For the past several days I've been doing some reading and thinking about church planting. But be forewarned and note that I have not read best-selling books on this subject, nor have I formally interviewed any church planters. Essentially all I have read is the ministry philosophy and general information behind a few church planting organizations, and I have talked with a couple friends who know more and have some experience in church planting. I'm not an expert, nor do I claim to be. I just have been rolling these things around in my head for a few days and wanted to share some thoughts.Specifically the one church planting organization that sparked my interest in church planting philosophy is northpointpartners.org. This is Andy Stanley's church planting division from his organization known and branded as Northpoint Community Church. After reading through their faqs and some blog posts from one of their "strategic partners" "lead pastor" I'll be honest and say that I became a tad angry.
This is childish and immature right? There was no reason to be upset and there is no reason to be upset now. After all, lives are being changed and people reached- approximately 30,000 at all of the campuses and strategic partner locations each week. They are "winning" and successful. "I’ve found a model and a set of systems I believe in, I fit in and I chose to commit myself to....and I'm going with that."As the "lead pastor" from Cumberland says in this blog post "I’ve found a model and a set of systems I believe in, I fit in and I chose to commit myself to....and I'm going with that." And "... are we seeing people becoming more intimate with God? Are we seeing believers in our churches connect more meaningfully and regularly with other believers? Are they changing and maturing to be more like Jesus? Are we seeing the committed core in our churches leveraging their influence in the lives of those aren't in church anywhere and are disconnected from God? Are they strategically and boldly inviting their friends and neighbors into the right environments we are creating together, so that they can discover the life-changing message of Jesus Christ?"
So why would or should I or anyone else for that matter get angry about Northpoint franchising itself and placing its product only in large metro areas so that people are changed?
The answer to that question at least from my perspective will be forthcoming...until then though does anyone else have any thoughts/comments/rants/praises on church planting in general or the above example specifically?
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I briefly clicked through the links. It all seems silly, irreverant and immature. At what age are people expected to grow up? When I was a kid, it seemed that adults expected me to grow-up and act like an adult. Now, it seems as if adults are perfectly happy to indulge and encourage their post-college aged children to continue to act like thirteen year olds.
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