Church Planting

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Scythes, Harvest, and the Bare Arms of Laborers

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Scythes, Harvest, and the Bare Arms of Laborers

Let me tell you what a tragedy is.  Every day, millions of Christians spend all of their waking ours giving no thought to spiritual death their neighbors live.  Every week, those same Christians show up to a building where they have an experience and do nothing of significance to advance the Kingdom.  Every year, millions of dollars are spent on making that experience as comfortable and as entertaining as possible for those very same Christians who are doing nothing to fulfill the Great Commission.

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Foolish But Effective

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Foolish But Effective

There are days when I think about how foolish this must seem to mega-church pastors.  We don't have much money (We remain about two low giving months away from not being able to pay me).  We don't have many people (35 on a good Sunday).  Our organization structures are lacking in the absence of multiple staff (Volunteers are stepping up, though!).  We have no building to mark our presence (And no payment!).  

However, if we are comparing stats:

  • 3,000 people spend 3 million dollars to make 15 disciples in a year in a large church context. That is 1 disciple for every 200 people (0.5% disciple-making rate) and $200,000 per new disciple.  
  • 8 people (plus a whole lot of other people praying, giving, encouraging, and supporting) spend about $40k to make 9 disciples in a year in a house church context.   That is 1.125 disciples for every 1 person (112.5% disciple-making rate) and $4,444 per new disciple.  

Church Multiplication and Giving Up Control

Church Multiplication and Giving Up Control

Dear Pastor, Jesus is King, and you are not.  

The hardest thing for people to admit is that Jesus is King and they are not. We all want to be in control.  We want to be the masters of our own destiny, but fundamental to Trusting Jesus is surrendering to Him.  It's no different for pastors. Pastors, like kings can fall into the self-deception that everyone is better off when they are in charge. "If everyone would just listen to me, everything would be ok." This is one reason why churches don't multiply. 

Multiplication means pastors aren't as important as they might think. It means their vision language will get diluted as the church becomes decentralized.  It means people won't hear their sermons every week.  It means they can't manage leaders within a church structure.  It means they lose control.  

I'm not saying pastors have sinister plans to control people. Their control doesn't usually come out of selfish motives...usually. It comes our of fear. They want the best for people, and they are afraid of what will happen if they aren't in control. They forget that Jesus has been leading the church since before they were born, and He will be leading it after they are gone.