6 Predictions for the Future of Church Planting

Over the past two years I have had fun traveling around the U.S. meeting with pastors, planters and potential church planters. There is no doubt the landscape continues to change and culture is shifting. Some of those things are easy to see, and some we see in the rearview mirror.  

Predicting future trends is both an art and a science. There are many authors and bloggers out there better than me at predicting the next wave. However, I want to share some of the insights that I’ve noticed through numerous conversations and trainings with the hope it encourages and inspires you. Think of these things as written in pencil. My hope is as we talk about these trends it brings greater clarity for future kingdom impact.

Here are my six predictions about the future of church planting:

1. Local churches will become the engine that drives church planting.

Church multiplication over the last century has been primarily driven by denominations. A ton of great things have happened and started from these efforts. The problem that still presents itself is the pace of planting has been too slow to keep up with recent population trends. Furthermore, denominations have been handcuffed by finances, meaning they can only plant what they can afford.

What would happen if every church-focused its effort on raising up the next generation of church planters from within? How would the landscape change if every church committed to sending two or even five planters in a five-year period? I see the role of networks and denominations slowly moving to resourcing and serving the local church to reap a fantastic harvest.

2.  More stickers on the NASCAR car.

Kingdom collaboration is a growing trend. The idea that we feel we are better together is moving away from a Christian cliche to becoming a reality. I see churches and planters across America operating with the notion that we can accomplish more together than we could alone.

Part of the change is that the newest generation of planters are more missiologically driven than being drawn to church growth books and conferences. More and more planters are seeing themselves as missionaries called to a given region, community or city. As a result, the younger generation of pastors will be focused less on denominational loyalties and more focused on reaching their communities. Coming together as local teams of leaders with a common focus will become the primary way churches impact their communities.

3. Churches will become more diverse.

Every time I walk into my local Starbucks or grocery store, it is evident the racial and ethnic landscape of North America is changing. The influx of immigrants and their migration to cities all across North America will continue, and it is spurring the need for church planting efforts to fully embrace and achieve diversity within the local church. Early stages of this are more pressing in urban contexts.

The more I talk to younger planters across differing ethnicities, diversity is a growing desire. And in many of these contexts it’s becoming reality.

4. Bi-vocational planting will become more accepted.

Resources have been a challenge, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. To plant more churches, the need for a planter to be bi-vocational or a tent maker will also increase. If a church cannot become self-sufficient within a five-year period, I would say the bi-vocational approach is the best.

If this comes to be true, we need to rethink our approach to training, coaching and even educating pastors. I would love to see more colleges and seminaries have educational tracks that continue to equip potential church planters with a strong theological and missiological foundation. But what would happen if we also help them have a vocational platform to support themselves in the early years? We cannot do bi-vocational planting and expect the pastors to act and maintain a schedule as full-time pastors. I suggest that more of our trainings, conferences and networking need to have a growing online presence.

5. Modular church becomes a go-to tool.

Just as there are many different styles for preaching and music in the church, there are many methods for planting and multiplying the church. In many urban contexts the ability to purchase land and build a building may never become a reality. If we want to reach the people in our communities, we will have to become more creative in how and where we do church. Some of my all-time creative locations I have heard of are: movie theaters, an Italian restaurant, an abandoned gas station, night clubs, etc.

If God is calling you plant a church, be creative and take a risk.

6. Spiritual dynamics drive the movement of church planting.

Thirty years ago there is no doubt that the movement of church planting was something driven by the Holy Spirit. Now hear me out: I am not saying this is no longer the case. However, I think we live in a time when there are more books written, conferences to attend and networks to join than ever before. They are great resources for those who want to plant. The danger is that some can become so strategic that the strategy, not the movement of God, drives church planting. We have to remember it is great to have a lot of “how to’s” out there, but we can never over-strategize what is spiritual.

I have a great hope for the church as the future unfolds. I hope you do, too. The mission is too important to lose hope.

Top 10 Reasons Churches Get Stuck

1. Insider Focus

The most common reason churches get stuck is they focus on their insiders. And it’s rooted in this fundamental question: “What is the church for?” I write about this topic a lot, so I won’t regurgitate it here, but just search “insider focus” and you’ll get a grocery list of stuff. Bottom line is a majority of churches that are stuck get that way and stay that way because they are focused on inside members instead of visitors and people outside the church. They would resist the diagnosis and the label, but their practices, language, guest services (or lack thereof) and low number of annual conversions and baptisms tell a different story. 

2. Staffing and Structure

A start-up church that is setting up and tearing down in a rented space, the medium-sized church, the megachurch and multisite church aren’t just different in size or economies of scale. They are completely different organizations. To get through these barriers and stay past these barriers takes more than momentum, it takes changing the staffing and organizational structure of the church--and often the way the church board operates in relationship to the staff. Do you have a staffing plan to get you where you want to go? Do you know what structure best fits your size and strategies?

3. Misalignment

A majority of churches do not organize around a central vision. Many don’t have a clearly stated, meaningful, actionable and relevant mission or vision statement or organizational values. Or if they do, they are buried somewhere in a drawer on a piece of paper. It’s the rare church that actually organizes the staffing strategy, budgeting process, ministry calendar, weekend teaching schedule and communication strategies to synergistically move the whole church in a particular direction. There is no clear plan to move from where they are to where God wants them to be. And a failure to plan is planning to fail.

4. Leadership

I love what Bill Hybels, senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, has said about leadership, “Everyone gets better when the leader gets better.” A leader can be a lid on a church. In other words, sometimes churches get stuck because the leader is stuck. And it’s one thing to get stuck and a whole other thing to stay stuck. Leaders need to invest in their own leadership gifts and keep growing or they’ll end up being the reason the church gets stuck.

5. Teaching

This may upset some speaking pastors, but preaching is a gift. Not everyone has it. Right? The other truth is not everyone who has a preaching gift has that gift given in the same amount. There are some really great preachers. And guess what? Mediocre teaching. Even good, solid teaching is a barrier to growth and can lead to being stuck if great teaching isn’t developed or hired. Your church can get stuck if the teaching is stuck.

6. Weekend Experience

For most Americans, the weekend experience is the main draw and large deciding factor of whether or not they connect and participate. That total street-to-seat experience that people have when they come to your church is really important. It’s why your children’s ministry grows (kids don’t drive themselves to church because they like the crafts that much). It’s why people say things like, “I’m not sure what it is, but something special is going on here.” New people bring new people when the experience is going well. But when it’s stuck, nothing is going to change.

7. Volunteers

I rarely come across a church that says they have all of the volunteers they need. I also rarely come across a church that makes it easy for people to get connected and start volunteering. Churches should view volunteering as part of the discipleship process—when you serve you actually are becoming more like Jesus. In most churches the same people are still doing everything they’ve always done.

8. Finances

Many churches are stuck because of finances. Some are overextended in debt with no clear plan to pay it off. Many don’t have and haven’t thought through a clear strategy to engage the givers in their churches. Few have a clear and effective budgeting process, much less know what financial health looks like in a church setting. Many don’t teach about generosity for fear of sounding as if all they care about is money. Your church doesn’t have a generous culture, and as a result of the kingdom isn’t taking the ground that it should be. If you don’t have a clear plan to manage today’s resources for tomorrow, your church is probably stuck financially.

9. The Past

I commonly see churches that are still enamored with past practices and ministry programs which worked years ago to connect new people to Jesus, but now only serve to keep the committed comfortable. Most churches don’t know how to gracefully put old ministry programs out to pasture. Unfortunately, as a result, those same churches continue to engage in ministry practices, keeping them from being successful in the future.

10. Next Steps

Many churches haven’t defined next steps for people who are attending their church. What is the next step coming out of a sermon? Now that I’ve attended for the first time as a guest, what do I do? How do I get into a Bible study? How do I get involved in volunteering? How do I financially contribute? Has your church defined the win regarding spiritual maturity and what you hope people will look like, and have you clearly charted a road map to help them get there?

Your Entry Point Matters

I love my garage. When we moved from Arizona to Orlando, I wanted to make sure we bought a house with extra room in the garage. I use my garage to store my car and work on it. We also have an extra freezer, paint, bikes and whole lot of other stuff.

The funniest thing is nine out of 10 times we use the garage to go into the house. Entering the house through the garage, isn’t usually a clear path inside.

But where do you point guests when they come to your house? I know the last place we would want a guest to go is through our garage to come inside. Family and close friends might occasionally walk through the garage, but first-time guests…not a chance!

Why? Honestly, it’s more comfortable for us and I also think it’s more comfortable for them.

Thinking from a similar point of view, let’s talk about the church. When it comes to a guests’ experience in the church, each church must pay attention to three important steps along the way: clarify, create and compete. Let me explain.

Most guests will make up their mind if they want to come back to your church before the sermon is ever preached. That is typically the case for people with no church background. Thus, ushering your guests into your church through the garage is bad idea and a poor strategy.

Clarify

The first step to improving guest experience is clarifying entry points and next steps for all guests. Here are a few questions that will help bring clarity to the process.

1. Where do we want guests to park?

Consider giving all guests special parking privileges. Set up signs that are readable from the front of a car that point new people where to go. It’s helpful to use language that makes sense and is comfortable for guests. Think “New Here? Park Here.” This is a non-threatening way for guests to find their place without saying “I am a guest!”

2. Where do you want guests to walk?

This is the point at which good signage is needed. Do you have signs? And if so, do they make sense to the average person? Do non-church people know what sanctuary means? Your goal is make it as simple as possible for new people to know where to go and to help them find their place quickly. Here are some other helpful things to consider for guests: Do they know what to do with their children? Does the children’s space feel safe? Are the bathrooms easy to find, etc.?

3. Do we regularly present a friendly atmosphere for people in the community to come and feel accepted just as they are?

Every week should be considered an outreach opportunity and should provide a doorway for every person of your community.

Create

This is where things get practical. Work to create a team that owns and even designs the entry way of the church to appeal to those in the community. Here are some more things to think about:

1. Is the physical environment appealing and relevant?

My garage is full of dirt, oils stains and weird smells seeping out of the garbage can. It would be embarrassing to take a first-time guest to my home through the garage. Thus, people from the community need an entry point to your church that is welcoming and appealing. That means it needs to be clutter free and prepared as if you were having guests over. The parking lot, hallways, bathrooms, lobby, children’s environment and auditorium need to be taken care of and created in such a way that they all are appealing to first-time guests from the community.

2. Do we create an engaging experience?

Not only does the environment need to be nice, the church experience needs to be engaging. And just as I mentioned above, engagement needs to start in the parking lot. Look for ways to make the experience fun and add a little “wow” moment for first-timers. Always leverage your most engaging people.

3. Are we answering the questions people are asking?

I can’t tell you how many times I have walked into a church or even a business and noticed they were paying attention to details that didn’t matter to me. All the content given on a Sunday needs to be practical, helpful and applicable to everyday life. Helpful content doesn’t mean it’s watered down, it means it is understandable and relevant. Can people apply what they don’t understand?

Compete

The last thing you have to pay attention to is competing opportunities. There are people and opportunities that have good intentions that will get in the way of connecting with first-time guests. Over time, complaints, or let’s call them “suggestions,” can crowd the entry point for new people. The doorway to connecting with God is narrow, and we need to compete for the space to help those who are far from God to come to meet, know and love Jesus.

One way to compete well and keep the mission alive is to constantly remind your teams that every week is someone’s first Sunday. That one piece of insight will help keep people on mission. Share stories of how people got invited to church and eventually gave their life to Jesus. Those stories fuel the mission.