Great trends are developing in church plants. New plants are emphasizing all means of grace (word, sacrament, prayer) in balanced proportions in liturgies. Right on! Also, new plants are sprouting in non- traditional domains– right on with that as well.
Here’s my observation and my concern. Many planters are mono-generational in their friendships and that is reflected in the core groups and eventually in the church. Instead of invading post-modern ideologies, we’re imitating them in this mono-generational tendency. But the Gospel breaks down barriers and church planters (and prospective church planters) have to model this gospel virtue. I suggest the following:
Church planters should have a conscious 8-10 year buffer in mind when it comes to visible friendships. For example, if a planter is 33, he should focus on friendships with folks who are 23 and folks in the mid -40’s to 50’s. Of particular import is the empty nester crowd. I believe that empty nesters are the secret ingredient to long term, healthy church plants. Empty nesters have great long term relationships in the community, they are stable, they are financially generous, and they have time and energy to help out.
I speculate that the reason young church planters don’t befriend empty nesters is that they are intimidated by them. When a planter has great relationships with empty nesters, I believe the church plant will thrive.
Martin Ban has 20 years of church planting and senior pastor experience. He is a graduate of Austin College and Westminster Theological Seminary. He has planted churches in the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is currently the Senior Pastor of Christ Church Santa Fe PCA and is a GCA trainer (outreach, contextualization, evangelism). Martin and his wife Mari Anne have 5 children (ages 22 thru 9) and have been married for 25 years. They also have a dumb bloodhound named Ocho.
Check out the homepage of the last church Martin planted and now pastors: Christ Church of Santa Fe