Reading: You and Your Community Match (Slides)

You And Your Community Match

Henry Reyenga

A Common Cause Of Church Planting Failure

In reality, Sam didn't have a mission or vision statement. He had a fantasy statement, and his love affair with his vision blinded him to the realities of the mission field. The difference between a fantasy and a vision is a fantasy never gets translated past the sheet of paper.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 210-212). Kindle Edition. 

Think Like Missionaries

You see, successful planters think like missionaries. They know they are going into "occupied territory" to reach unreached people, a job for which they need to learn the language, technology, and culture of the new area. For them the mission field dictates the tactics, not the fantasy statement.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 212-213). Kindle Edition. 

Are You And Your Community A Match?

Church planting is about going out and getting more and more people. And after that it's about gathering those people and gradually forming them into a redemptive community.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 216-217). Kindle Edition. 

The Planter And The Mission Field Must Connect! 

Planting a church is a process of experimentation, innovation, and replication, but always within the realities of the mission field and how it's responding. The planter has to be constantly adapting and modifying the vision to the mission field.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 217-218). Kindle Edition. 

Country Music Church Changes Only To Decline And Face A Wall

I came in and observed that their mission field was ripe for a method that resembled what they started out with, and they should revisit the kind of music that won over so many-"country." You'd think I'd denied the existence of God, the virgin birth, and the resurrection, all in one sitting!

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 232-233). Kindle Edition. 

Country Music Church Changes Only To Decline And Face A Wall

After a spirited discussion, they acknowledged feeling "insecure" about their style of worship, because it was so rare and everyone else was doing such "cutting edge" ministry. I pointed out to them that "fruit" is the only way to measure "cutting edge." They had overlooked the small detail that their style of music had led their church to be the third largest church in the area in just five years.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 234-235). Kindle Edition. 

No Fantasy: Its About People Reached

Over the years I've (Bill) learned to ask a question of church planters who are failing: "How many hours a week do you spend in your office?" If I get a response of more than an hour a day, I know what the problem is-they are spending valuable time tinkering with technology or perfecting their fantasy instead of spending it out among the people. It's rare for a conversion to take place in the office of a new church plant.

James Griffith; William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 236-239). Kindle Edition. 

You And Your People Group Match

Because they fail to exegete the surrounding area, contextualize their approach, decide on whom to reach first, and then choose a methodology that will reach the targeted people, church planters often make the mistake of winding up with a church designed for "everyone." The net effect of this approach is thirty or forty people-forever!

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 250-252). Kindle Edition. 

People Group Problems

Most mission fields have three to five very different people groups within them. Because the planter hasn't exegeted the area and determined beforehand which one of these groups to reach first, he or she winds up with a few from each group, which is seldom good because each group requires or wants something different.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 252-254). Kindle Edition. 

People Group Problems

We often hear planters say, "We're a multicultural church," even though they only have a handful of people. Somehow they think they're effective because they have representatives from each mission field coming to their church, but that's a mistake. They now have a church for everyone, which means a church with very few distinctives.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 255-256). Kindle Edition. 

People Groups And Music Styles (1)

The problem is they don't have any focus. Therefore, they don't have a consistent strategy. The strategy changes with whoever walks through the door. All of a sudden, a bunch of traditionalists come to the church and start squawking about not liking the style of music. Now what do you do?

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 262-264). Kindle Edition. 

 

People Groups And Music Styles (2)

If you're a trained planter, you know the mission field always determines the type of music, but if you don't have an intentional mission field, you have no intentional strategy, and therefore, no intentional focus. And so, you listen to their complaints, you do the unthinkable, and change the style of music. And you're dead!

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 259-262). Kindle Edition. 

People Groups And Music Styles (3)

So trying to put together a church that reaches everyone means your strategy is constantly changing and there's no predictability. We all know that any effective church has a predictable liturgy. Whether it's prescribed or not, it's there. And, in that liturgy, the most important factor seems to be a certain sense of predictability when it comes to the style of music.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 262-264). Kindle Edition. 

Really Look At Who You Are As A Church Planter

The key is to analyze the mission field and decide which group of people we should reach out to first. Usually the first group of people is those people most like you. Focus on them first, and then the next group in the area. Why make it even harder than it is?

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 264-266). Kindle Edition. 

Really Look At Who You Are As A Church Planter (2)

Let’s at least leverage the people we might have a shot at reaching. Then, after you've reached them, leverage your resources to figure out a strategy to reach the second group in your geographical mission field.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 266-267). Kindle Edition. 

Objections To The Homogeneous Unit Principle (1)

Some people have a problem with the homogenous principle. We don't, because it's not a matter of singling out one group and ignoring another. The issue is more one of affinity rather than discrimination. Affinity is a two-way street. About 70 to 80 percent of the people who attend a church are in a fairly tight socioeconomical pattern. They choose to be at that particular church because they want to identify with the majority of the people already present. But for some reason the homogenous principle has been reduced to, "We're only going to let people in who are like us.” That is not what we are saying!

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 271-273). Kindle Edition. 

Objections To The Homogeneous Unit Principle (2)

We're merely referring to leverage-trying to reach the people who are the easiest to reach and then branching out from there. If you look at most of the nonhomogenous churches in the United States, you will find that the area around them is also very diverse. So decide who you are going to focus your attention on, and develop your strategy and your liturgy around them.

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 271-273). Kindle Edition. 

You Need to Make Sure You Are: 

Compelled by a burden for the people and have affinity with them; 

Compatible with the area into which he or she is going; 

And you thoroughly understand  the area in which the church is to be planted;

James Griffith;William Easum. Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts (Kindle Locations 288-289). Kindle Edition.