I don’t ordinarily consider myself a “church planter,” but now that I’ve planted two churches in the last 20 years, I suppose I am.
I’ve been in this long enough to know that there are some things that are very predictable about planting a new church, or even starting a new business.
The truth is, we can never have enough of the right kind of churches because we have an over-abundance of the wrong kind. The question is, “What are the wrong kind, what are the right kind, and what are the characteristics of those church plants and church planters that seem to always fail? And are there characteristics that will predict that a church plant will succeed?” I believe there are five reasons why church planters fail. I’ve seen it happen over and over and over again. Even in my own life, when I’ve gotten close to the edges of these harsh realities, I can look over the abyss of failure.
These reasons can be avoided. And actually they’re opposites of the guarantee that a church planter will not only succeed, but succeed beyond his or her wildest imagination. And that leads to another issue, doesn’t it? What is a successful church plant? Is it a church of 4,000 or 5,000 people with 280 acres of land, a big staff, and multiple services? Well if it is, I’ve been there. But I can tell you that those are poor ways to judge the success or failure of a church plant. We’ll talk about it today on Renegade’s Guide to God.