I ran across this article on Christianity Today, well worth a read!
Go and Plant Churches of All Peoples
Crusades and personal witnessing are no longer the cutting edge of evangelism.Fifty years ago, if you said evangelism in a word-association game, you would probably get back Billy Graham. Crusade evangelism dominated the American church’s ideas about reaching out. When First Baptist Church members decided to share the gospel with their neighbors, they looked to see which evangelist could come to town.
Crusades haven’t disappeared, and churches still teach personal witness. But today, church planting is the default mode for evangelism. Go to any evangelical denomination, ask them what they are doing to grow, and they will refer you to the church-planting office.
They don’t mention Vineyard, but, its a good piece nonetheless!
Our move to the USA coincided with us moving from a large, well established (English) Baptist church to be part of a church plant; a church that seats 600 down to 35 people in a school hall. It was a shock to the system! What kept us going was the vitality of church life - if you didn’t all pitch in and do your part then church wasn’t going to happen. Back in our old church you’d be waiting a decade before opportunities would arise.
I am sure there’s a link between involvement and a sense of belonging to the community. If there’s a sense of belonging, then the opportunity arises to minister the gospel and process the effects in community. People don’t just change their lives unless they have a safety net under them, so an authentic community is almost a pre-requisite for real life change. Church planting offers that chance to be deeply connected. So I react with a hint of “Duh! Of course church planting is the cutting edge, most effective way to reach our communities!”
