The Strategic Value of Saturation Church Planting
By Danie Vermeulen
Show me a denomination in decline and I will show you a denomination
without a church planting vision. Show me a country where the Christian
population is stagnant or in decline and I will show you the denominations
within it, with no church planting vision. It stands to reason.
Yet, there are now numerous countries that show major evangelical
growth since the denominations and church groups settled on a specific
national church planting goal. Examples of these are the Philippines,
China, Brazil (in fact most of Latin America) Ghana and Zimbabwe.
In every continent of the world there are church planting movements
breaking through the barriers of evil resistance, bringing the glory
of the Lord, the incarnate presence of Christ into their communities.
Jim Montgomery, Founder and President of Dawn Ministries, is possibly
the most knowledgeable on this subject. He played a major role in
developing a strategy in the Philippines in the early 1970's that
would change the face of the Philippine church forever. IN 1974,
when about 75 church and mission leaders committed themselves toward
the goal of a church in every barrio by AD2000, a movement was born
called DAWN - an acronym for Discipling a Whole Nation. For the
Philippines, this would mean growing from about 5,000 churches to
50 000 in 26 years!
In February 2001 they will have their celebration - 50,000 churches
planted in 26 years! It has impacted the nation tremendously. Who
did it? Who should get the credit? The church, the Kingdom of God
in the Philippines! They multiplied themselves over and over. Most
denominations showed growth that outshone the growth of their counterparts
elsewhere in the world. Why? They had a vision to saturate their
nation with churches in every barrangay (neighbourhood).
SATURATION CHURCH PLANTING
Saturation Church planting is a vision that aims at mobilizing
the whole body of Christ within an area, city, province or country
to plant a church within easy access of every person in order to
disciple the whole nation. (Matt. 28:19) At this juncture I must
point out that Jesus' command to us was not to make disciples in
the nations but to make disciples of all nations. This is a whole
nation vision. Therefore, the mobilization of the whole body of
Christ is so essential.
WHY SATURATION CHURCH PLANTING?
There are several reasons other than the Biblical basis why saturation
church planting is the best method of evangelism. Let's look at
some of them.
1. New churches grow faster than old churches
Why do newly planted churches grow faster than older churches?
Because most often evangelism is their main activity. They break
into new households of relatives and friends and if there is a building,
something new is more noticeable. Also keep in mind that it is easier
to give birth than to raise the dead!
2. Church planting can give new life and vitality to your church
A new baby creates great excitement in a household. Kawit Baptist
Church in Kawit, Philippines was planted in 1986 and reached a peak
attendance of 50. When Pastor Arman Dela Merced arrived in 1993
the church was down to only 8 members! Pastor Arman, knowing that
it is easier to give birth than to raise the dead used his dying
church to plant a new church. Within 6 months they succeeded in
planting a daughter church in Imus with 60 members! There was a
great receptivity in Imus. But the amazing thing is that through
giving birth, revival came to the church in Kawit. Their membership
shot up to an incredible 96! 1
3. More types of churches are needed
Churches are like people and have different personalities. It is
often determined by the pastor himself. Theological persuasions
also play a major role and often determine the liturgy in the services.
God, in His infinite wisdom, created such variety in the expression
of church that it actually becomes difficult for someone to say
"I can't find a church where I fit in." We just need to
continue to plant more types of churches that cater for all homogeneous
groups.
It is also necessary to mention here that we are in desperate need
of churches that will cater for all the needs of our youth. They
need an expression where they will be comfortable with the dress
code, music and liturgy. It is a well-known fact that the last generation
style church will not appeal to the new generation.
4. Church planting develops new leadership
Peter Wagner says "Many churches have confirmed the fact that
the most important institutional variable for the growth and expansion
of the local church is leadership…For the most part, existing
churches have unconsciously placed a ceiling on both clergy and
lay leadership and, as a result, upward mobility of new people into
positions of ministry is difficult. But new churches open wide the
doors of leadership and ministry challenges and the entire body
of Christ subsequently benefits."2
5. Church planting helps denominational survival
In his book, "Church planting for a greater harvest",
Peter Wagner makes this observation, "Without exception, the
growing denominations have been those that stress church planting."
Many denominations talk about church growth and has intentions to
plant churches, but that is as far as it goes. They have neither
a plan nor strategy and are often too proud to ask for help.
In South Africa, noticeable events have taken place, which I believe
will impact this nation greatly. Dr. Isak Burger, Moderator of the
Apostolic Faith Mission, is busy mobilizing his denomination to
formulate a growth plan through church planting and they are by
no means a declining denomination! A recent case study on this denomination
is included in this publication.
The Baptist Union also has a definite vision. The Cell Church Movement
in South Africa, led by Pastor Harold Weitsz, is now writing church
planting into their materials and has asked DAWN Africa to help
them in this regard. But these are growing groups. What about those
in decline? You can do what the Church of England in the UK did.
They embarked on a DAWN project and after a 20-year decline they
are now showing tremendous growth.
6. Church planting is the best method of evangelism in a nation
A study of the church growth in Peru shows a startling discovery.
They have set a goal of 50,000 churches by the year 2003. That meant
6 new churches every day! But look at this: In 1989 they had 5,574
churches and it grew to 12,915 by 1995 - an Average Annual Growth
Rate of 15.03%. In 1989 they had 750,000 members in their churches,
and this figure grew to 2,189,345 by 1995 - an Average Annual Growth
Rate of 19.55%! The conclusion derived from this is that membership
growth rate is faster when planting churches.
I know of no other method of evangelism that can show such an impact
on a nation! If the Philippine church did not embark on a DAWN project,
they would have planted only 17,778 churches (projected) by the
year 2000 instead of 50,000!
7. New churches can stimulate existing churches.
It is sad to say that in most cases, when a new vibrant church
is planted within a community where there are already existing churches,
there is often hostility toward the new church. Pastors are afraid
to lose members to the new church. My advice to pastors is: Just
keep growing green grass in your church and the sheep will not wander.
Older churches that have stagnated are often "challenged"
by the newer churches into caring for their flock more effectively.
New churches raise the level of religious interest.
The essential criteria for any community with more than one church
is to see each other as part of the team that Jesus has called to
"destroy the works of the evil one." (1 John 3:8) Once
a pastor can pray for more workers to come to the harvest field
where he is laboring, he has truly become a Kingdom minister.
8. Church planting will bring a new awareness and compassion for
the lost.
It is almost hard to believe that most churches spend 90% or more
of all their resource on the already saved. The average church spends
at least 90% of its finance on church members who have heard the
gospel over and over. The average pastor spends at least 90% of
his time on church members who are already saved. So we can go on
and on. Churches stagnate when they become introverted in their
church life, when are overwhelmed with their own needs and wants.
Such churches lose vision and fall into "religiosity"
rather than shakers and movers in His kingdom.
As a child I often watched the farm workers on a Sunday afternoon
gather their dogs together to go rabbit hunting. Whilst there was
no rabbit in sight, these dogs would snarl and snap at each other,
but the moment they saw a rabbit they forgot about each other and
went for the kill. So it is in a church, where there is no vision
for the lost, the church members will bite at each other. After
my 22 years in the pastorate, I know this to be a true fact.
When a church becomes involved in a church plant, a new passion
for the lost will be evident. It is like a mother giving birth to
a new baby.
9. Church planting will bring a world vision to your church.
Often, Christians hide behind the walls of their church. They are
told not to mix with the "world" and sometimes they are
discouraged to read secular material such as newspapers. How sad.
We need to know what is going on in the world we are living.
There are thousands of Christians that know nothing about the unreached
peoples of our world, the 10/40 Window or the lostness of Generation
X! Churches that become involved in church planting are always looking
for the unchurched, unreached and ignored. It is then that their
eyes open and they become aware of the harvest.
I get so excited when I hear of churches that are planting new
churches cross-culturally, making an effort to go to the "ends
of the earth". Some of the most exciting times in my life as
a pastor was when I was involved in planting churches in Malawi
among the Yao, an unreached people group 2300 km's away from my
church in South Africa. My church members developed a world vision!
10. Church planting often re-emphasizes the principle of sowing
and reaping.
It is a biblical truth that "whatever a man sows, that he
will also reap." (Gal 6:7 NKJV). If we are talking about "planting"
we automatically talk about "reaping". When we invest
finances into church plants we need to expect a harvest of finance
for the planting church. If we invest people and staff in planting
a church, guess what we will reap?
THE PRACTICAL PROCESS
If a nation is going to embark in saturation church planting, then
a DAWN-type strategy is necessary. Jim Montgomery outlines 12 ingredients
to a DAWN strategy. He says: "It is a strategy that:
1. Is Christ-centered in its emphasis on seeing Him made incarnate
in every cluster of 500 to 1,000 people in the world;
2. Is built on the comprehensive plan of God who is not willing
that any should perish;
3. Focuses on the systematic occupation of the land;
4. Takes advantage of the practical and emotional values of
a whole-country approach;
5. Releases the incredible power of information;
6. Delivers a prophetic message to the Church;
7. Harnesses the vast energies inherent in working towards a
measurable, time-bound goal;
8. Emphasizes the "best method under heaven;"
9. Helps the body of Christ function effectively as a body;
10. Releases the great potential of denominations;
11. Encourages parachurch organizations to function truly "alongside"
the Church;
12. Provides a frame of reference for national and worldwide
strategy for the discipling of the nations
Each of these 12 ingredients of DAWN is powerful in itself. When
they are put together in symbiotic relationship, their potential
is enormous.¹
Dr. Murry Moerman1, gleaning from Montgomery makes the observation
that the details of how a saturation church planting project works,
varies from country to country and situation to situation yet some
ingredients are necessary:
- A person or group of persons earnest for the reaching of their
country, as was the reformer, John Knox of Scotland, who cried
out to God, "Give me Scotland or I die!"
- A national representative working committee that shares the
vision and is willing to give of personal and organizational resources
to guide this relatively simple process.
- The gathering and updating of relevant information regarding
the current harvest force and harvest field in the country. From
this can be gleaned a "prophetic message", how God sees
His Church in the nation and what He is saying to His people.
- Periodic national and regional gatherings of the leadership
of the Church to consider what God may be saying and how each
denomination may best respond for God's purposes to be accomplished.
These gatherings are frequently called "congresses",
to emphasize the decision-making element of response. Goals will
be set and reviewed, progress celebrated, prayer for revival renewed
and fresh commitments made.
- The commitment to continue the process until Jesus returns:
mobilizing prayer, monitoring of harvest force and harvest field
progress, dissemination of information in publications and congresses
and sharing church planting models and resources.
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