Leadership Network - ADVANCE: Church Planting Study in US

CHURCH PLANTING According to Leadership Network "Church planting in the United States appears to be undergoing an extreme makeover." Here's some fascinating stats from a newly published study about church planting: 68% of church plants still exist after 4 years. The typical church plant is under 100 in attendance after 4 years. There are about 4000 church plants a year. Average number of baptisms or conversions in a church plant is 10 the first year, 11 the second year, 13 the third year and 14 the fourth year. Thank you to the Leadership Network for providing a host of free resources for those interested in church planting. You have to register at their site but they have podcasts, books and PDF's of information on funding, approaches and viability. In my warped thinking, those who provide resources and information like this for free are ones who are truly interested in advancing the kingdom. I first saw this link over at Brad Boydston's blog, who has been advocating for church planting for a very long time. His church planting manual is still available for free and along with his whole list of resources. Thanks Brad. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how passionate I am for church planting. I'm excited to be supporting Pastor Mike Mazzye and Catalyst Church that is starting in the eastern 'burbs of Syracuse. Currently we meet in St. David's Episcopal Church in DeWitt, NY. No doubt we'll outgrow that soon. Please pray for our church. Different topic about church planting ... CHURCH DNA I am often part of discussions about "a church's DNA". What I mean by that are the spoken or unspoken core values that frame the life of a church right from it's inception. I've struggled with the thought of how does a church maintain it's missional focus and vitality after it grows. It's easy when the church is being planted and very young. Reaching out to the unchurched is vital: grow or die. But it seems that churches lose that focus as they age. How can we maintain it? Here's my theory (which obviously could be a bunch of crap, but hey, it's my blog): New churches need to be planting new churches right from the start. Right from the first discussions. It almost seems disingenuous to be planting without plans to plant other churches. Even more importantly, the plan to plant new churches needs to be in your first budget. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, "19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust [5] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Based on the principle Jesus lays out of where you invest your financial resources so also are you investing your emotional resources, I say, that if it's not in your budget it's not part of your church DNA. It's not in your church's heart even if you say it is. Fortunately, for Covenant church plants it's built right into the beginning budget. What do you think?