Church planting needs an overhaul. In the 1990s, it was often presented as the go-to answer for reaching new people. And it often worked. But as the culture has changed dramatically, our church-planting models need to be updated.
In this article, which first appeared as a stream on X (there’s a link to it below), Eric Hoke describes where the gaps are in the current church-planting model, and he offers some helpful tweaks.
— Karl Vaters
Let’s talk about the prevailing model of church planting, what it gets right, where there are gaps, and a viable path toward.
The prevailing model of church planting that I was exposed to was this:
- Raise a bunch of money.
- Gather a core team of Christians to start.
- Launch a service.
- Grow from there utilizing programs and activities.
Now that model has started countless churches (including the church I planted) and produced tons of fruit and there are still gaps.
The Gaps
Raising a bunch of money is not tenable for many believers. There’s often a lack of access to funders due to minimal relational capital.
This was evident to me in my work serving some of the most marginalized communities in New York.
Gather a core team of Christians is fine but where are they coming from? Other churches or just disenfranchised drifters (we had lots of these, and they can be a tough bunch).
Launch a service. Makes sense yet there are already dozens of other churches holding a Sunday morning service in your community. How is that moving the needle forward?
Grow using programs and activities. (See launch a service.)
Slightly Tweaked Model
- Swap out “raise a bunch of money” with gain skills that can fund your life outside tithes and offerings alone.
- Swap out “gather a core team of Christians” to start with disciple people in your community, regardless of spiritual journey.
- Swap out “launch a service” with slowly begin doing public facing events to introduce the community to your church and then begin services small and simple.
- Swap out “grow from there utilizing programs and activities” to multiply from there by investing in key leaders who can create other expressions of church with or without your name behind them.
Now, the slightly tweaked model will be slower, and likely result in fewer large churches, but I don’t know if that’s a bad thing.
Would I love to see a 500 person church emerge from a church plant? Sure. Who wouldn’t?
Would I also love to see 10 churches of 50 emerge. Sure. Who wouldn’t?
When we launched All Saints in The Bronx, we mostly did the prevailing model. It worked. Lives were changed, people were baptized, disciples were made, and new churches were planted.
But if I had to share regrets, it would be that I didn’t slow down, spend more time with people, and not rush the process because of the pressure (mostly self-induced) to grow.
(Photo by Luca Florio | Flickr)
