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Church planting is just starting to pick up steam.

Here is an article about modern church planting from The Leadership Network:

Church planting in the United States appears to be undergoing an extreme makeover.

According to the findings of a new research study, interest in church planting is on the rise, some of America’s best and brightest ministry leaders choose planting as their career path and church planting efforts are much more successful and promising than anticipated.

Read the rest of this article on church planting here.

How can we do church? Make Disciples!

By Jeremy Myers

Make Disciples

And there are few “church guidelines” on how to do this. We have several examples of what various believers did in the first century do make disciples. They met together, prayed, ate meals, learned the teaching of the apostles, and served one another. Also, it seems that a big part of their disciple-making process was telling others about Jesus.

In history, we have many more examples of what other believers did to make disciples. Some of them worked for a time, but then became alarmingly ineffective. our modern day “church service” is a great example of this. At one point in history, it was a great way to reach the community for Jesus and teach and train these new believers about Jesus. It was where people came to serve and be served, hence the name “church service.” But this method doesn’t seem to work any more for most people. So why hang on to it?

What is the church supposed to do? Make disciples. So let us stop trying to figure out how to do church and instead figure out how to make disciples.

In our day, we need to reexamine the ways we try to make disciples and if they are not working, ask ourselves:

What will work?
How can we best make disciples?
Are meetings necessary?
If so, when/where should we meet, and what should we do when we meet?
How can we get believers to know what God wants them to know and do what God wants them to do so we can be the church in our community?
How can we best tell people about Jesus?”

The answers to these questions will be different for different groups of believers living in different cities. But they are questions that every group of believers must ask if they are going to effectively make disciples.

What is church?

By Jeremy Myers

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Most of the problems regarding how to “do church” and what goes on “at church” could nearly be solved by simply answering the question “What is church?”

What is Church?

It seems that most of us believe that church is something we do on Sunday morning. It is where we meet God, and therefore, we have to dress up to “go to church,” and act a different way “at church.”

Though there are new types of buildings that hold “churches” they are typically built with red bricks, stained glass, and a white steeple. It is “at church” that we sing songs about God, read the Bible, and listen to a pastor teach. Church is where we get spiritual instruction. Church is where we go when we need a spiritual “pick-me-up.” Church is an American tradition.

But is that what “church” is? No. Absolutely not!

What is Church?

Biblically, the church is made up of all who have believed in Jesus for eternal life worldwide and throughout time. That is the church.

Therefore, church is not something you can attend. It is not a place you can go.

“Church” just is, and you are either a part of the church or you are not.

When this truth is grasped, it revolutionizes the way we go about being the church. We realize that since we can’t go to church, what is this “thing” we are doing on Sunday morning? If that’s not church, what is? If we can’t “go to church,” what are we supposed to do about church? How are we supposed to “do church”?

Share your view and ideas on these subjects in the comments below.

Note: Since this post was written, I have written a couple books on this very topic:

To answer the “What is the church?” question, I wrote Skeleton Church.

To answer the “What is the church service?” question, I wrote Put Service Back into the Church Service.

Who is the Church Service for?

By Jeremy Myers

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I recently asked the question, “Who is the Church service for?” The two basic answers are that the church service is for believers, or that it is for unbelievers. Some churches focus on teaching and training Christians, while others focus on reaching out to unbelieving seekers. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

The Church Service in Teaching Churches

Teaching churches focus on training Christians, but do a relatively poor job of reaching the lost. They will often say that outreach and evangelism is the job of the individual Christian, and you will hear them say things like “Healthy sheep naturally reproduce.” But in reality, little evangelism actually takes place.

And as it turns out, though many of the believers in these churches know their Bibles well, few of them actually live out what they know in their day-to-day lives, nor are they reaching out with the gospel, which challenges the idea that these sorts of churches are actually doing a good job making disciples.

So teaching churches often fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

The Church Service in Seeker-Sensitive Churches

Seeker sensitive churches try to correct the weakness of teaching churches by making their church programs and services more welcoming to unbelievers. They seem to do a great job at this.

They often offer Saturday or weeknight services for the Christians to help them mature, or will encourage believers to get involved in home groups for discipleship.

But in reality, seeker sensitive churches often fail to bring new disciples to maturity.

Furthermore, it has become increasingly evident that although seeker sensitive churches do grow numerically, most of their growth is transfer growth from other churches, rather than actual evangelism growth. So in reality, unbelievers are really not being reached by seeker sensitive churches either. Seeker sensitive churches often fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

The Problem with Both Types of Church Services

The problem with both church models is the same: the church cannot focus primarily on training believers or primarily on reaching unbelievers. Both are needed. But even churches that try to do both are generally quite weak in one or the other. So who is the church service for – believers or unbelievers? The answer is: “Wrong question.”

The correct questions are “What is the church?” and “What is the church service?” We will look at these questions in future posts.

If you want to read more now, try two books I have written on these topics:

To answer the “What is the church?” question, I wrote Skeleton Church. There is now a free online course that goes along with the book. Join the discipleship area so you can take the course today.

To answer the “What is the church service?” question, I wrote Put Service Back into the Church Service.

Is the church service for believers or unbelievers?

By Jeremy Myers

11 Comments

One question I have been mulling over recently is “Who is the church service for — believers or unbelievers?”

There are some who believe the church service is primarily for believers, while others believe the church service is primarily for unbelievers. This belief reveals itself in different ways depending on how it is answered.

The Church Service is for Believers

Those who say that the church service is for believers will often have church services that cater to the needs and desires of Christians. There will be an emphasis on programs and teaching that meet the needs of Christians. The sermons will often center on teaching Christians what they need to know to be better Christians. The songs will often use terms and ideas that Christians are familiar with. The programming will center around issues that Christians are dealing with.

In the churches I have pastored, this is the approach I used. But we always did a poor job of reaching unbelievers, as do most churches who follow this model.

Unbelievers who visit a church that is focused on “making disciples of Christians” will often be confused and weirded out by what goes on. They will ask questions like:

What’s with all the teaching from Romans?
What does “justification” mean?
You say Jesus is coming back? That sounds a bit like the legends that say King Arthur is returning.
Why do I want to learn “Christian business principles”?
If I want to become a Christian, do I really have to be “washed in the blood of the lamb” and become “the bride of Jesus”? Both ideas give me the willies.

The Church Service is for Unbelievers

Then there are church leaders who say that the church service is primarily for unbelievers. In these church, the leadership understands that much of what the church does and says is a little strange to unbelievers, so they try to look at things from the perspective of an unbeliever, and make the church more “seeker sensitive.”

They gear the church service not toward the Christian, but toward the non-Christian who knows next to nothing about the Bible or church traditions. This tends to attract lots of crowds, and even generates lots of new believers, which is great, but ends up allowing most of these new believers to remain in relative immaturity. Bill Hybels and Willow Creek have recently announced this fact for their own church. The “seeker sensitive” model, while it attracts large crowds, does a poor job of bringing those crowds to spiritual maturity.

Is there a balance or middle ground between the two? I think there is, which we look at in the next post: “Who is the Church Service For?.”

Also, for more on this subject, check out my book, Put Service Back into the Church Service.

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting – Part 2

By Jeremy Myers

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The previous post talked about how there are lots of church planting networks, but many of them are opposed to Free Grace Theology.

The question could be asked why we even need new churches.

Why we Need New Churches

Many believe that there are already too many churches and it is better to revitalize and support existing churches rather than plant new ones.

Here are one way of explaining it (I pulled this from ThinkChristian.net):

1. There are 195 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the top four largest “unchurched” nations in the world.
2. In spite of the rise of mega-churches, no county in America has a greater church population than it did ten years ago.
3. During the last ten years, combined communicant membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.5 percent (4,498,242), while the national population increased by 11.4 percent (24,153,000).
4. Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only as many as 1,500 new churches are started.
5. There are now nearly 60 percent fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920.

In 1920 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

In 1950 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

In 1996 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

6. Today, of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining.
7. American denomination recently found that 80% of its converts came to Christ in churches less than two years old.
8. Hence the claim of many leaders: “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches” (Peter Wagner).

Just for fun, I found a quick map that gives a generalized picture of religious adherents in the US from 2000:

The map is from a page on Valparaiso University’s web site called American Ethnic Geography.

Population Growth is Outpacing Church Growth

There may be lots of churches today, but there are LOTS more people, and the number of churches per person is decreasing. Some might argue that this is because small churches are closing and the people are going to mega-churches, which is true. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that many mega-churches are not doing a better job than smaller churches of making disciples of the people who attend.

Most importantly, is that new church plants tend to be much more effective and efficient at reaching out to unbelievers. For this reason alone, we need to get involved in and excited about church planting.

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting

By Jeremy Myers

12 Comments

I have a heart that beats for church planting…I’m just not sure I’m cut out to be a church planter! I mentioned it before, but I have become increasingly convinced that if Free Grace theology is going to move forward, we have to involved in church planting.

There are numerous organizations and networks which are planting hundreds of churches worldwide, and most of them are strongly Lordship/Calvinistic. We need one for Free Grace Theology! It’s not enough to just write and speak and debate. We need to get out there and share the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches.

Below are 10 of the top church planting organizations. Though for many of them I could not find a doctrinal statement, the ones that did have doctrinal statements leaned toward Calvinistic/Lordship theology.

1. Acts 29 – Calvinstic
2. New Thing Network – Lordship
3. Global Church Advancement – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
4. Leadership Network – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
5. Orchard Group – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
6. Stadia: New Church Strategies – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
7. Grace Church Planting Ministries – Lordship
8. house2house – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
9. Kairos – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
10. Association of Related Churches – I can’t find a doctrinal statement

If you are interested in church planting, or just doing things better at your church to reach out more effectively, many of these sites have excellent free tools and ideas. Make use of them.

Best Innovations 2007

By Jeremy Myers

5 Comments

I always wanted to be an inventor. I even have a notebook at home full of “Million Dollar Ideas” (Which probably means that they would cost a million dollars to invent, and not make any money!). When I graduated from high school, my plan was to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and then invent stuff.

This plan got derailed when a good friend of mine died in a hiking accident, and I went off to Bible college instead to train for the pastorate.

However, my love for innovation never left me. I am always looking for new ways of doing old things. For this reason, my favorite issue of TIME magazine is always the “Best Inventions of 200?” issue that comes out this time of year. The 2007 edition has me dreaming on every page, and wouldn’t you know it, one of the “best of” inventions utilizes an idea I had about 20 years go. Oh well… I’m glad someone else saw it and is putting it to good use. (In case you’re curious, it is the invention that puts a little wind generator on the top of a car to create electricity off the forward motion of the car to reduce the amount of energy the car uses. This idea could be used on any sort of vehicle as long as the generator produces more electricity than it uses due to wind resistance.)

The “Best Invention” of 2007 went to the iPhone, which I am not sure it deserves, but maybe that is because I don’t own a cell phone, much less an iPhone (or even an iPod). The invention I thought was the coolest is the car that runs on nothing but air, and the only emission is cooler air! WOW. Read more about it at www.theaircar.com. There’s still the question about how it powers the compressor…but still, this is cool.

There were others that got me drooling as well. Since I want to write books, I drooled some over the Print on Demand technology which allows any author to print his/her book for only $3! Amazing.

You can read more about these and other inventions at the TIME Magazine website.

Reinventing Church Planting

As I read about these inventions, I often wonder if I “missed my calling” and I should have stuck with Mechanical Engineering. But it hit me earlier this week that I am an inventor, though I prefer to think of myself an innovator. I have several notebooks full of ideas on things churches could be doing to share Jesus more effectively with the world, to do a better job in making disciples, to help children grow up and “stick” with Christianity, to make the services more meaningful, to help people connect with God, to develop real and genuine friendships within the church, and on and on.

Some of these ideas I see being implemented in churches across the country. And as it turns out, most of these churches are new church plants. It seems that the innovators, the visionaries, the “inventors” in Christianity are most often church planters. Generally, established churches are quick to shoot down new ideas with many reasons why something cannot or should not be done. Church planters, however, go out and do them.

Once I graduate from seminary next spring, I am not sure where God will lead me. Maybe I will stay at my current job. Maybe I will take an established church here in the States, or around the world. Maybe I will go into church planting. Maybe I will do some crazy combination of all three! But whatever I end up doing, I hope and pray that God allows me to innovate. It is who He made me to be. It is who I am. Innovation for the Kingdom of God is what excites me.

Do you know of any churches that are creatively and effectively making disciples and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Share them with others below.

The church needs to be Grace Wholesalers

By Jeremy Myers

3 Comments

This is an old post by Vince Antonucci, who is planting a church in Las Vegas. But though he wrote it several years ago, it is still valid:

I want to take some time to talk about one of the main things that keep Christians and churches from reaching out to lost people. (By the way, recently I suggested reading, “No Perfect People Allowed” by John Burke. Some of the ideas I’m going to express in these next few posts come from his book. He says them so well in there, I can’t really improve on them.)

So one of the seven core values at our church is: “Grace Wholesalers. We love people unconditionally and help them onto the road to healing and wholeness in Christ.” As you know, grace means to get the opposite of what you deserve. It’s unmerited love. A wholesaler (like B.J.’s , Sam’s Club or Costco) is someone who only gives in bulk. The idea is that at Forefront we give grace, love, hope, healing, acceptance, friendship in bulk. In huge quantities – you can’t just get a little.

Why is this one of our core values? Well, first of all, because God is a grace wholesaler. The Bible says that that’s how God treats us, with amazing grace. The reason we have Christ, the reason we’re saved, the reason we grow, the reason we live, the reason we’ll spend eternity in Heaven is because of God’s grace.

Second, Jesus came and exactly represented God the Father while He was on earth, and Jesus was a grace wholesaler. This is why when you read the gospels you find that the people who were drawn to Jesus were the worst of sinners. Why? Because they knew they needed grace. And He’s the one who gave it in bulk. We see Jesus condemn no one (except religious people who felt no need for grace). Jesus was the ultimate grace wholesaler. So why are we grace wholesalers? Because we have no choice! The church is called to be the body of Christ. As Jesus exactly represented God the Father, we are to exactly represent Jesus. And so Christians, Churches must be grace wholesalers.

In fact, this should be the distinctive of Christians and of Churches. I love how an author named Gordon MacDonald put it, “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.” Grace is what separates Christianity from the world. Grace is also what separates Christianity from other world religions. There are a lot of similarities amongst the world religions, but only Christianity offers grace. Only Christianity says you get the opposite of what you deserve from God. Only Christianity says God wants to offer you unmerited love.

Thanks, Vince!

Let us not be grace misers or withhold grace from people. If God give us an infinite supply of grace, why not spread this grace around as freely as possible?

If you want to learn more about God’s infinite love and grace for you, and how we can liberally share this grace with others, sign up to take my online course, “The Gospel According to Scripture.” You will come to see that there is no limit to the grace of God for you.

How Smart Are you?

By Jeremy Myers

19 Comments

Did you hear that most of us are pretty dumb?

We’ve all seen it on Jay Leno when he asks basic political and current event questions to random people on the street and in the mall. We laugh at how ignorant they are.

Well, we’re all in the same boat. This was recently reported:

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has just released the second study of its kind. In a measure of how well students at American colleges and universities know basic U.S. civic facts, some of the worst performers turned out to be from University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Yale, Princeton, and Duke.

ISI distributed the tests to over 14,000 college freshman and seniors at 50 American colleges and universities. The 60 question, multiple choice exam covered American history, government, international relations, and market economy.

College freshman scored an average of 50.4% on the test. Seniors’ scores were scarcely better at an average of 54.2%. All American colleges and universities failed, and some of the best in the country came out at the very bottom.

For me, one of the most interesting things is that our elected political officials consistently received lowers scores than the average citizen.

So, how smart are you?

Take the test here and report back here on how you did (if you dare)! You can read more about this here: Civil Literacy Report.

Are you one of the brightest and best? Plant a church!

How can we do church? Make Disciples!

Make Disciples

What is church?

What is Church?

What is Church?

Who is the Church Service for?

The Church Service in Teaching Churches

The Church Service in Seeker-Sensitive Churches

The Problem with Both Types of Church Services

Is the church service for believers or unbelievers?

The Church Service is for Believers

The Church Service is for Unbelievers

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting – Part 2

Why we Need New Churches

Population Growth is Outpacing Church Growth

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting

Best Innovations 2007

Reinventing Church Planting

The church needs to be Grace Wholesalers

How Smart Are you?

So, how smart are you?

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