Starting a church from scratch is never an easy path. It is something that requires faith, an undeniable calling along with some “blood, sweat, and tears” work ethic.
Planting a life -giving church and doing the work of a missionary was a challenge long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Church attendance – in both contemporary and traditional Christian churches, are either in decline or at a plateau with regards to in-person attendance.
As we adjust to a post-pandemic or a world with a endemic, we see more than ever the need to start anew. We all need to find new ways to reach our community, plant new churches, and truly make a difference.
The Opportunity that Difficult Times Present
It is often when people are faced with difficulties and challenges that they become more open to listening to the Word of God. I believe this happened during the tragic 09/11 attacks in the USA. We, as the Church, (Body of Christ as a whole) were not prepared to handle the influx of people and therefore missed an opportunity to reach a great number of people.
Regarding our current situation: Despite many congregations not being able to meet physically, our brothers and sisters were able to keep the spirit of the missional church alive. People are more receptive to hearing the teachings of Christ — all we need is to reach out to them.
The churches that were able to pivot, adapt, and meet the needs of the community are the ones who are hanging tough and even flourishing.
Finding a New Method of Church Planting
I don’t know any other way to put it – Your church (or church plant) needs to be outward-focused. Instead of only focusing on the needs of our members, we need to look after our community, as well. This is not an “either or” scenario but a “yes and” necessity. We can be outward focused at the same time make disciples of those who are members of the local church.
Although social distancing measures has made it hard to follow through on this goal, missional churches all over the country showed it is still possible. From small, home-based gatherings of only several people to larger congregations, online streaming of services, were able to keep their church connected, encouraged, and discipled.
Thanks to the Internet and the global situation, we now have a new model of church. This new model lets us keep our community fired up and continue our missionary work.
Virtual meetings and video calls are effective tools for planting a new church during the pandemic. It helped us to not only keep church services alive but also made it easier for people to participate in small groups.
What Planting Missional Churches Truly Means
We need to remember that we (the people/ followers of Jesus) are the church. We don’t necessarily have to focus on a physical church building. Our goal is to plant the seeds of faith within the people of a community, city, or area. Our goal is to guide them, help them grow their faith, and be in true relationship with their Jesus.
We help them strengthen their relationship with God and Christ so that they can pass it forward. (disciples making disciples)
On a macro level – our hope is that many of these followers of Jesus would desire to plant new churches and extend missionary work into other areas.
Although we have been through so much in the past 2 years, the Great commission remains our goal. May we press toward that goal with all of our heart. I pray that our hearts would be focused on the mission and that we wouldn’t put God in the proverbial box.
Pray – listen – and dream of ways to reach the people.
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