons. Church planting trainers from ARC encourage a 30 mile radius.
Some will come out of curiosity. Some will come out of love and loyalty. Some will come because they are mad at someone at their home church. Church members will invariably jump off of the mother ship whether you recruited them or not – simply because you baited them by planting too close to your home base. Additionally, they will come from other churches in the community you have been serving in partnership with. Not cool.
I don’t know of any church planter who intentionally seeks to grow at the expense of another church, but it happens way too often. My hope is that you will move forward with the humble discernment of a planter, instead of the swashbuckling swagger of a pirate.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
