Remember the romantic love Bonnie Raitt sang about in her 1991 recording: “Let’s give ’em something to talk about.” I want to give you something much better to talk about — love for the good news of Jesus.
Over the past 2,000 years, various approaches have gathered people for worship and discipleship and then sent them out locally and globally to share the good news.
Strategies for launching and developing churches have varied, yet the message remains the same. And the primary vehicle for the message is congregations of various sizes, types, locations and styles, in multiple contexts, and with a variety of ways, sharing the good news.
Kingdom growth
In North America, among Christian groups that focus on launching new congregations of various types using various methodologies, we have seen a shift over the last four decades that has changed the character and nature of church and Kingdom growth.
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One issue to talk about is: Do congregations multiply other congregations with a unique and shared vision among the launch team? Or do church planters do the multiplication based on their personal vision?
A second issue is whether existing congregations should launch new campuses with the same vision as the main campus, or whether they should launch new congregations with a distinct vision from God.
A third issue is perhaps the most important. This is due to the shift over the past four decades toward church planters launching new congregations (rather than investing in established congregations) and the growing trend of multi-site congregations.
Given the trend that fewer people in North America — as a percentage of the population — are becoming and growing as disciples in evangelical congregations, do we need to reconsider the approaches we now accept as the norm?
Key difference
I believe this is a key difference between a Christian movement focused on “strong” congregations and one focused on “soaring” congregations, as I outline in my recent book “Soaring with Faith: The Difference Maker for Congregations.”
Strong congregations either send out church planters with a personal vision for a new congregation, or they launch a campus with the same vision at the central multi-site congregation. This is a church-growth approach.
Soaring congregations launch new congregations — often with the assistance of a couple of other congregations in their association — with a unique vision for the community context or people group to whom God is sending them. This is a Kingdom-growth approach.
If your core commitment is to fulfill the Great Commission, your love for the good news of Jesus should prompt you to talk about the difference between Kingdom growth and church growth.
My conviction is that we have moved over the past four decades toward valuing the growth of individual church congregations more than the growth of the Kingdom throughout our God-empowered movement of Christians.
How do you see it?
The reality is that our strategies over the past four decades have led to a decline in membership and attendance. Something is not working.
Despite our proclamations of being “all in” to fulfill the Great Commission, we appear to be going backward. Is that acceptable to you?
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent five decades in Baptist congregational and denominational ministry. His ministry roles included three churches, three associations, three state conventions and one national entity. He began as a columnist for TAB Media Group’s publication The Baptist Paper in 2022. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry. TAB Media Group published his new book “Soaring with Faith: The Difference Maker for Congregations” — available on Amazon.
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