Church Planting or Church Revitalization?

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One of the questions being discussed a lot these days among evangelical leaders is “Should we plant new churches, or should we revitalize established churches?”   Before we answer that, a few of our friends have something they'd like to say to you.  Check out this new video.

Thank You from Greene County, TN from Daniel Shrader on Vimeo.

Now back to our question of the week.  Should we plant new churches or revitalize established churches?

I believe we should do both!  Both are vitally important to the Kingdom of God and the advancement of the gospel message.  New churches often have an evangelistic fervor that moves the gospel forward by focusing on reaching the unreached.  However, as they transition from new churches into established churches, the focus shifts towards discipling the existing believers, and the evangelism rate slows somewhat.  Unfortunately, many established churches have lost their evangelistic fervor altogether and are simply dying out as the congregations age out.  “Replanting gives you a ‘gospel two-for-one’.  You get to establish a good witness to the gospel in a community, but you also get to tear down a bad witness.  Dead churches scream ‘Jesus is irrelevant’ to the world around them.  When those churches are revitalized, the negative message turns into a positive one.” – Michael McKinley, pastor and author of Church Planting is for Wimps.

So if both church planting and church revitalization are important, how do they compare?  Consider this:

Church Planting	Church Revitalization  (or Replanting)
Requires a pastor/church planter and core group.	Typically has a pastor OR an existing core group.
Requires a meeting place.	Has an existing meeting place.
Requires significant funds to “launch”.	Requires minimal funding.
Most effective in urban settings.*	Most effective in rural settings.*

A question I’ve often been asked since the Lord called me into ministry is “Why don’t you go plant a church?”  It’s a great question, and the simplest answer is that I don’t believe that is what the Lord has called me to do.  The more detailed answer is the Lord has given me a heart and a passion to serve the underserved churches in rural areas.  *In my opinion, church planting makes a ton more sense in places like the Northeast, where, according to NAMB, there is less than one church for every 50,000 people in most places.  We need to plant churches there.   Lots of them.  Guys like my friend Jan Vezikov, pastor of Mosaic Boston and Grace Church Boston, are doing tremendous works and need to be supported.  However, in places like rural East Tennessee where there’s at least one church for every 2,000 people, revitalizing the established but dying churches makes a lot more sense than trying to plant new ones.    Again, Michael McKinley says it well. “Replanting also harnesses a lot of resources for the kingdom.  Dead churches are sitting on millions of dollars worth of land, buildings, and equipment.  You don't need all of that stuff to plant a church, but since Jesus-loving Christians have already paid for it, it seems like a shame not to use it.  And let's be honest... if we don't revitalize these churches, that land will become a shopping mall.” 

And so we labor with you alongside us to build relationships and establish credibility, so that we are able to help revitalize these churches.  If we were to plant a church, we could plant one, two at most.  By revitalizing established churches, the opportunity to impact many churches in this region lies before us, should the Lord will and allow it.  We sincerely appreciate all your prayers and support!  Next week we’ll explain why the Appalachian Mountains is one of Serve’s International outreach locations. 

This week, please pray for Daniel as he travels to Charlotte on Tuesday to present our ministry to some potential new partners there.  Also, please pray for Daniel’s meeting with the Baptist Association on Wednesday as we discuss ways to minister to bivocational pastors in our association.  Pray also that the Lord would continue to move that relationship forward in a healthy way.

On Sunday afternoon, we took Lily on her first real hike up to see Margarette Falls, about 30 minutes from our house.

At first, she didn't want to ride.

But she got used to it pretty quickly.

It was a pretty steep hike in places, and she wasn't real sure about it.

But she likes the water!

Meredith carried Lily all the way to the falls!  (over a mile and a half up hill!  Way to go babe!)

The payoff was worth the hike!

Eating my snack.  Grapes!

Resting before heading back.

She liked watching the waterfall!

I love this face!

Beautiful mommy resting a minute before we hike home.

Rinsing off our dirty hands.

She was enjoying herself quite a bit by the end of our hike!

Being goofy :)