C. Peter Wagner has often stated that, historically, church planting has been the single, most effective means for advancing the kingdom of God. There is a need to distinguish at this point what Wagner is and is not meaning with this statement.
What Wagner is not meaning is that the most effective way for any given local congregation to grow is by planting new churches. Planting a new church may or may not be what a local church ought to do. Is the timing right? Does the church have the experience and people in place? Is there a written plan of action that would increase the possibilities of successfully planting a new church? Has sufficient commitment to the task been raised within the congregation? At the local, individual church level there are many variables to consider before a proper determination to church plant or not can be made.
What Wagner is saying is that on the macrolevel of history, and when looking at broad, geographic areas, church planting has demonstrated itself to be the single, most effective method of expanding the kingdom. I believe Wagner's conclusion is valid for both biblical and practical reasons.
Biblical Insights Supporting Church Planting
The book of Acts is such an extraordinary book tracking the growth of the church through church planting. There are no fewer than twenty references to cities in which believers lived, where the inference if not the fact is that these were churches. David Hesselgrave makes this statement about Acts, 'From here (Acts 13) on the New Testament clearly indicates that churches were formed wherever some became Christians' (Planting Churches Cross-Culturally, 1980:.27). So closely linked are the ideas of evangelizing and church planting in Acts, it would be difficult for us not to accept that church planting was an essential part of the evangelistic work of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament seems to call us to recognize church planting as an indispensable part of the program of preaching of the New Testament church.
Practical Insights Supporting Church Planting
From around the world there are astounding reports confirming that we are living in a period of great religious receptivity. The Southern Baptist Mission Board recently published a small booklet highlighting the evangelistic impact of Church Planting Movements (David Garrison, 2000). Garrison reports in a South American country two Baptist evangelistic unions overcame government persecution to grow from 235 churches in 1990 to more than 3,200 churches in 1998. Among the Khmer people of Cambodia a new strategy for church planting was implemented in 1989. The Baptist churches had only 6 congregations with about 600 members that year. By 1998 their churches had grown to over 60,000 members in 194 congregations. And again, in a Hindu province in central India another work grew from 28 churches in 1989 to over 2000 in 1998. This growth represented over 55,000 people who made decisions to leave Hinduism for faith in Jesus Christ. Among Churches of Christ the amazing results in African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and others have demonstrated the practical power of evangelizing through the planting of new churches.
I am pleased that our primary workshop presenter, Marc Bigelow, has been involved in the planting of over 60, middle-class, urban-oriented Restoration churches in the northern California area since 1986. These church range in size from 130 to over 7,000 members! Marc brings with him the testimony that when we look at larger geographic areas, church planting consistently has proven itself to be an amazingly powerful method for bringing the gospel into the lives of lost people.
For the sake of the kingdom,
Stanley Granberg