Church "Planters"

From Doug Pagitt

I received this email from Chad Farrand about church planting. I think this is a good question and I wondered if someone would like to follow-up on it.

doug, has there been any conversation around the idea of emergent providing an ongoing connection/development/encouragement...
for church planters within the conversation? this may sound like a dumb question, but i just feel like there could be some way for new church planters (and i would like to figure out a better name than "planter") to be encouraged and glean from those in the conversation that have taken the step already.

just an idea i've been stewing on.

chad

Comments

[kyle]

Personally as a young Canadian present and future church planter i would like to know what your thinking in this area. Sounds like a conversation i would enjoy being a part of.

[will]

I would strongly advocate that Emergent be a part of encouraging new communities of faith as well as revitalizing existing churches.

So when do we start...?

[Jay]

To followup on Will's comments, I actually think that we have focused more on new church plants without talking much about church revitalization for the simple reason that there aren't a lot of revitalized churches to draw on as examples of the things we are talking about. Our leadership, after all, is predominantly church planters (which is a good thing!!! This is not a critique, but a comment!!!). I applaud efforts to network and resource new church planters. I also would like to have more direct networking from folks engaged in trying to change the culture of an existing congregation.

[rick luoni]

I would love to be a part of this conversation. If there are some serious minded folks in the SFBay Area I'd love to connect locally so that we can be a part of the more broad conversation.

Rick

[bobbie]

this is our dream - to plant - i have no idea what or when, but i know we want to learn from others who are doing it, so we too would like to be part of this discussion.

[Luke]

We are working to put together a group of church starters in the Bay Area/Central Coast. We are finding that those of us with Emergent leanings are having a difficult time with the traditional church planting models. (Attractional/High Expenese/High Demand) Where I am at we are planning for a more incarnational approach and would love to talk with others about practice and theology behind planting emergent churches.

[Chris Gonzalez]

Yes, can emergent please converse about church planting? I think that there are many longing to plant churches, but need some more guidance. Those who have taken the plunge and done it (planted a church) have something to say about the water temp (gearing up, ground work, launching, communicating with the community etc) for those of us standing on the edge of the cliff wondering if we can do it.

Maybe conversation like this will generate a second wave of new churches and new church planters.

[Beth R.]

I am a member of a church planting team in Houston, Tx. We are trying to learn from others, especially from those who have planted new churches from within the mainline denominations. We have a site where we are entering information about topics to help a new church get started (small groups, community outreach, worship, leadership, programs, etc.) It is in the early stages of development but I'd welcome comments and suggestions. We have a team of 26 coaches who are searching for a pastor, learning about church planting, visiting our prospective community, and, most importantly, praying about this effort.

It is clear God is moving in this although I have no idea what the result will be. I'd love to be connected to this conversation.

[Beth R.]

I guess the site address would be helpful:

http://mdpcbarnabas.editme.com

[bob]

we're working on a church planting network in the northwest (specifically portland) - http://nextchurchnetwork.org . I'd love to talk to anyone else in the area who's interested in being connected over this exciting adventure of starting new things...

also- shameless plug- just wrote out some of my experience in church planting here: http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/555

[Kristine Socall]

I'm working with several others on an existing church "revitalization" project (rather than a church plant, which we tend to joke about going to do on particularly difficult days). We're 6 months into the process in the Chicago suburbs, transforming a denominational church, and it's been tough! Our strategy has consisted (not entirely) of revisiting the core purposes of a missional community, spending 4 weeks on each topic, further stressed through practical non-Sunday serving, small groups and off-the-church-clock discussions, along with postponing the start of services to allow for "on the church clock" community time in the coffee bar (also newly launched). While I don't have anything to report in terms of monumental success, we have had quite of the few of the traditionalists leave (a few saying the coffee bar's syrup bottles looked like whiskey bottes, and giving us quite a chuckle!...but then clearing the way for more transformation. Those that are left are ever more open to the idea of changing the church and revisiting symantics about who we are and what we're supposed to be doing here. It's been a fun trip and it's certainly only begun!