The church I attend is 100+ years old. I have been associated with it (sometimes living other places, but returning to visit while away) for 27 years. Yikes. Now I feel old.
I understand that new church plants grow, and that United Methodists see this in the Southern Baptist church and hope to emulate it. I know that the UMC has things to offer that simply aren't offered in any other church. I understand that my congregation is fairly static in membership numbers because we don't conscientiously reach out to people who have no church background. But I don't know that I think that a constant building effort by the church is the way to fix that. Those churches will become old some day too.
This article is what brings me to think about this topic currently: Amid Growth...
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A lot of the New Church Starts are ostensibly aimed at bringing in people who have never been to church before. Many of them (and I wish I could tell you which ones, but my brain is toast) are clear that they expect folks to move on once they've become "churched" to make room for more unchurched people.
ReplyDeleteI think the point is not to make the new church starts last forever. I think the idea is to keep them for as long as they are viable and then go start some more.
Have you read Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point?" He talks about Mennonite communities and how when they reach a certain population they send a group out to start a new community. It strikes me that that's what the UMC is trying to do. Sort of.
I helped a friend with a New Church Start in Chicago. It takes a special person to be on the ground floor of that. Not my gift, that's for sure.
If you interested, I have another friend who's doing a NCS in Maine. His blog is here.
I suppose I see the point to some degree, but I wonder if we spent the money that's being spent on new churches to seriously invest in new programs at established churches, whether that might accomplish some of the same tasks.
ReplyDeleteIt's harder for a church to get excited about spending money on doing rather than building, and that may be where I have the biggest issues. Thanks for the link.