Where Have All The Church Planters Gone?
As I write this, I am now entering the twenty-fifth year where I have been actively involved in helping other churches get started. Back in the fall of 1996, Allison Park Church helped to plant its very first church in Mars, Pennsylvania! Since that time, we have now helped to directly parent thirty-one new churches, and have assisted other multiplying churches to do the same. Overall, we have worked with more than one hundred planters to see over a hundred church plants launched.
Our season of multiplication happened to coincide with an era of aggressive church multiplication.
New and creative forms of multiplication emerged through the advent of the multi site movements.
Church Planting organizations were founded that provided funding, training, coaching, and best practices.
Buzz was in the air. Church planting was cool. It was what emerging or younger leaders were doing and everyone, it seemed, wanted in on it.
Decisions were made, at least in the Assemblies of God denomination, that made it easier for one church to plant another church and remain in oversight of that new church. This Parent-Affiliated-Church permission that was granted also provided a way to plant freely across District and State lines.
Some of the old territorial or turf-oriented objections were being put on hold, at least for a moment. Everyday, I was hearing of some new partnership or permission granted that I never thought would be possible in the past.
This church planting trend seemed to carry us from the early parts of the 2000s until maybe 2017 or 2018. Then, all of the sudden, the stream of potential church planters began to dry up. For a minute, I thought it might just be me and our network. Our regional church planting initiative had gone through some growing pains and needed some reorganizing and rebooting.
As I began asking around, I have, unfortunately, discovered that there does seem to be some slow down in the movement to plant new churches and campuses. I would love to get your feedback on why. But here are the potential factors as to why this seems to be the case:
#1 - Church Planting Is Difficult!
Even with all the training, and all of the coaching, and all of the funding - church planting is still a very painful road. It’s amazing to hear the stories of the large launches, and the rocket-like growth patterns of some of the gifted and effective church planters over the last twenty years.
For every story of a meteoric rise, there are four stories of a church that was planted and has been fighting for its life since it started. It’s possible that the reality of it all has started to set in. Church planting was glamorous for a season. Maybe it’s not as much anymore?
#2 - Some younger leaders are waiting for ‘succession’.
There are a lot of amazing churches being led by leaders who are in their fifties, sixties, or beyond. Some young leaders are in line waiting to step into leadership when its time for the transition to occur. I have heard of many spiritual sons and daughters that have recently stepped into major roles in an historically effective church.
#3 - More existing churches have regained some degree of relevance.
I think that some of the impulse for planting new churches had to do with how stuck so many existing churches were in old and ineffective methods. Some emerging leaders could not imagine themselves taking over a church with painfully old worship styles, culture, structure, or strategy.
The best course of action for many leaders was to start from scratch by planting a new church. I believe these new churches had an influence on many existing churches, causing them to take note of the innovative methods being adopted in church planting and modify their own approach to ministry to reach the next generation.
#4 - Younger leaders are taking a little longer to be ready for point leadership.
It used to be that pastors would be ready to take the risk to plant a new church in their twenties, since the decade of the twenties is a season to discern overall life direction. More and more, church planters are not even considering this journey until they are in their thirties. The delay of taking on responsibility in life until life has been lived, and the future seems clearer, is a more common trait of those emerging in their teens and twenties.
Where it used to be that men and women would feel the call to plant when they where nineteen or twenty, and then train to consider planting in their early twenties. Today, the sense of calling to plant may not become clear and firm until twenty-eight or twenty-nine. That loss of a decade is something recent and may be part of the reason for the lag in available planters.
Maybe, eventually we will catch up? Maybe the trend will be slightly older planters? Or maybe we are losing an entire generation of potential planters? Only time will tell.
#5 - It seems financially impossible on a personal level.
I just spoke with a young family who are looking at the potential cost of risking it all to go out and launch a new church. It seemed like to massive a step: College debt; he desire to own a home; the need for financial security while starting a family. It’s a huge factor.
When I heard their concerns, I was able to explain that there is a way to launch a church and feel some degree of financial security. It’s all about building a funding plan that includes your salary and benefits while you are preparing to launch the new church.
#6 - We have developed a one-size fits all approach to planting.
Maybe its time to rethink our approach? Some of the best potential planters are older. Some have had a career. Some do not speak English. Others come from a culture that does not relate to our training processes or funding mechanisms. Maybe the greatest wave of potential has to do with a multi-cultural approach to recruiting, training, funding, and covering a diverse wave of planters both in race, language, ethnicity, and methodology?
#7 - There is a lack of leadership pipelines built at the local church level.
I think many pastors are waiting for a church planter to appear from “somewhere out there”!
We have to start thinking of raising up church planters from “somewhere in here”! There needs to be a better plan to move people from new believer to leader, and from leader to potential planter. More local church residency programs are needed to train up, filter through, and prepare leaders who have a call to plant.
#8 - It might be that our passion for the lost has grown cold?
If the only thing we think about is career choices and costs, we may never step out to reach a new region or territory for Christ. At some point, the call of God on our life has to burn in us so deeply that we cannot help but do what God is asking us to do. When we began our plan to plant churches in the northeastern USA - I was so overwhelmed with the burden that God had placed on my heart.
This passion was birthed when I was visiting the city of Philadelphia. Every time I thought of that city, I would start to weep. It weighed on me so heavily that I considered leaving my position at Allison Park Church to go there myself. Wise overseers in my life encouraged me to send from my position of strength, rather than to go personally.
This impulse from the Holy Spirit has since led me to help five new churches launch in Philly, with more on the way. But it began with a passion for people who needed Jesus.
#9 - We are in need of a nation wide spiritual awakening!
Honestly, I think that all of the other items on this list would be resolved if we experienced spiritual awakening. If the crazy year of 2020 revealed anything to us, it is that our nation is in need of a major move of God. Maybe we don’t just need new methods and mobilization strategies? It may be that we just need to hit our knees and spend time seeking the face of God!
When God moves, young leaders are called. When leaders are called, churches are planted. When churches are planted, people are reached in the power of Jesus name.
Either way, it is time for us to pray the prayer that Jesus taught us in Matthew 9:38: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”