Why Plant New Churches?

One of the questions that I frequently encounter is, "Why should churches plant new churches instead of strengthening the ones that already exist?" You can imagine the crazy looks that I get when, in response, I begin talking about the golden arches. No, not the golden arches of heaven (although I think that's actually golden streets anyway). I'm not even referring to the golden arches of the new Cowboy Stadium. I'm talking about McDonalds; specifically the part of their sign that reads "billions and billions served." Think about that for a moment, that's a lot of beef, and it's all been served in just 60 years. Ironically, five years (1953) into their history, there were only four restaurants in the chain. It wasn't until entrepreneur Ray Croc came on board in 1954 that things started booming. From 1954-1972 the chain grew from 4 restaurants to 2200. In my lifetime they've added another 29,000 locations. For years the sign kept count of how many had been served, changing with every five billions customers, until today the sign simply reads "billions and billions." Basically, it grew so large and so rapidly that they lost count.

Okay, where am I going with this? Well, this rapid, massive expansion was accomplished by sticking to a simple mission, maintaining high standards in their existing locations, and aggressively establishing new locations in promising areas. As we think about the task of world evangelization it is a rather daunting challenge. According to the International Mission Board there are approximately 6.6 billion people alive today with a projected increase to 8.9 billion by 2050. Though 33% of the world considers themselves "Christian," only 10% of the world embraces the idea of salvation by grace through Christ alone. Meaning that there are about 6 billion individuals in the world today to whom we need to bring the gospel near. Daunting? Yes. Overwhelming? Yes. Bigger than just you? Yes. Bigger than just your church? Yes. . . . . . Impossible? NOPE.

I can envision a day 60 years from now when we can rejoice in the reality of billions and billions of lives who have been eternally changed by the grace of God. But for this to happen, we must expand our thinking to understand that it is crucial that the church you attend to be healthy and growing, but it is also crucial that the other existing like-minded churches in your community, nation, and world are healthy and growing as well. Why? Because growing, healthy churches are able to work together to establish new churches in your community, nation, and world. The answer to the question of "Why plant new churches instead of strengthening existing ones?" is not an either/or answer; it's both/and. Our existing churches must not lose sight of our Great Commission. Our existing churches must work together devoted to seeing healthy, growing churches. And, our existing churches must see the need, embrace the vision, and be about the work of starting new churches. Because the reality of "billions and billions" worshiping the God of the universe in every language and land is achievable in our lifetime.

Dr. Lash Banks, DoM
Grayson Baptist Association
Sherman, Texas