Planting or Poaching?

and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation,
(Romans 15:20 – ESV)

For a church planter asking to use your building for a foreign language church, wonderful, we might need that for those that don’t speak English in our area. For a church planter to be asking to use your building so that they can plant an English church, the question becomes, why? What about the church you are asking; isn’t it good enough? The unsaved can come to our church as easily as yours, what you are doing is trying to plant YOUR type of church. It amounts to little more than a business idea, like franchising your brand. If the one church doesn’t preach the gospel, then well, but if they do, what makes you think you are right to start another church in the same area? If you say that they won’t come to our church because of this or that well then what you are selling them is your brand not presenting Jesus Christ. You are not given license by God to start up your idea of a church just anywhere because you want one there, Mr. Mega man. The numbers might look good to you, but did you ask the local pastor what opening up your spiritual superhighway might mean for his flock?

If the church is huge and could use a little smaller model for the overflow instead of making itself a mega monster, then well. But if the church is already small, why bring another one in? Especially if you haven’t even been there to see if they are preaching the gospel and striving to present Jesus Christ in His radiance by expositing the biblical truth? If they don’t have “numbers” why aren’t you helping THEM? If you make that assessment only by what you don’t see there, like a lot of cars, what are you saying about your measures? When is the last time some large ministry helped a struggling church with its building, instead of building a new one for themselves?

Now I guess if there are no “Lutheran” or whatever denomination in a small town, then perhaps. But all too often it is just a different Baptist or independent church starting up and siphoning off other churches with their newness. Or the hip church, where you can feel good and do good stuff and drink coffee and eat donuts and be assured we love you, Jesus loves you, and no one is going to come down on you. Or how about the satellite church from a mega in another state, who put a lot of money into their building, advertising, etc., and the church starts off over 500 people. Never mind that more than half of them are just goats in training to look like sheep. Why do these churches always plant in middle and upper middle class neighborhoods? It is probably because that is where goat herders can be most successful.

Letting other churches using your facilities, sure, we can do that. Bonding together for common causes and civic projects, yeah, probably will do that. However, church planting is not increasing the Lord’s work if it is for any other purpose than evangelizing a community. It may grow nickels and noses, but it strives against other local assemblies and creates parochial interest and tends to democratic flesh minded choices rather than God fearing people. Oh, but how often it happens. I wish people would listen to Paul. 2 Corinthians 10:16 – so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence. Truth is I am not really worried about so called “sheep stealing”. I just want to encourage faithful, small church pastors to realize it is most often goat gathering.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©