The unity of churches in a community has the potential to drive—or, if they’re disunited, detract from—the evangelistic mission in that location. Churches are not businesses; they should not compete as though vying for their share of the market. Rather, churches are partners together in the mission of seeing sinners come to Christ and grow to full maturity.

It’s the other tale as old as time. A young pastor comes into a city or town to plant a church, convinced he will be the next church-planting “success story.”

Intent on staking out his territory in the city’s ecclesial landscape, he takes potshots at other churches in his sermons, emphasizing how his is different from all the others in town.

This tendency can show itself in many ways. I recently heard one example from a suburban church “launching a new campus” in an economically depressed area of their city. The pastor triumphantly declared that they would “reach the drug dealers,” “end the crime,” and “be the local church” in this community. Sadly, no mention was made of the faithful decades of ministry carried out in this community by bivocational pastors who don’t have the educational and financial resources this large church possesses.

This unfortunate—but oft-repeated—scenario has played itself out in hundreds of places, with disastrous results for God’s kingdom.

Jesus did not say that the world would know we are his disciples by our competition with one another; he said they’d know us by our love for one another (John 13:34–35). Therefore, the forward movement of the gospel depends, in part, on gospel-believing churches walking in unity with each other.

Unity as Evangelism

The unity of churches in a community has the potential to drive—or, if they’re disunited, detract from—the evangelistic mission in that location. Churches are not businesses; they should not compete as though vying for their share of the market. Rather, churches are partners together in the mission of seeing sinners come to Christ and grow to full maturity.

Sinners all over the world are perishing without the gospel (Luke 13:3). With such an enormous task before us, we must work together.

A church-planting pastor needs to build encouraging friendships and partnerships with other pastors and churches in his community. Here are four ways to get started.

1. Learn About Other Churches

Unless you’re planting in a completely unreached context, there will be churches in your community who have been carrying out faithful ministry for years.

Take their pastors to lunch and hear about how God has been at work through them. Learn what barriers to gospel proclamation they’ve encountered and ask what they think the community’s needs are.

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