I’ve worked with a lot of church plants. And, I’ve been involved in two—as a planter. Every planter goes into the process hoping to see lives changed with the Gospel. Hoping to grow. Some work. Some don’t.
Why is that?
Well, of course, there are spiritual factors at work. Some sow seeds and others reap harvest. Sometimes God uses the plant in a unique way—that doesn’t produce huge numbers of attendees. And, frankly, sometimes the planter had no business planting. It was never really what they were called to do. It looked “exciting” from the outside—all the “cool” people are doing it, but God had a different plan for the planter’s life.
But speaking specifically about strategic type of reasons a church plant doesn’t grow, I’ve observed a few things.
Here are eight reasons a church plant may not grow.
1. You live by someone else’s rules.
I’ve seen it so many times. A church plant has the rules of the denomination or an association, and they simply don’t work where they are located. The plant doesn’t contextualize the structure to the culture and community around them. The exact same model won’t always work in two different church plants—even across town from each other. Principles are often transferable, but not necessarily practices.
2. You try to be like everyone else.
This is similar to number one but has to do more with the planter. The planter has a vision, but it’s someone else’s vision. They have a desire to look just like someone else they admire. Every plant needs its own vision birthed by God in the heart of its own planter. The truth presented should be the same as every other church plant, but the style of deliverance will have some uniqueness to the planter.
3. You depend too much on outside funding.
Rather than developing givers and volunteers from within the plant, the plant waits for the outside checks to come. The problem with outside funding is that it eventually disappears. It is rarely sustainable long-term. And if not careful, the planter becomes dependent on these resources. Obviously there are exceptions. Some plants may never be able to fully fund themselves. But in my experience, many times this problem exists because the planter has not discipled the people attending in the area of giving.
4. You build programs over relationships.
This is a common problem I’ve seen too. A church planter enters an area, implements a few programs, and believes that people will naturally acclimate to those programs. And they may for a short time. But in the end, programs will not sustain people. Relationships will.
