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Why Plant a Church? -
The Strategic Necessity of Church Planting
by Tim Keller and Fred Harrell
"Don't you think there are enough churches in San Francisco?"
This was often said to me, and still is as I network around The City.
People are often offended (what's wrong with the churches that are here?),
or shocked, (what idiot would try to plant a church in San Francisco?),
or just dismayed (Oh great, more churches taking up space and causing
problems, I thought we were about rid of them).
If you want to understand City Church you must understand
church planting. Not only that, I want you to see not only the extraordinary
and strategic opportunity that it is to be part of a church plant, but
also to be convinced that there is no better investment in the Kingdom
than in the planting of new churches. New churches are not like established
churches in many ways. The better you know the differences and can conceptualize
them in your own mind, the better off you will be in three categories:
- your own zeal for ministry will increase. A church plant can be both thrilling and exhausting. If you are pushed to a goal that you have not internalized and perceived,
- you will burn out.
- your ability to speak about City Church to others will increase.
- your ability to spread the vision of the joy and strategic nature of funding church planting will increase.
Why Plant a New Church?
The Biblical Mandate
Jesus' call. Jesus' Great Commission was not simply a call to "teach"
and "make disciples" but also "baptize". In the New
Testament we see that baptism meant incorporation into a worshipping community
with
- theological boundaries,
- administration of the sacraments {i.e. baptism and the Lord's Supper}, and
- life accountability or discipline. (Cf. Acts 2:41-47). So although many types of ministries and institutions have been formed in the name of Christ, the foundational structure Jesus told us to spread is the church.
Paul's strategy. The greatest missionary in
history had a simple, twofold strategy:
- the way to most permanently influence a country is through its chief cities (Acts
16:9, 12), and
- the way to most permanently influence a city is to plant churches in it (cf. Titus 1:5 "appoint elders in every town").
