Chris Miller, President of Miller Management, is the host of this week’s episode. He is joined by his colleague, Matthew Marrs, Pastor at Northland Church and who also works with the SEND Network.
This series will focus on why churches should plant other churches and how they can help support others in their planting efforts. Kansas City native, Matt, has worked at Northland Church since 1996. Back in the stone age of printed resumes, maps purchased at a gas station, and phone books. Northland’s mission is multiple churches, not chairs. Some chairs are involved, but the goal is to multiply through new churches; not just setting up more chairs.
Community Needs
So why should churches be engaged in this planting effort? One reason is the growth of the community. Let’s look at the Northland population growth – the number of churches is going down; but apartments, houses, businesses, and schools are all popping up. If there is a need to building more of all of those, there is a need to plant more churches at the same rate.
You can also look at the people of the area. In the Northland, there has been an influx of cultures, which also may require a new church targeted to those groups needs. For example, there may be a whole group of people from Ethiopia who are looking for a church specifically for their culture.
So why should a local church make effort to support church planting? SEND Network is a church network for helping churches plant churches. Your church knows what your community needs better than some organization from another city. But the SEND Network can provide the resources for them to fulfill their mission. Planting with a sense of mission to reach the community.
Develop New Leaders
What happens to the local church that plants? It is costly. You invest money, leaders, volunteers, congregants, and momentum. But hopefully, you are able to continue to grow both congregations.
One of the ways to do that is to always be developing leaders. You want to send strong people to plant. This isn’t a way for you to cherry pick those congregants you want to leave 😏 …you want to send your best. Which in-turn means you need to continue to develop leaders to replace those you lost.
Getting People On Board
How do we get people on-board at all levels? How do we infuse that in the church’s DNA? Talk about it often. Celebrate when it is happening. When you truly think about the vastness of all the people and needs in your community – you should be thankful there is someone else there to help minister – not seeing them as competition.
If you aren’t planting, but still growing, what is happening to the church? Does it get stagnant? Do people wish there was a way to serve with no way out? This mindset of continuing to plant also provides opportunities for people a place to serve. Another avenue to help.
Matt’s motto: “If this church ever feels too big to you, let me know and I’ll put you on the launch team for the next church plant.”
In Conclusion
We know we have been commissioned to make disciples to reach the nation. One part of extending the reach of the gospel is planting churches. If you are currently involved in planting, we hope this series encourages you to continue. If you have not been planting, we hope this series provides encouragement to think about how your congregation can be involved in planting in the future.
Join us next week as we continues our series on Church Planting with Matt Marrs.
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Special thanks to our guest, Matt Marrs, and our masters of all things Podcasting, Chris and Lauren Miller, for this first episode in our Church Planting series.