“Should we plant a new church when our own church is half empty?” asked Wayne Krause, director of Global Mission and Mission to the Cities in the South Pacific Division (SPD). “Shouldn’t we first fill our church before moving on to establish another congregation?”
Krause’s thoughtful question opened his workshop during the SPD for Christ launch event in Brisbane, Australia, April 30. In his one-hour presentation Krause explained why Seventh-day Adventists should care about planting new congregations, and some of the best practices to do it in a way that contributes to their success.
Why Church Planting Is Essential
Right at the beginning of his workshop, Krause reminded participants that “the best way to rejuvenate a church is to plant another congregation.” Why? Because, he explained, “all our churches that currently exist are perfectly designed for the people who are there. If it were designed for other people, they’d be there.” So what happens, he said, is that some churches want people to come and, for instance, “save all our youth, but please don’t change anything!”
He quoted Ellen G. White who, in her book Medical Ministry, wrote, “Upon all who believe, God has placed the burden of raising up churches.”[*] So everyone can be involved in a church plant, Krause emphasized. “Not all of us can lead as church planters, but all can get involved.”
What Is Our Motivation?
Krause acknowledged that some people may have different motivations for planting churches. But “we don’t have churches just to have churches. We have churches to make disciples,” he emphasized. “So the first question I must ask myself if I’m thinking of planting a church is ‘Why?’ And if your motivation is to make disciples, you must ask yourself, ‘How do we make disciples?’ These things need to be worked out before you plan.”
He reminded participants that some motivations to plant a new congregation are not the right ones. “I don’t like the pastor here, so I’m going to start a new congregation,” Krause illustrated. “That’s not a good motivation.”
Krause explained that if we are angry and dissatisfied in our current congregation and we decide to leave and start a new church plant, “the issues we had there will go with us wherever we go.” So he advised against a church plant as the result of a fight.
A Word of Balance
Even church plants that started the wrong way, Krause said, still need care and assistance to make them succeed as much as possible. But the healthiest type of church plant is the result of a parent church and careful planning, according to Krause.
Using the analogy of a pregnant woman, Krause explained that “some pregnancies are unwanted pregnancies, but you still take care of the mother and the baby.” Likewise, it’s true that when there’s a pregnancy and the baby is not eventually born, the baby dies. “There are some churches that should have given birth years ago,” he illustrated. But because they didn’t, “they are basically sitting at the same attendance level.”
What Gospel Are You Teaching?
Krause also spent some time explaining different types of church plants, showing a difference between those congregations that embrace everyone who is far from God and then lead those people to Christ and the gospel, and those who expect people to change before they step into the congregation. It is essential to know what kind of church you are, because “the gospel you teach determines the disciples you make,” he said.
Krause asked those who had planted a church or were thinking of planting one, “Do we teach the gospel? Do we teach them that we can’t earn our way to heaven? Do we emphasize that God loves us?”
This is important, Krause emphasized, because “a disciple is a person who in every way is becoming more like Jesus Christ.” “It is possible to plant a church and not make disciples, but you cannot make disciples without eventually planting churches.”
Moving Forward in Faith, With Careful Planning
According to Krause, church planting “is the extreme sport of Adventism.” He referenced those who are willing to step out in faith with scarce resources to start something new out of nothing. “You are going there with the Holy Spirit going before you, which means you can do anything.” He added, “There’s no one there telling you, ‘You can’t do it this way’; there’s no one saying, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be.’ ”
Against that background, Krause explained, “there is no one right model.”
Even so, new church plants should avoid the temptation of going independent. A healthy church plant “wishes to become part of a Bible-believing, mission-driven movement,” he explained, with a unique message for this time, as is the case of the Adventist Church.
Also, being part of the organization provides a church plant—even a house church—with insurance and legal support. “If anything happens on their property, they are covered,” he told workshop attendees.
The regional church aids with an initial assessment by people who know about church planting. “They can ask you some questions to assess your preparation to launch a new church plant,” Krause said.
Finally, he mentioned an increasing network of church planters that can provide support and coaching to those going into that field.
What Healthy Church Plants Do
Some church plants may not be healthy, Krause acknowledged, especially when they are made up of disgruntled members who “have no intention of growing. . . . They just come together and whine.”
On the contrary, “a real church that is making disciples must multiply,” Krause said. To that end, he explained, there are a few things that healthy church plants usually do. For instance, he said that “disciple-making churches know how to treat biblically illiterate, questioning skeptics.”
He explained, “Those church plants know they exist for those who are not there yet, so services and the way they do church acknowledge that there are people who are still far from God.” They are very intentional in getting to know the people who come, some of whom may have never read the Bible or prayed.
Also, Krause shared, “disciple-making churches train, equip, release, and mentor in the areas of worship, witnessing, and practice a gift-focused ministry,” that is to say, they know how to highlight the spiritual gifts of their members. They help to remind people that “everyone who is a disciple of Jesus Christ is a minister and must use their spiritual gifts for ministry,” he said.
The Most Important Thing
Every participant in the SPD for Christ launch event received a resource booklet explaining why Adventists plant churches, including biblical and historical reasons to do so. But if you want to plant a church, there’s something you should do first, Krause reminded workshop attendees.
“Pray your heart out,” Krause emphasized. “Talk to people who are close to you and have them pray for you and with you.”
Then, he suggested, get a small group of people who can support the project and go talk to your pastor and mission or conference leaders, asking them what to do. “Tell them about your plans,” Krause said. “Most of them will be on board and will suggest ways to help you move forward.”
[*] Ellen G. White, Medical Ministry (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1932), p. 315.
