While I am retiring in nine days, I will never tire of encouraging disciples to make disciples, leaders to make leaders and churches to plant churches. So one more time...If your church is one of those considering planting a new mission, you may be asking or hearing "What is the downside -- what will we lose if we plant a church? Phil Stevenson addresses this concern in the book The Ripple Church: Multiplying Your Ministry by Parenting New Churches.
Stevenson writes: "Churches that parent other churches don't lose money...they invest it into a situation that will result in a net return to the Kingdom of God. They do not lose people, they invest them in the work of gathering a harvest."
Church planting is costly, but it is an investment and not a loss. That isn't just semantics. If a local church views church planting through the lens of what it might lose, it will never plant. But, if it views it through the lens of more people being connected to Jesus for eternity, it will plant once, twice and more! It takes an unselfish leader and an unselfish congregation to look beyond one's own church and this year's budget or statistics to ultimate kingdom impact!
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