Here’s a New Year’s resolution – Plant a Church
My friend, Dr. Ed Stetzer, Director of LifeWay Research
says, “It’s a good day to start a
church”.
I believe Ed is right and not only is he right but at the
top of 2016 resolutions for Christian Evangelicals, pastors, churches, staff members and volunteers should be “Plant a Church”.
It’s really time we in the Church start thinking
differently about Church Planting.
Perhaps you have heard the often-told adage that 80% of all new church
plants fail. That is just a lie that
Satan would want us to believe and easily available research indicates just the
opposite. While there is no comprehensive
research on the total number of new churches started annually, the most recent
research on literally thousands of new church starts show that 99% of all new
churches survive the first year, and 68% survive to year four. Moreover, of the churches that survive, more
than 70% are self-sufficient financially by the fifth year. (source: “Church
Plant Survivability and Health Study 2007” By Ed Stetzer and Phillip
Connor February 2007)
As a former pastor and executive team leader at two of
the nations largest and fastest growing mega churches, it’s hard for me to
admit but studies show that newer, smaller churches do a much better job as
well in fulfilling the Great Commission.
This is particularly true if we define making disciples as the
combination of making a commitment to Christ, attending church and being
baptized.
According to Christian A. Schwarz, the founder and head
of the Institute for Natural Church Development (NCD), the statistics actually
reveal that smaller is actually better and that ten smaller churches of 100
people will accomplish much more than one bigger church of 1000.
He writes:
“The growth rate of churches decreased with increasing size. This fact in and of itself came as no great surprise, because in large churches the percentages represent many more people. But when we converted the percentages into raw numbers, we were dumbfounded. Churches in the smallest size category (under 100 in attendance) had won an average of 32 new people over the past five years; churches with 100-200 in worship also won 32; churches between 200-300 average 39 new individuals; churches between 300-400 won 25. So a ‘small’ church wins just as many people for Christ as a ‘large’ one, and what’s more, two churches with 200 in worship on Sunday will win twice as many new people as one church with 400 in attendance.” ( Source: “Is Bigger Really Better? The Statistics actually Say "No"! - ChurchPlanting.com
New Year’s resolutions are too often broken. The
commitment to plant a new church should not be the result of a sudden
impulse. However, we have been given the
Great Commission for nearly 2,000 years and we know that it’s a calling that is
given to all of His disciples. Perhaps
it’s time we consider the resolution to plant a new church.
