Planting in KC

The topic of church planting came up recently. Being a missions nut, I'm all for churches getting planted and, sadly enough, we need church plants in places like New England, where Biblical Christianity once flourished. But do we need to spend the church's resources planting churches in KC? It's not that there aren't new subdivisions that could use a local congregation but I'm afraid there is something more pressing. Here's my response…

As for Church Planting, there is a church on every corner in Kansas City; the problem in KC is not so much the number of churches, as the quality. We have lots of old, dying churches and we have lots of young, shallow churches. And we have far too many liberal theology, make-it-up-as-you-go-along churches. But the solid, mature, fruitful churches are relatively few. Nevertheless, I assume that all of these churches are still part of the body of Christ. So what we need most isn't church planting (assuming falsely that we have lots of new, empty ground in which to sow), but rather the rejuvenation of lost ground (we have a damaged harvest already that needs to be recovered). We need to recapture established churches and become catalysts for change in the lives of those who've wandered astray. Those churches need to be reclaimed with Biblical preaching, solid leadership, and the charge to return to their first love.

But a lot of people don't want to do the hard work of herding the flock. When things go south, most ministers just go find new sheep. They jump from church to church, avoiding conflict and looking for greener grass on the other side of the fence. I want to see ministers who'll lock horns with a group of people and, out of love, refuse to let go.

Instead of church planters, we need revivalists, interim ministers, counselors, strong Elders, and solid preachers.