why plant new churches?

Our reasoning behind planting new churches has a number of facets.

1. Australia needs more churches. A very small percentage of Australians are a part of a church community leaving a large percentage of our population unchurched. There is plenty of room for new churches right across this nation. Even the towns and cities that have large numbers of churches still reach only 8-10% of the local population at best. This leaves 90% of any given locality as a target for new church plants.

2. Church planting is a very effective evangelistic tool. Between 1994 and 1996, the institute for Church Development in Germany conducted a massive research project in which 1000 churches from 32 countries participated. This is what they found:
"... the smallest churches (with an average attendance of 51) typically won 32 new people in the past five years, the mega churches (with an average attendance of 2856) won 112 new persons during the same period. If Instead of a single church with 2856 attending worship services we had 56 churches each with 51 worshippers, these churches would have statistically win 1792 new people within five years. We can conclude that the evangelistic effectiveness of mini-churches is statistically 1,600% greater than that of the mega churches." Schwarz p48

3. This was the way of Christ and His apostles. The idea for planting churches is a thoroughly biblical idea. It has its roots in Christ's teaching and mission methodology and was fleshed out by the Apostles, especially by Paul. He states in Ephesians 3:1-10 that Christ gave him insight into the way the church is to function and also gave him the task of taking the gospel to the gentiles. "... surely you have already heard of the commission of God's grace that was given me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, ... it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ... this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places."

We can be sure that church planting is God's method of spreading the gospel among the world because this is what Paul did, after Christ had enlightened him on the church and its functions. The New Testament consistently portrays one strategy for the spread of the gospel; that of communicating the gospel, drawing the believers into a local church and appointing elders over them (Acts 13-14 esp. 14:21-26) and then returning periodically to strengthen and establish the believers (Acts 15:36,41, 16:1,4-5). This pattern is consistently seen through Acts and the Epistles. It is interesting to note that we are not given any other pattern for the spread of the gospel. Church planting is the way of Christ and the apostles.

4. Church planting ensures that 'church' remains relevant. Church planting is an opportunity to re-invent church along radically biblical lines (Tim Chester in Multiplying churches p25).

"Every age tastes the temptation to forget that the gospel is ever new. We try to contain the new wine of the gospel in old wineskins - outmoded traditions, obsolete philosophies, creaking institutions, old habits. But with time the old wineskins begin to bind the gospel. Then they must burst, and the power of the gospel pours forth once more." Howard A. Snyder in his book Radical Renewal.

The challenge for church planters is ... to give birth to new forms of church rather than replicate the structures that have already failed elsewhere. Church planting offers the opportunity to explore what it means for the church to become a genuine mission church with new responses to the challenge of a culture which has proved to be highly resistant to the message of the gospel in the twentieth century. Robinson and Christine, 1992:9; see also pp. 30-33

why household churches?

1. Household Churches give us a natural and convenient environment in which to operate a family of families.
The church in Scripture is referred to as the family of God (1 Tim 3:14-16). Leaders of this family of God were to be those who firstly have good leadership ability in their own homes (1 Tim 3:2, 4-5). These few verses show us how similar the function of the church is to that of a family.

Robert Banks in his discussion on the metaphors that Paul uses to describe the community of the church writes:
... the inadequacy of the organic unity of the 'body' metaphor leads Paul to utilize the language of human and especially family relationships. ... his (Paul's) description of it (the church) as a 'body', and his application of 'household' or 'family' terminology has all too often been overlooked or mentioned only in passing. ... a number of (family) related expressions are present that must be taken into account. So numerous are these, and so frequently do they appear, that the comparison of the Christian community with community with a 'family' must be regarded as the most significant metaphorical usage of all. More than any of the other images utilised by Paul, it reveals the essence of his thinking about community.

Robert Banks continues his discussion around the words father, children, mother, nurse, brothers, brethren, sister, steward, slave, pointing out that Paul referred to himself as being in all of these different relationships with the people in the church. He even refers to a lady as being his mother (Rom 16:3).

Our desire at connexions is to capture this family concept and allow the natural loving and secure environment of a strong family home to shape the mode of church. In doing so we have dispensed with some formality, and individuality, for the sake of building genuine reverence towards God and a relational respect for each other. Church members are a part of a family of families with the benefit of strong friendships among the church, and the whole community as it surrounds each member with Christ's love and accountability. The aim is to give each individual a strong sense of family belonging. Also the encouragement towards and expectation of growth for all members along with maintaining a missional focus ensures that each member also maintains a true sense of family purpose for their lives.

A quote by Rad Zdero -'The global house church movement'- aptly describes our thinking. "we seek to minimize the complexity of our forms in order to maximize the effectiveness of our functions."
Some church tradition, church methodology and church administration can complicate church and add unnecessary burdens to the church members. Our aim is for church members to be free and spontaneous, organic and unified as we serve one another in brotherly love and as we get on with our family mission of bringing people to Christ.

2. Household Churches have a readymade atmosphere in which to interact with friends for gospel ministry. Strong, well functioning households have much to offer the mission of the church. The atmosphere that is created by the mature, selfless relationships of this household ensures a comfortable, hospitable atmosphere complete with good conversation, refreshments and a meal or two as appropriate. Also the integrity of that household and the authenticity of their love towards to the church and their local community is a very persuasive testimony of the gospel life and message. The mature household unit is one in which all people of all ages and cultures can feel at home.

Households had a large evangelistic role in Scripture. Jesus himself sought out key households to be a centralised base for his mission within a given locality (Luke 10:1,5-7 and Matt 10:11-14 in context). Luke goes on to record in Acts the mission of the Disciples, which we can assume took place in a similar fashion to the example that Christ had set for them (See Acts 8:1-3 esp. v3, Ch 10, 16:13-21, 40 esp. v15&40, 17:1-7, 18:7-8, 20:18-21, 28:30-31). This was the way of Christ and His apostles.

Jeff Reed in his discipleship studies 'First Principles of Community Purpose' writes: "God intends the household unit to be a powerful centre for the progress of the gospel. Our households are to be essential units within a household of God, never islands of the gospel disconnected from a household of God - a local church. Yet within the context, (Acts 10 the story of Cornelius' conversion) they appear to be the central base for the ongoing progress of the gospel." At connexions we seek to do likewise, seeking out mature Christian households to anchor the mission of Christ in a given locality. The aim is to make the most of their testimony among the community and the hospitable, household environment. This is the perfect setting for our natural, long term, low-key, relational approach to evangelism and gospel ministry.

3. Household Churches provide us with the opportunities and resources to multiply churches quickly, effectively and economically. At connexions, the aim is to keep the size of the household churches to about 15-20 people. This means that as effective mission takes place under the hand of our Lord, there is a need for church planting.
For us household church planting is not a drawn out, expensive exercise. The normal restrictions of funding, buildings and so on are just not there. At connexions our greatest restriction is that of mature, godly leadership and a suitable number of people to plant. Once we have this kind of leadership and the number of believers we are ready to church plant.

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