Church Planting in a Post-Christian America

    Planting churches has historically always been the most effective way to reach the lost. That was the strategy of the Apostle Paul. Everywhere he went on his missionary journeys, he planted churches. Even today, newer churches reach more lost people than established churches. One study found that churches over 15 years old only win an average of 3 people to Christ per year for every 100 members. That same study found that churches under 3 years old win an average of 10 people to Christ per year for every 100 members.

    Even though church planting has always been the most effective way to reach the lost, the strategy of church planting has changed, especially in the 21st century. Some believers from previous generations resist these changes at times. It is not that we want to leave our history and tradition behind, there is simply a different spiritual climate in America that must be understood and addressed.

    Twenty to thirty years ago, everybody went to church. To the point that no businesses were open on Sundays! This was a Chistian nation. When you built a church back then, you built it for church people. Since everyone went to church your goal was to convince people to leave their home church and go to yours. So your church had to have all the trappings and trimmings of church. It had to look like a church, feel like a church, sound like a church, even smell a like church. In fact, if you wanted to succeed, your church had to be more "churchy" than the other churches. In short, in previous generations, you planted a church for church people.

    But America has changed. A survey came out last May that showed that 20% of the American population identify themselves as non religious. In Clayton only 35% of people belong to a church. In Garner only 43% percent. About 4,000 churches in this country shut their doors every year. For every 5 churches that closes, only 1 opens. 4 out of 5 churches have either plateaued or are declining. 85% of churches are the ones declining Out of the 15% that are growing, 14% is because of people changing churches. This is no longer a Christian nation. In fact, it is now being called a Post-Christian nation by historians.

    As a result, our strategy has to change. Where as in the past we planted churches that church people would want to go to, now we must plant churches that unchurched/dechurched people want to go to. This is going to take a dramatic shift in the way we do "church". We must throw away everything we know and go back to the drawing bored.

    This has huge implications. Now our job is even more critical. Not only are we planting a new church(lower case), we are also building a new Church! We are going to have to change everything we do when it comes to ministry because our audience has changed from the churched to the unchurched.

    We have no intention of leaving the "older" generation behind. Their wisdom, experience, and guidance is not only needed, but valued. Yes, the Joshua generation must lead God's Army, but the Moses generation must also keep their arms raised in order for there to victory(Exodus 17). These two generations must be in Alignment. Lets come together as the next generation of Spirit Filled believers.