Designer Baby (new churches) and the Missing Part
We live in an age in which the art and science of church planting is developing in fantastic ways. The Exponential Conference, that will occur next week in Orlando is a gathering of 2500 church leaders and planters from all corners of the denominational (and non) spectrum that will hear and share some of the best approaches to growing new churches on purpose.
In many ways, we know that what goes into a new church (leadership, style, location, etc.), will have a lot to say about what that new church becomes. And since many believe that new churches are our best hope to turning around the slide of American church, and to create a new renaissance of faith in America, how we grow new churches is critical.
The truth is, we are planting these new churches on purpose. They are in many ways, designer babies of the church world, and we are growing some great new churches that really exemplify a modern faith expression that is true to the historic life of Christ, but with a style that fits modern America. I am afraid that we are missing one big ingredient in the new mix–the capacity to touch our communities.
If we are going to design new churches on purpose, then I cannot imagine a new church being born without the intentional capacity to serve its community. This is not just a thanksgiving basket or a painting day in the neighborhood. Just like we plan in a worship team, children’s team, pulpit team and set up team, we have to plan for service.
The church that is born without the built in capacity to reach out through service,
is born out of season and without the ability to reproduce.
The ability to intentionally engage the congregation in service, and the infrastructure to connect to the community needs to be built into the beginning effort, not added later as an afterthought. That means we must use the latest tools of needs assessment, community based organizations and effective service planning on purpose, and we do it as a part of our new church process. If it is an afterthought we will birth new churches that cannot reach the un-churched effectively and may even grow a church that is really not missional or incarnational at all.
At Compassion by Design, we are publically announcing our effort to share support tools for this process at the Exponential conference, and it will include availability of a Community Based Organization for church planters, a 12 month coaching program and toolkits that support the process– you are invited to join us.
If you are growing a new church today, don’t forget to design in the important elements that will connect you to the community and take you into the next decade.