How do church-planters and established church pastors think about each other? Partners? Rivals? Ships in the night? We asked Luke Jenkin, Pastor at Grange Baptist Church (Brisbane) and Tim Grant, church-planter from Grace Christian Community (Melbourne) for the view both ways.
1. Luke Jenkin (Established Church Pastor)
A number of new cafés have sprouted up in my local area in the past couple of years. In the fight for existence some have survived and some haven’t. The competition is real and, since there are only so many coffee connoisseurs to go around, the owner of the established café certainly doesn’t want them getting comfy on the upside down milk crates at the new guy’s place.
If I’m not careful, as the pastor of an established church I may start to view church-plants in a similar way. So, with that being acknowledged, here are some reasons why I am (and why I need to be) grateful for church-planting.
It may seem to us that our church originated simultaneously with the events of Pentecost but that just wasn’t the case! Established churches are grown-up church-plants
I’m grateful for church-planting… because the established church I belong to was once a plant.
Admittedly, it’s a selfish starting point but the fact remains I‘m grateful for church-planting because it’s one of the reasons I have the wonderful church family I do. With 2019 marking our 100th year, we will soon have cause to look back and thank God for our early days as a plant from a sending church. But more often than not, longevity breeds forgetfulness and it’s hard to be grateful for what you’ve forgotten. It may seem to us that our church originated simultaneously with the events of Pentecost but that just wasn’t the case! Established churches are grown-up church-plants and, as we reflect on that and are grateful to God for it, we can prayerfully cheer-on others in their church-planting endeavours.
I’m grateful for church-planting… because if I’m not I’ll be tempted to compete with it.
The fear of man is strong and that’s partly why I want my church to be big. A body of Christ with broad shoulders looks good to outsiders and insiders. Then ‘Johnny-come-lately’ pops up in the next suburb rocking double denim, a cool website and a plan, and—rather than seeing these church-planters as comrades—the ugly fear of man in me casts them as competitors. Forget, for a moment, that a hundred years ago my own church launched with trendy hand-painted signs, victoria sponge cakes and pony rides for the kids—these new guys are coasting in on the new wave. But in reality, they are just trying to form brand new bonds with their community for the sake of the same Christ we serve. In doing so, by God’s grace they may reach all sorts of people we won’t and, for that, how can we not be grateful?
They are just trying to form brand new bonds with their community for the sake of the same Christ we serve. In doing so, by God’s grace they may reach all sorts of people we won’t and, for that, how can we not be grateful?
I’m grateful for church-planting… because it reminds established churches what we can aspire to.
I was recently invited to preach at the sending church that planted the church I pastor all those years ago. I got a real kick out of sharing that history with them and you could tell they were encouraged by it too. We must not take for granted God’s amazing kindness to use us to make disciples and plant local bodies of his glorious Son. Such aspirations ought to be far too lofty for us and yet, by his power and grace, they are not. My prayer is that Christ may grow and equip my own church for this privilege in his timing. Should he bestow this grace upon us, we will need church-planter friends to draw wisdom and expertise from. At that point, we will have new and even more pointed reasons to be thankful for church-planting!
Whatever the age and stage of the church we belong to—plant, sprout, sapling or tree—there is one vine, the Lord Jesus Christ and he unites us all. As new churches are planted, established churches may be tempted to give in to a false fear of competition, but instead, let’s be grateful for the very thing we once were and the very thing we can aspire to participate in.
And so may Christ build his Church for his glory.
2. Tim Grant (Church Planter)
I’d like to begin by rejecting the premise of the statement. Every church in the country is a church plant – started by a group of Christians with a vision to see an area reached with the gospel. Moreover every ‘plant’, should it get off the ground, becomes an ’established‘ church within a few years.
How can young and old churches work together to advance the kingdom of God? The opportunities are considerable. Our own experience has served to highlight how this cooperation is possible.
The question then is how young and old churches can work together to advance the kingdom of God? In this regard the opportunities are considerable. Our own experience has served to highlight how this cooperation is possible.
A standard church-plant
We began as a standard ‘church plant’—no money, no building, no people. Just a handful of adults meeting in a loungeroom driven by a vision to see an area reached for Jesus. There were other evangelical churches in our area but not nearly enough to service the growing population we hoped to reach.
Over time the Lord blessed us. We saw growth, conversions and began to build the inevitable structures required to accommodate it. We were able to grow around a vision and a culture which was flexible enough to manoeuvre for those we were trying to reach.
However, we were lacking a few things, which we became acutely aware of.
We had a congregation of young adults and families. The oldest member of our leadership committee was in his mid-30’s. Plenty of churches are desperate for young people, but perhaps not exclusively young people. We had no one who had paid off a mortgage, or raised teenagers, navigated the workplace or persevered as a Christian for multiple decades. There was no one who could teach the young people how to live as Christians.
The facility God provided for us was a council run community hall. Which was great for a congregation of 30 with a handful of preschool children. But it was very limiting, and it quickly became clear we weren’t going to grow there. We spent years looking for something better without success: schools, office buildings, arts centres, scout halls and even the local masonic lodge were either unavailable, out of our price range or simply outright hostile to churches.
We knew of churches purchasing their own property, but these were largely in greenfield and rural areas. In a capital city you need a congregation of about 1000 to service the multimillion-dollar debt you’d inevitably need to buy a church. Even then you are looking at purchasing an old factory in the outer suburbs. This wasn’t simply a logistical challenge, but a challenge to our whole vision to see people reached for Jesus.
Sharing Strengths
Through God’s providence we were introduced to another church in our area; a Brethren church that had not seen growth in some time. We quickly realised that the other church had what we lacked, and vice versa. They had a great ministry facility, older mature believers, and a legacy of Christian service spanning generations. We had young people, enthusiasm and a DNA which allowed us to be effective at growing. We began to wonder whether together we might be able to do more for the kingdom by sharing our strengths.
For 12 months we discussed the possibility of working together. We spent a lot of time praying about it, asking questions and getting all the advice we could. We needed clarity on expectations, theological alignment, ministry practise, culture, history and future vision. There was plenty of back and forth and several misunderstandings that needed to be cleaned up.
At the end of these discussions we both began to believe that this might just be God’s hand at work. We decided to proceed, simply as a tenant at first, and to see how it all went.
Growth!
We began to see growth at a level we hadn’t experienced before. The building created some opportunities for us that we hadn’t even anticipated (like it being within walking distance of a university campus).
After two years, somewhat miraculously, it’s been overwhelmingly positive. Many new people have come and joined the church community (both congregations) and there is a real sense that God is at work. We have moved past dating, on to co-habiting (usually not recommended), and we are now thinking about whether marriage might be a possibility in the future. This doesn’t necessarily mean the churches will one day merge—for we all recognise that our differences are strengths which make us distinct. But it does mean cooperating generously for the growth of the kingdom and already we have seen God at work through this relationship. As we move forward, we are faced with a whole number of tricky logistical questions, but we are committed to figuring them out and we believe that if God wants it to continue to work it will.
We began to see growth at a level we hadn’t experienced before. After two years, somewhat miraculously, it’s been overwhelmingly positive.
If you are a young church desiring to get involved with an older congregation, or an older established church eyeing off the DNA of a younger church, you might like to consider something like this. There are a few things I’ve come to realise need to be in place if it is ever going to work.
- Theological alignment. This might seem obvious but both congregations need total theological alignment on all first order matters; generally theological alignment on all second order matters; and an agreement that the third order matters aren’t that important. If the two congregations have fundamentally different ideas about the gospel or the nature of ministry; no amount of friendship can prevent an inevitable breakdown.
- A commitment to something new that will be different to what has happened in the past. All churches can harken back to a ‘golden age’ when the ministry flourished. To the extent that a congregation strives to return to the past will be the extent to which it will remain there. This happens in new churches too. The memory of that intimate gathering in the loungeroom, where everyone knows your name, where deep relationships were forged through the trauma of birthing a new work; will be looked back on very fondly. Both churches need to recognise that something new, but different, is on offer.
- A tremendous amount of good will. There needs to be a public and private celebration of what the other congregation is doing, have done, and a will to contribute to the relationship. Each congregation needs to demonstrate an interest in the ministry of the other. We have found that anything we have done to add value to the other congregation’s existing ministries (i.e. attending, leading, preaching, serving, etc.) has gone a long way to alleviating any fear of some hypothetical “takeover” which might happen. This goodwill will get you through the inevitable “someone left the kitchen messy” conversations.
- Chemistry. If those involved, and particularly those in leadership, are not generally likable people there is no way it will work. Like any relationship it requires love, truth, grace and time for trust to grow. It is a healthy thing for one congregation to ‘covet’ the leaders of the other. Those same leaders need to work to protect and defend the other congregation from any resentment which they might pick up on and which they can deflect. If the leadership get along well with each other it will go a long way to the congregations cooperating effectively.
Photos: pexels.com (top); pxhere.com (body)
