While on Sabbatical I saw a fair bit of church planting. Some of those churches meet in homes, some in reclaimed garbage dumps and some huge churches in multiple locations. Pastor Mario Vega planted a church in San Salvador that is now 60,000 people. Another group meets in a remote building/community center in a neighborhood once ruled by gangs. It is not a huge church and when gang members convert they usually move away for their own safety. So, while this church is quite busy de-populating Hell, they remain tiny. I learned some things common to these churches:
1. They all focused on local ministries with a keen eye toward loving and including those who are marginalized in society. Just like Jesus did.
2. They shamelessly name Jesus as Lord and pray to him for power to see lives changed and renewed.
3. They operate on faith, not on an over-reliance on budgets, plans and policies. Minimum structures, minimum resources, maximum trust, prayer and outreach.
4. They focus on developing people over building programs.
5. A high percentage of members take responsibility for teaching and participating in the church.
6. They balancing proclaiming the words of the Gospel and living Gospel centered lives in public.
Most church plants are not controlled or supervised by their parent churches. They are given the gift of life and legitimacy and are left to be self-sufficient in resources, leadership and theological integrity. The mother churches know they gave birth and the child is alive and well.
As for us at Sanctuary, don’t let the lack of announcements and videos about our plants, or not having administrative control over them disturb you. If you want to know more about one or more of our plants, take a Sunday to visit them. And, if you want to be a part of our church planting team or have ideas for church plants, please let me know and we will plug you in. We are doing a good thing and with God’s help, we can continue steadily adding church plants in the decade to come.
Blessings,
Randy Rowland
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