Dear Sir,
Paul Hinton (en letters, December) makes some valid points about church planting. I agree that if mission drives church planting, we shouldn’t just look for a ‘quick win’ by planting churches likely to appeal to students and professionals … whom we know to be on the doorstep! And yes, there is no excuse for establishing churches merely to further our theological ‘brand’ or to expand the latest ‘network’ of churches. To these concerns I would add the depressing trend among some contemporary church plants of resistance to accountability by the leadership. Too often, there is a failure to make the transition from the ‘solo ministry’ of the church planter to a fully functioning church.
However, while the need for gospel witness is vitally important, I would question whether this is the only basis on which we might justify planting a new church. It is hard to read the New Testament and fail to observe that the foundational idea of the ‘church in a particular place’ is fellowship among believers. Breaking bread, prayer, being built-up and equipped, encouraging one another, showing practical care… the essence of the ekklesia described by the apostles is a mutual gathering on the basis of the true gospel. These gatherings are not perpetually ‘owned’ by a visionary church planter, nor do they ‘fence’ the fellowship on narrow doctrinal lines.
Planting denominational brands can lead to churches in which real fellowship is limited to those who hold particular views. Yes, there may well be a cluster of these church plants in a given area, but I would contend that there remains a strong case for another church plant wherever meaningful fellowship in the gospel is still lacking. Time after time, the apostles remind us that God has ‘called us into the fellowship of his Son’, that we are ‘members of his body’ and charged to ‘maintain unity of the Spirit’. Yet there is often little evidence of this in the distinctive nature of church plants. In these days of growing opposition, we cannot afford to retreat into exclusive groups. I accept that practical fellowship requires agreement on a little more than the theological essentials. But surely a key challenge today must be to avoid establishing churches whose doctrinal basis is any more narrow than truly necessary. Do our church plants really offer the sort of mutual fellowship envisaged by the apostles?
Yours faithfully,
