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Over the last couple of months (since the purchase of the neighboring properties) some people have asked a few questions about Church Planting. I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of these.

1)     Are we still going to plant churches now that we have more property and (eventually) more space?

The answer to that is basically “yes”, we are still going to plant churches. Church planting was never an answer to our space problems, but it did arise out of discussions on the future of RCRC. Church planting is a ‘gospel’ issue, not a ‘space’ issue.

2)     But isn’t our focus on getting RCRC bigger now that we have so much land to take up?

The goal of RCRC has never been to get bigger. The goal has never been to plant churches, either. The goal has always been to see the work of the gospel of Jesus make inroads into the Redlands. Both church expansion, and church planting, fall under this goal. We do not want to, or need to, make a choice to do one or the other. In fact we believe that our desire to see the gospel preached in the Redlands compels us to do both.

A larger church, as we grow and expand over time, is going to be capable of gospel ministry in some ways that RCRC at this current size, and any church plant that comes from RCRC, can not do. A larger church can mean more ministries, more resources, greater community presence and impact. A larger church will reach into our local community in new and exciting ways.

But by the same token, a church plant is going to be capable of gospel ministry in other ways that a larger church, or even RCRC at its current size, can not. A church plant that is small, and targeted to specific groups within the community is going to reach and envelop people in new and exciting ways as well.

As you can see, its not a choice between one and the other. The choice is between gospel ministry, or… no gospel ministry. If we take the former, we are going to be pushed into both directions.

3)     Won’t church planting significantly reduce our size, in both numbers and resources.

It is true that church planting is going to have impacts on many areas of church life. It is going to impact leadership, ministries, and also money. But maybe not in the way that we might think, or expect.

When we talk about church planting we are not thinking about splitting the church in half (or even taking away a quarter, or even 50 people) and putting them in a different location. If we were to do that, the likelihood is that we would end up with a church that looks pretty much like RCRC. And as much as I love RCRC, we already have one and we don’t need any more. If people want to come to an RCRC type church, let them come to RCRC.

What we are talking about is taking away a smaller, missionary type, group of people. When we do the work of overseas mission, we take very small teams and we plant them into a new culture and they work with local people, creating a church of local flavor. It can sometimes look very different from the church that the missionaries came from and in fact it should look different as it is made up of very different people.. When we are thinking of planting church we are thinking about sending out mission teams – smaller groups of people, who work hard at mission and evangelism, who seek to work with those who come to know Christ and build a church that reflects the community it lives in. Instead of the church producing evangelism, evangelism will produce the church.

A church plant of this nature, especially in its early stages, is going to be less of a draw on resources that sending out a ready made church with services, rosters and a weekly newsletter already in place.

Now, of course, this is not going to answer every question, but maybe it has aroused some curiosity in church planting and what we are looking into for the future.  So a reminder of a way in which you can scratch that church planting itch, we are having our first Church Planting Exploration Team meeting on Tuesday 3^rd April, 7.30pm at the church. Even if you are only curious, or want to know a little more, we would love to have you there.

For further comments, or questions, email churchplanting@redlands crc.org.au

There will be another email next week to talk about this a little further.

Clinton