When growth expectations attack

"Movement leaders need to play the long game, sticking by those who are on the front line"

It maybe the circles I move in, but I am to finding that growth expectations can be a major blessing or a curse to church planters. Those who have been working long term in very difficult area with hard to reach people groups can end up constructing a theology based on smallness and lack of fruit. The opposite can also be true of those who have the good fortune of working in a highly responsive region, where growth comes relatively easy. They sometimes write books and teach church growth principles that don’t transfer, leaving the rest of us feeling complete failures.

Over the years I have endeavored to allow scripture, especially Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom, to keep me from a “small thinking” mindset. I also try to be mindful that many of the biblical leaders who shared Jesus world view also experienced many years of frustration and setbacks.

The culture and growth expectations of churches and church plants are mostly set by the movement or denomination leaders who are overseeing the urban church planter. These movement leaders need to be able to “shoot for the sky” in their expectation of growth and impact, but need to articulate their awareness of the long slog that can be the reality for many urban church planters.

These movement leaders need to play the long game, sticking by those who are on the front line and giving them every chance to succeed. They also need to make sure that the definitions for success are relative to the environment the planter is working into.

Plant Urban: The Next Great Challenge

"Reaching out and building into these urban communities is one of the major challenges facing the church in our generation."

Breaking out of the bible belt

The reality is if you plant churches into certain sections of British towns and cities that contain an affluent and mobile population (often with large student communities) it is easier to build and maintain momentum. These regions often have larger churches with many floating Christians who live on the fringe of churches looking for next new exciting church or ministry.

Many city focused churches often meet in urban venues, but are mostly made up of people traveling in from the suburbs who often pay lip service to the communities around them. Reaching out and building into these urban communities is one of the major challenges facing the church in our generation.

At Christ Church Manchester we are describing an urban area as having high unemployment, often made up of ghettos based around ethnicity, with poor housing, low standards of education and health. The population of these urban areas often feels disenfranchised and like the world owes them a favor.

Over the next few blogs I want to look at how the church can contextualize and build in these communities.