This blog comes off the back of an excellent blog written by Ed Stetzer which can be found here. My point in writing this article is to no way detract from church planting, I have nothing but admiration and respect for my brothers in the Free Church who are planting churches across the nation of Scotland. They have faith and courage which I often find lacking in myself, my point in writing this is to merely highlight that what many perceive to be a one way street (established churches supporting church plants) should actually be a two way street of mutual support and encouragement.
So allow me to borrow from Mr Stetzer and highlight how his five points can be equally applied in both directions:
1. Established churches reach lost people.
As I look around my congregation on a Sunday morning and evening there are people that I know who are not Christians which is something I would say that would be common across most churches. Established churches can be more effective at reaching an older generation with the gospel because the established church comes with comfortable baggage and labels that many church plants are keen to avoid (on the balance of probability rightly so).
However it is a mistake to assume that only something new, something fresh will reach people with the gospel and will reach lost people with the gospel established churches are as capable of doing that as church plants.
2. Revitalising established churches follows a biblical pattern.
I will admit that I am perhaps on more of a loose footing with this point but it remains valid I think. As we consider the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, which I take to be written to a literal seven churches but with lessons that are applicable throughout the ages, what do we see?
We see churches that are in danger of falling away from their first love, we see churches that are in danger of having their lamp stand removed, in danger if you like of being de churched and the solution is never well just close the door.
The solution isn't shut down and start again the solution is to go back to our first love, the solution is to go back to doing the things that the Christians in these places did at first. If that was the solution that Jesus provided to the churches in Asia would it not seem wise to follow that solution today?
Often the solution today seems to be that we are happy to close this one place and plant somewhere else or else replant the church in the same location.
3. Church revitalisation is necessary for survival.
The figures quoted by Ed Stetzer in his article are that if a denomination wants to break even then churches have to be planted at a three per cent level. All well and good great if we are planting churches at a three per cent level.
Yet the question that leads to is what is the point of planting churches at a three per cent level if in the meantime we close churches at a five per cent level, if local churches which are struggling are closed to make way for new churches then we haven't actually gained any new churches at all, we could plant at a three or five per cent level and still end up worse off than when we started.
4. Church revitalisation benefits the planted church.
When the planted church is full of new Christians who have all been reached with the gospel what greater benefit could there be to that church than to go and help a church along the way which is struggling?
What a benefit to the church that is needing revitalised to have a group of people come from a church and sacrifice their comfort to help a body of believers better reach out to the community around them. Not by insisting that everything is done the way the church plant does it but by supporting the leadership of the local church through this change.
5. Church Revitalisation is necessary to reach Scotland.
Stetzer uses North America as his example but for me it has to be Scotland, the land of dying decaying churches, the land where church buildings have been turned into nightclubs, into Indian restraunts, into anything you can imagine really.
Imagine if instead of letting those churches wither on the vine we revitalised them, imagine if instead of being allowed to drift to 15, 10, 5 people we said lets work hard and makes these churches hubs of the community again.
Scotland will never be reached without planting more churches, we should give thanks to God for men like Tom Muir, Neil MacMillan, Ali Sewell, Jonathon DeGroot, Andy Robertson, Chris Davidson, Iain Macaskill and all of our other church planters who are stepping out in faith and planting churches throughout our land.
However lets also give thanks for men who are stepping out in faith and revitalising what was dying, seeking to fulfil the great commission in different ways. Church revitalisation and established churches are as nessecary to the churches mission, to reaching the land of Scotland as church plants are. Lets give thanks and celebrate both, lets work together not against one another to see in the grace of God what the LORDs plans are for Scotland.
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