Each one, plant one.
Church planting is not simply about the mega-church finding itself at the limits of its facilities. Rather, our calling is to spread biblical, healthy and vibrant congregations into every neighborhood and enclave, every city and town, every county and region.
We have covered the news of a growing emphasis on plantings over the past months, but this month the sparks seem to have burst into flame.
On pages 18 and 19, we are summarizing the plantings conducted during the past two years. We highlight a few in regions across the nation. We point to resources for planters.
We believe our coverage is timely, but it is not a new idea. Rather, the church-planting impulse is deeply rooted in our community.
In the 2003 Churches of Christ in the United States, longtime demographer Mac Lynn identifies priorities by county and state. These basics make an outstanding starting point for considering the 10 priority locations for plantings, a list of counties without a congregation and the number of counties in each state which have no congregation.
We not only hope readers will spark serious discussions in their own congregations, but also study models of church-planting congregations. Church planting is a habit of the Highland church in Memphis, which was the subject of April's Churches That Work series kick-off. The Sunset congregation in Lubbock has reinvented itself as a leader here, too, through the work of the Sunset International Bible Institute.
Of course, there are several models and means of scattering the seeds of healthy churches. The Southwest church, Jonesboro, Ark., is backing Stan Granberg to sponsor Kairos, a ministry to recruit and equip teams of church planters.
Some congregations are teaming up with Stadia, Mission Alive, MetroSoul, Mission NYC, and N.E.T. Missions - church-planting groups with roots among the branches of what historians call the Restoration Movement. They are developing models of how to best plan, implement, assess and improve our planting efforts.
Although this month's coverage focuses on developments among churches in the United States, we know international congregations are focusing on planting, too. All cultures must be redeemed by the kingdom at a time of deep polarization between ideologies, religions, economic strata and other cultural barriers.
Too many have stopped talking to those who are unlike them. This is a time for partnerships of like-minded Christians. In times of polarization, it is easy to cry out to God that we, alone, are left to spread the gospel.
We know that moving beyond our comfort zones will spread the story of Christ to a new generation.
Healthy congregations understand that their mission is not simply to minister to their own, but also to reach out to the community and to plant healthy congregations nearby, across the nation and around the world.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, our congregations caught on fire with planting movements - each time fueled by different forces in the milieu of their times - but each time the growth of the kingdom was remarkable. After the frontier churches spread the word, another wave of plantings was captured by the pages of The Christian Chronicle during the 1950s and 1960s.
For a fellowship of 13,000 autonomous congregations deeply committed to biblical Christianity, we have congregations straining at the limits of their capacities. They can plant healthy congregations and deepen the network of inter-congregational loyalties and mutual dependence.
Medium-sized congregations should plan now to plant within a few years. They will grow stronger because they are focused on essential kingdom business.
Smaller congregations should plan a planting in order to keep their eyes on the goal and to make concrete the reality that mega-church status is not the goal of kingdom life.
The potential for impact is enormous. If each congregation plants a congregation, the message of Christ spreads and the kingdom grows.
Each one, plant one, and let's see what the Lord of harvest can do.
