New Book Offers Fresh, Honest Look At Church Planting

Planting Churches in the 21st Century Aims To Help People Avoid Church Planting Mistakes Of The Past

In 1992, churches in Great Britain launched a plan to plant 20,000 new churches by 2000.

There was some success. Several hundred new churches did result, but it was not the thousands that were hoped for. Of those churches that were planted, many struggled and some closed after a few years. Others persisted, but did not thrive. Few inroads were made into the communities they wanted to serve.

Looking back, veteran British church planter Stuart Murray wondered what went wrong—and what could be done to avoid repeating those mistakes. Planting Churches in the 21st Century: A Guide for Those Who Want Fresh Perspectives and New Ideas for Creating Congregations (Herald Press) is the result.

"I think the main problem was that people focused on speed and quantity rather than quality," he says. "We were more interested in how many churches we could plant, not what kind of church various communities needed."

For Murray, who helps direct the Anabaptist Network in Great Britain and serves as a mentor to church planters and denominational leaders in a dozen countries, "church planting isn't just about numbers. It's about the renewal of the church and the development of new ways of being the church that are biblically rooted and contextually appropriate."

Planting a new church, he says, "allows us to develop new forms of mission and explore new ways of being church. Some succeed and grow, but others fail. In both cases, there are lessons to be learned."

One lesson all Christians need to learn is that many people don't know anything about Christianity.

"In the past, we could assume that people we wanted to reach with the gospel knew the story," he says. "But we cannot make such an assumption today. Here in Britain the cut-off point for knowing the Christian story is about 35 or 40 years of age; I assume that something similar might be occurring in parts of North America."

And if they don't know the story, living faithfully—in the hope that some will notice, and then want to know more about Jesus—won't work, he contends.

"Many Mennonite church leaders in Europe and North America have told me that talking about faith doesn't come naturally to their members," he says. "Instead, people are more comfortable living faithfully and distinctively in the hope that others will be challenged by their example and drawn toward faith.

"While there is much in this that I affirm, living out faith only works where people actually know what that faith is actually all about."

Finally, if the gospel is to be relevant, "we need to discover what aspects of the gospel connect with people today," he states.

For a long time, evangelists used guilt and death to connect with people, with forgiveness and the hope of eternal life as the good news. "But many people today don't feel guilty, and many are not particularly interested in life after death," he says. "It's no longer a starting point for a conversation about faith."

This doesn't mean Christians shouldn't try to share Jesus, he says; they should just look for other starting points for conversations, such as alienation, loneliness, a search for meaning and purpose, interest in spirituality, and resources for living meaningfully and with purpose in this life.

"The gospel can meet all human needs, but we need to listen carefully to our postmodern and post-Christendom culture to learn what they are," he says. "We don't want to give out answers to questions nobody is asking."

Murray also believes that Mennonites have a special gift to bring to the church planting enterprise.

"Anabaptism has historically emphasized the importance of telling the story, of community and the centrality of Jesus, along with the importance of following Christ in life. Many people today want to know how they can make a difference and be fulfilled in this life—not just in the life to come. The Anabaptist emphasis on service and living the life of faith may prove to be an effective starting point."

Mennonites, he says, "have much to offer to a world that needs the message of God's love through Jesus."

Click here to read a longer interview with Stuart Murray.

The cost of Planting Churches in the 21st Century is $19.99 USD/$22.99 CAD. Click here for more information and to order.