If every man, woman, and child is going to have an opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel, it must be taken to them within the context of their own culture. In order to accomplish this, we need to plant the Gospel among these groups by planting churches.

Ifind it difficult to believe Christians have actually debated some issues.

For example, the Marrow Controversy is puzzling. Many in the Church of Scotland during the early 1700’s embraced a view that prohibited them from telling someone, “If you believe in Jesus, there is salvation for you.” Instead, they believed the Gospel could be offered only after an individual showed some signs of repentance and faith.

In contrast to this majority group, a number of men, including Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, held to the free offer of the Gospel. These forefathers of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church held that the Gospel could (and must) be offered to men and women without any limitations or pre-requisites. It was then the work of the Spirit to draw the person to Himself. The ARP Church was born, in part, upholding the free offer of salvation in Christ to all.

So what does this have to do with planting churches? In short, everything.

You see, church planting isn’t about buildings and worship services. It’s not about launch plans and service projects. All of these are part of church planting, but none are the heart of church planting.

Planting the Gospel
When the ARP Church makes a decision to plant a church in an area, we are really making a decision to plant the Gospel among a specific group of people. In short, we are not just planting churches, we are planting the Gospel. According to recent studies, only half of the approximately 200,000 churches in America have
added even one new member through conversion last year.

Tim Keller, author and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, notes that churches over 10-15 years old gain 80-90% of new members through transfer growth (not conversions). These trends must be turned around if we are to fulfill the Great Commission. However, even if all our churches were healthy, reproducing churches, we would need to plant new churches.

America has become a segmented society. We have people groups in our country
that are formed based on politics, race, country of origin, socioeconomic class, geography, style, age, sub-culture segment, lifestyle preference – you name it.

If every man, woman, and child is going to have an opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel, it must be taken to them within the context of their own culture. In order to accomplish this, we need to plant the Gospel among these groups by planting churches.
It’s simplyimpossible for the current church to be this multi-faceted culturally and geographically. This may come as a shock, but the number of churches is declining. Ed
Stetzer, author and president of LifeWay Research estimates:
• In 1900 there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans
• In 1950 there were 17 churches for every 10,000 Americans
• In 2004 there were 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans.

It’s not that churches have simply gotten larger. The average church size has remained basically unchanged since 1900. I am currently in the process of transitioning from church planting intern to church planter in the Fort Myers, FL area. Within our plant area there are over 60,000 people and only 24 non-Catholic churches (of any denomination). That is four churches for every 10,000 people.

We need churches to plant the Gospel so that people can hear.

New churches are more effective in reaching people. Tim Keller estimates that new churches gain the vast majority of their members (60-80%) from new conversions.

Perhaps this is because they are among unreached groups. Maybe it is because they must reach people or close the doors. In any case, Peter Wagner was right, “planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic strategy under heaven.” Wagner is president of Global Harvest Ministries.

A Biblical Mandate
The Great Commission of Jesus states that we make disciples and baptize and
teach them. We need to not only reach people with the Gospel of Christ, but also
plant them in the context of a community of loving accountability – where they can
grow to become more like Jesus in His character, passions, and priorities. This
is most effectively done in the context of their own culture, bringing Scripture to
bear on their lives so, they are “in” their culture but not “of” their culture. We
need churches in these cultures to make this happen.

Planting Churches that plant the Gospel in their culture is risky. It is expensive.
It is hard work and requires much prayer.

I have heard the argument that we cannot afford to plant churches. But in light of our commitment to the free offer of the Gospel, can we afford not to??

Steve Reynolds is a church planting intern, preparing to plant a church in the Fort Myers, Florida area. He has been pastor of ARP Churches in Rock Hill, Greenville,
and Fort Mill. He is a 1980 graduate of West Point and a 1989 graduate of Erskine Theological Seminary. He is married to Rachel. They have five children: Jonathan, Michael, Ariel, Kristen and Megan. This article first appeared in the October 2011 issue of the ARP Magazine and is used with permission.