“Are you saying the current churches are no good?”
“What about supporting the churches which are struggling?”
“Why take great members from a church to start a new one?”
Planting churches can be controversial. It needn’t be.
Tim Keller has written this seminal paper. It is short, clear, persuasive and, in typical Keller fashion, deals with objections very well. Why plant churches? This is well worth a read.
To whet your appetite:
“The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for (1) the numerical growth of the body of Christ in a city and (2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing megachurches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes—will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.”
